These are resources that have taught me what it means to be a writer. They come from writers and industry professionals all over the blog-o-sphere. From posts that teach to posts that inspire, I hope you find them as helpful as I did. But if not, no worries. Every writer walks a different path!

Feel free to contact me if you have questions or come across a broken link: db (at) dbsmyth (dot) com.

Happy Writing!

Blogs to Follow

• The Sharp Angle, by Lydia Sharp
• The Other Side of the Story, by Janice Hardy
• The Bookshelf Muse, by Becca Puglisi & Angela Ackerman
• Write to Publish, by Robin Sullivan

• The Sharp Angle: Professional Resources, by Lydia Sharp
• The Sharp Angle: Blog Love, by Lydia Sharp
• The Other Side of the Story: Online Resources, by Janice Hardy

In a Class All Its Own

• 5 Writing Tips from Laini Taylor, via Publishers Weekly
• The Ten Commandments of the Successful Author, by Roni Loren
• Validation, by Michelle Davidson Argyle
• The Most Dangerous Game, by JS Chancellor
• I Get Knocked Down, by D.B. Smyth
• Your Public Persona – Proudly Wearing the Author Badge, by Lydia Sharp
• A Writer’s Guide to a Healthy and Happy Marriage, by Liza Kane

Ink & Paper (aka Plotting)

• Scene Stuff, by Laini Taylor
• The Doctor is in the House–Novel Diagnostics, by Kristen Lamb
• 4 Steps for Ogranizing Plot Ideas Into a Novel, by Jody Hedlund
• If at First You Don’t Succeed… Then You Know You’re Writing a First Draft, by Janice Hardy
• Conquering the Logline, by Lydia Sharp
• The Difference Between the Inciting Incident and the Catalyst, by Lydia Sharp
• How To Set Up Your Story Without Boring Your Audience, by Lydia Sharp
• The Great Debate: Should I or Shouldn’t I?, by Lydia Sharp
• The Promise of Your Premise, by Lydia Sharp
• What’s Your (Mid)Point, by Lydia Sharp
• The Big Squeeze, by Lydia Sharp
• Dropping the Bomb, by Lydia Sharp
• The Grand Finale, by Lydia Sharp
• Turn Out the Lights, the Party’s Over, by Lydia Sharp
• Outlines (The Picture Edition), by The Ink Phantom (aka Annie Cechini)
• Learning from Hollywood – High Concept in Women’s Fiction, by Lydia Sharp
• Born to Write Outside the Lines… since 8th grade at least, by Stephanie Kuehnert @ YW Outside the Lines
• Brainstorming–Shannon Style, by Shannon Whitney Messenger
• Outlining–Shannon Style, by Shannon Whitney Messenger
• Critiquing–Shannon Style, by Shannon Whitney Messenger
• 4 Post-its to Stick Up Over Your Writing Desk, by A. Victoria Mixon
• Five Writing Tips from Reading JK Rowling’s Harry Potter, by Nathan Bransford
• Send up the (Red) Flag: Words That Often Spell Trouble, by Janice Hardy
• Story Rulez: Things Every Story Needs to Do, by Janice Hardy
• Mistakes We Make With Middles, by Janice Hardy via Sierra Godfrey
• Back to the Basics: What Makes a Story a Story?, by Lydia Sharp
• It’s Show Time! Show vs Tell, by Janice Hardy
• Make Your Ending as Big as Possible, by Lydia Sharp

You’re Such a Character!

• Character Traits vs. Author Traits, by Lydia Sharp
• Tuesday Tunes – Toxic Relationships, by Lydia Sharp
• Creating Characters–Shannon Style, by Shannon Whitney Messenger
• Writing Dialogue: Shannon Style, by Shannon Whitney Messenger
• How to establish your characters: openings, by Jason Black
• Shaving the Handlebar Mustache off Your Villain, by D.B. Smyth
• A First Class Bad Guy: How X-Men Can Help You Craft a Better Antagonist, by Janice Hardy

Balancing Act

• Finding a Writing Schedule that Works, by Jody Hedlund
• I Guess You Could Call It A Map That Leads Me To Writing…, by JM Tohline
• NYC 2011: Sara Zarr gives the speech that she wanted to hear, by Candy Gourlay
• 7 R’s of of Positivity for the Unpublished Novelist, by Lydia Sharp @ Writer Unboxed

Queries… Ahhhhhhhh!

• When an agent requests your manuscript, by Susan Dennard @ Let the Words Flow
• The Key Elements of Your Novel Query Bio, by Jane Friedman
• How to Ensure 75% of Agents Will Request Your Material, by Marcus Sakey via Jane Friedman
• Query Blitz (live chat archives 10.13.2011), via Annie L. Cechini

The After-Math… You mean you like me? You really like me?!

• How to Handle Subjective & Contradictory Feedback, by Jody Hedlund
• Want to Be a Professional Writer? Act Like One!, by James Scott Bell @ The Kill Zone
• Should I Tweet?, by Betsy Lerner @ Publishing Perspectives
• No knight, no shining armor, by Seth Godin
• 11 Ways to Convince Readers to Buy Your eBook, by Web Marketing Ninja @ ProBlogger
• Plugging Your Ears, by Kiersten White
• Fighting the Green-Eyed Jealousy Monster, by Jody Hedlund
• Welcome to Fight Club, by jschancellor
• Did someone pee in your review pool?, by Lauren DeStefano

Lost in Twitterland

• Thursday Thoughts: on Twitter (yes I know it’s Friday), by Liza Kane
• Across the Twitterverse: The Lists, by Liza Kane
• 13 Reasons Why You Didn’t Get Followed Back, by Lauren Dugan
• 0 – 4000 in a snap! How to build a quality Twitter following FAST, by Molly Greene

Just Plain Business

• How to Meaningfully Grow Traffic to Your Site/Blog, by Jane Friedman
• 10 Reasons Your Blog Readers Don’t Hang Around, by Judy Dunn
• 10 Steps to Making Your Author Blog a Rockin’ Success, by Judy Dunn via A.Victoria Mixon
• 25 Things to Know about Self-publishing, via terribleminds
• Twitter for Dummies (and Writers): Why Every Writer Needs Social Media, by Liliana Hart
• 10 Creative Ways to Use Instagram for Business, by Vanessa Au via Social Media Examiner