To do good writing, read good writing. Here’s the good writing I’ve been reading this week.
When you’ve had a blog for a while — I’m into my sixth year — there days when it feels like you’ve said everything there is to be said on the subject you write about. That can make it miserable to come up with ideas for new posts.
Solution: find other bloggers who write about what you write about and read what they’re writing. You could be inspired to riff on a subject that they’re passionate about. You could link to something they’ve done.
For this week’s good reads for writers, I turned to the freelance writers, authors, writing coaches and bloggers participating in the 2013 Blogathon, and am sharing writing-related posts they wrote during the past seven days.
So thanks, Blogathon bloggers, for being my inspiration.
Inspiring Reads for Writers
Give yourself permission to write garbage (Writing on the Pages of Life) – Don’t sweat that first draft.
Incubation (Jennifer Willis) – Sometimes you need to sit on a story idea for a while.
How to keep the writerly home fires burning (The Belle Dame Sans Merci) – Blogger Mikaela D’Eigh shares her top 5 writing blogs to read for inspiration to keep up the blogging mojo you cultivated during the Blogathon.
Favorite Nora Ephron quotes (That Girl is Back) – I love Nora Ephron, and saw her last play, “Lucky Guy,” when I was in New York this spring. In her plays, movies, books and essays, she was a quote machine, and these examples are proof.
MSU offers free online writing course (Writing on the Pages of Life) – Two Michigan State University professors are teaching a free online course, “Think Like a Writer.” Sound interesting? Act fast – the class runs July 1 to Aug. 31.
Quick! Hand me the ‘Zinsser’! (The Writer’s Clinic) – Jean Gogolin expounds on her favorite book on writing well, William Zinsser’s classic, On Writing Well. “It beats Strunk and White by a mile,” she says. “Mine is about 3 feet from my computer and the pages are falling out.” Mine is about 3 feet from my desk too. I’ve praised Zinsser on this pages before, read William Zinsser and On Writing Well, and How does Zinsser’s On Writing Well pertain to science writers?
22 things journalists know to be true (BuzzFeed U.K.) – Your LOL of the day.
Writing and Blogging Mechanics
A list of every possible type of web page (No. 2 Pen blog) – Thank you Sara Lancaster for compiling a list of 74 – count ’em, 74 – different types of pages a solo entrepreneur or small business could add to their website or blog, including an About page, fact sheet, media kit, comment box, what’s new and a whole lot more.
Five tips for posting from the road (Aunt JuJu’s Perspective) – Blogging from the road can be “surprisingly fairly easy,” says Julia Tite Biggs, aka Aunt JuJu. Here she shares suggestions such as downloading apps so you can write posts from your smartphone or iPad, and plugging in to recharge said phone (or laptop) whenever possible.
Need to record an interview for free? (Jan Udlock) – Udlock, a Portland virtual assistant, shares her secret for recording interviews and other phone calls. Hint – it’s a free conference call service. Read the post for details.
Building a powerful email list-building system – create your free offer (Anne Headen) – Anne isn’t specifically addressing writers or bloggers in this post, but if you’re trying to build a mailing list to promote a book, or your writing services, it’s definitely useful.
[Wikimedia Commons photo courtesy Dake]