This week I’m dipping into the well of posts new and old to share links to a handful that offer timeless advice on writing and the writing business.

On writing:

How to: Optimize Your Content for Social Discovery (Mashable) – Thanks to social networks, the tide is turning away from keyword density and back to basics such as writing good headlines and giving people interesting, original information, online content expert David Sasson writes in this guest post.

Time Lost and Found (Sunset) – In this year-old column, essayist and author Anne Lamott says anybody can find enough time to write, it’s just a matter of wanting it badly enough, and then doing it. Inspiring – then again, she usually is.

10 Ways Twitter Makes You a Better Writer (Ask a Tech Teacher) – Nothing earth shaking here, but a good review anyway. Highlights: Twitter can help keep writing tight and bright; improves headline writing (and editors love writers who turn in headlines with their stories) and makes you think carefully about word choice.

On the writing business:

How Freelance Writers Can Make Conferences Pay (The Writing Coach Blog) – Freelancer Maya Smart shares tactics for making the most from attending professional conferences. Some of the keys, she says, are planning in advance what sessions you’ll attend, and volunteering and mingling to meet people who could potentially give you work. Good advice, especially with the 2011 American Society of Journalists and Authors conference coming up at the end of the month.

The paidContent 50: The 50 Most Successful Digital Media Companies in the U.S. (paidConent) – Wondering which online writing markets you should be tracking? This could help – though the names on it will surprise you. According to paidContent, “companies that make most of their money selling online content or subscriptions took only 13 of the 50 spots.” Moral of the story: when it comes to pitching, time to start thinking outside the box.

Robert Scobble on How to Build a Career in Media (PBS MediaShift) – MediaShift’s Roland Legrand does a video interview with Robert Scobble, the well-known tech blogger, on what it takes to jumpstart a journalism career today. Scobble’s tips in a nutshell: newspapers aren’t hiring, seek other opportunities; make yourself an expert in an under-served niche; get access to hard-to-access sources; learn how to do multimedia; learn how to promote your work on social networks.

If you want to be a reporter, you have to read the news. That used to mean reading a newspaper every morning, or even two or three. Now you can get your daily dose of news online. I’m agnostic on that point, as long as you read.

To be a good writer, you’ve got to read good writing. I read The New Yorker because I love the story mix, You never know what you’ll get from one week to the next, but there’s a 99.9 percent chance you’ll be captivated by a story on a subject you never realized could be so fascinating, or even existed.

Right now I’m reading two of my favorite authors. One is Anne Lamott, the dreadlocks-wearing, born-again, liberal writer from California’s Marin County who gained attention in 1993 with “Operating Instructions”, her hilarious, soulful account of the birth of her son and their first year together. I’m listening to Lamott’s book “Plan B: Further Thoughts on Faith” on CD. Listening to Lamott’s voice is like listening to a sermon: soothing and spiritual and good in small doses, a perfect companion for afternoon carpool rounds.

The other is Susan Straight, an ex-newspaper copy editor and current college professor who lives in southern California’s dusty Inland Empire. I first discovered Straight when my old book group “I’ve Been in Sorrow’s Kitchen and Licked Out All the Pots”. I’ve also read “Highwire Moon”, which was a National Book Award nominee. Now I’m reading “A Million Nightingales” and it promises to be as good as the others.

It’s a coincidence that I’m reading both of these authors at the same time. Apart from gender and geography they don’t have a lot in common. But each does have a distinct and authentic voice. They sound so much like themselves. Because their books read so well, they make achieving that seem easy. But getting to that place requires enormous effort and practice.