Some links to peruse and a treat at the end.
The Writer and Money
Matt Haig write a fun post on why writers should not write only for money.
Firstly, writing is not for those who want the security of knowing what they are going to be earning. If you are after something financially predictable try something more sensible. Like acting. Or street-performing. Or the lottery.
The Art of Story Velcro
Rachel Aaron on how hooks don’t just get the reader to start the story, they keep them stuck to it like – well, velcro.
You know how sometimes you’ll have a book that you’re enjoying, but it takes you forever to finish? Like, it’s good and you want to know how the story ends, but life conspires and you just keep putting it down. Now, you know those books that take you over? The books that keep you up until all hours of the night when you desperately need to sleep but you simply can not put the sucker down? Yeah, those books.
Five Goodreads Do’s and Don’ts
Heidi Belleau with advice on how to use Goodreads as an author without pissing everyone right off.
So earlier this morning I got linked to a blog post series for authors on how to use Goodreads that quickly devolved into some 100% Bad Advice, namely that you should PM all the readers in the groups you’re a member of with a sloppily disguised form message telling them about your books (but saying you’re not going to pressure them into buying them or anything, so that makes it all okay, right? WRONG!!!)
In Defence of Dirty Books
Josephine Myles on Jessewave’s blog talking about the naughtier end of the erotic romance genre.
What books am I talking about? I’m talking romantic porn. You know the sort of book: the one where the plot is the thinnest excuse for hanging together a series of sex scenes. Romance readers feel cheated because there’s little in the way of a romantic arc: just two unfeasibly hot men (or whatever gender combination you like) shagging like rabbits at every opportunity. Erotica addicts get annoyed because it isn’t edgy or literary enough, and there’s too much lovey-dovey snuggling for their tastes.
Plot Fixer, Part 7: How To Pick Up The Pace In Your Story
Kara Lennox on Writer’s in the Storm blog about saggy middles and plots that run too fast.
If a number of bad things are going to happen to your character, try to arrange them from least horrible to most horrible. And give the reader a bit of reaction time between scenes of high drama or high action or danger, so they can catch their breath. Then, just when the reader has relaxed a bit, BAM, you hit them with something else.
What do editors look for?
Some practical and general advice from Treva Harte about submitting. Short, but useful!
1) Put your email addy on your manuscript. Things can be separated, even in cyberspace, and definitely on paper. It’s incredibly frustrating to read a ms. and then try to figure out how to contact someone.
… and some have controversy thrust upon them …
Melanie Tushmore blogs as a guest of Clare London about her surprise at the controversy a menage scene in her new book Crucifox has caused.
Lately, I’ve read a lot of rumblings online about readers becoming bored with the predictable plotlines in m/m romance books. I can’t comment on that, because typical romances aren’t what I read anyway (to each their own, c’est la vie, and all that…) but if there is such a gripe towards reading the predictable, why are readers so reluctant to try something different?
Guest Blogger Alex Beecroft – Some Thoughts On Fifty Shades Of Grey
Alex Beecroft on the 50 Shades phenomenon and the shaming off women for their choice of reading material.
And what happens? Do we celebrate the fact that women are getting rich from giving other women what they want? That female authors are on top of the world? Do we celebrate the fact that some women are discovering that they can talk about their sex drives in public? Even while we’re shaking our heads in bemusement that their kink is not our kink, do we feel happy for them that they at least are feeling safe enough to express themselves? No. What happens is that the world comes together to denounce those women for wanting to read what they want to read, and to belittle those authors for giving it to them.
Fun story of the month – Saudi Arabia apparently deported three men visiting from the United Arab Emirates for an arts festival on the grounds they were too handsome. The story was already doing the rounds nicely as a silly story. And then the guy below – Omar Borkan Al Gala – got attached to the story as possibly being one of the men, and naturally the whole thing exploded. It’s still unclear if he was one of them or not, but he certainly fits the profile. He’s from the UAE. He’s in the arts. Oh and he’s quite ridiculously handsome.
Me? Too handsome?
Okay, it’s a fair cop.
Guilty as charged!
The Red Dragon is a ship in trouble. It was once the pride of the Outer Spiral Trading Company’s fleet, but is neglected and fallen from its old glory. It’s a ship in need of love – and a new captain.
You can have a last go at entering a contest to win a paperback copy of 
