To do good writing, read good writing. Here’s the good writing I’ve been reading this week:
Beth Howard had a good life. After bailing out of the dot-com biz she worked in a Malibu pastry shop and became a pie baker to the stars, met the love of her life, traveled, settled down in Iowa and started what’s become a popular pie blog, The World Needs More Pie. Then, as she was starting to write a book about pie, her husband died unexpectedly. Flash forward 18 months and Howard not only got back to writing the pie book, she sold it to Harlequin Non-Fiction for publication in summer 2012. Read the first chapter of Making Piece: A Memoir about Love, Loss and Pie. Just like a good slice of apple cinnamon pie, I promise it’ll leave you wanting more.
More on Writing
Writing Advice and Blog Topics Sent Weekly (ChrisBrogan.com) – Master blogger – and self promoter – Chris Brogan now offers a weekly Blog Topics newsletter featuring writing prompts he says makes regular blogging easier. Subscribe for $9.97 a month. Not ready to shell out the big bucks? Here’s a freebie from Brogan: 20 Blog Topics to Get You Unstuck.
Data journalism discussion recap (WebJournalism.org) – From March 4 #wjchat.
More on the media business:
Google’s Journalism Prize and the 5 Groups That Should Win It (Fast Company) – The magazine looks at five examples of journalism innovation to inspire contestants after $2.7 million in prize money being offered by the search giant.
All of Facebook’s Like Buttons on Third-Party Sites Now Publish a Full News Feed Story (Facebook Insider) – I just tested this and can verify that it’s happening. If you read a story on a website and click on the Facebook “Like” button the publisher’s included, it will now publish the story’s headline, site and short story summary to your Facebook status.
More on inspiration:
The Worst Moments are Your Best Opportunity (Seth’s Blog)