Tuesday, April 24, 2012

The End of A Beginning

While I have been writing since I was a young girl, have been sitting with a dream, swinging my legs impatiently, it wasn't until 2008 that I began to write with the idea that I wanted to be published.

I wrote a novel with the aid of writing workshops and fell into the lap of a writer's group made up of characters I had no business meeting with (a New York Times staff writer, a Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia, to give you an idea of how far outside the league I sat.) 


This writing thing...we're all a bit like bored housewives, aren't we? one of the big leaguers said.  And I thought, if this 'writing thing' is a frivolous endeavor to someone like him, an established journalist frequently on assignment in Iraq with one non-fiction book already under his belt, then what on earth would it be to someone like me?

I decided to take the plunge anyway, decided to take myself seriously enough to learn, at least, all I could about the publishing industry, the business of it, and what it would mean to be a part of it.

I started by reading two blogs where I learned...well...everything I know.  Which is to say, very little, and yet a lot. That's just how much there is to learn.

Last week, both of these bloggers, just one day apart, announced they would no longer be blogging.  What now? I wondered.

This now, I guess. I thought I'd share the archives of their blogs here, their wealth of information, in the hopes that if you didn't begin there, you'll end up there anyway.

Allison Winn Scotch's Ask Allison

Jessica Faust's The BookEnds Literary Agency Blog

Is there a place you began learning about writing and publishing? Please share!

7 comments:

  1. I've been out of town and this is the first I'd hear of BookEnds Blog ending. I'm so sad. Still the end of the beginning means the beginning of something else. Hopefully it will be as good as the beginning was.

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  2. I LOVE Janice Hardy's blog. She is AMAZING and by far the most helpful and knowledgeable author I've read.

    http://blog.janicehardy.com/

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  3. I didn't know either of these blogs. Sadly.

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  4. Jessica Faust's was the first "industry" blog I read, too! Really bummed that she won't be blogging anymore.

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  5. Oh, that is sad to hear. I pop in on their blogs every once in awhile and you're right, it's good stuff. I read 4amwriter.com. She's part of my writing critique group.

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  6. Another of my favorites is Pub Rants, a blog run by Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency.

    www.pubrants.blogspot.com

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  7. Hi Melissa! I picked up this post from S.P. Bowers. It's a tragedy to see the Bookends blog go. It was one of the first blogs that introduced me to querying. I still have it on my Favorites. Sad, really.

    BTW, new follower to your blog, too! ;)

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