Daily Archives: February 9, 2012

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News You Can Use – A Mashup

This month, I decided to share with you some of the interesting things Iâ€™ve been finding on the Internet lately. Some of this, you may already know. Some of it may be new and interesting to you.

You know that we have a cool class coming up next week here at OCC. Linda O. Johnston is teaching a class on writing cozy mysteries. I am totally signed up!

Another writer friend told me about this class, More than Word: Getting the Most from Scrivener for Mac. My friend took it last year and she just raved about it. Iâ€™m signing up for this one, too! And if youâ€™re a Windows user, it says that you can sign up, with instructor approval.

If you missed our November class on talking back to your brain, the instructors wrote a great blog post about it at Writers in the Storm. Trust me, you need to read this article if you havenâ€™t yet.

I personally love learning about how the brain works, and my husband sent me this link about how storytellers and their listeners begin to sync their brains. Even though this is a study with a verbal storyteller, I bet there is something to the rhythms in our writing that could be studied in a similar way.

Speaking of writing, I found this checklist for your scenes interesting.

If you prefer questions to ask yourself about your writing, or if you like writing prompts, the Donald Maass Agency has this list on their web site. Itâ€™s on the page that says, “what weâ€™re looking for this month.” Nothing is listed there right now, but if you want to know what agent Nicole Resciniti is looking for right now, here is an interview with her on Honestly YA.

You probably already heard about Harlequin buying the Heartsong Presents line from Barbour Books. I read about it on Steve Laubeâ€™s blog. Even though I know Steve, Iâ€™ve never gotten around to reading his blog before. (Sorry Steve!) But I noticed there is all kinds of great stuff on it, including a series on creativity by author and former agent Karen Ball.

Youâ€™ve probably also heard the rumors about Amazon opening a bricks and mortar store. Here is an article confirming a store opening in Seattle later this year.

And finally, the most fun item comes from my friend Shonna at Routines for Writers. Here is a blog post with a whole list of fun writer gifts! I totally want a bag with my book cover on it! LOL!

I hope you find one or more of these topics of interest to you. Enjoy!

Kitty Bucholtz decided to combine her undergraduate degree in business, her years of experience in accounting and finance, and her graduate degree in creative writing to become a writer-turned-independent-publisher. Her first novel, Little Miss Lovesick, was released in September 2011 as an ebook and will be available soon in print format. Kitty has also written magazine articles, devotionals, and worked as a magazine editor. She is the co-founder of Routines for Writers where she blogs every Monday. Her next novel, Love at the Fluff N Fold, will be released in Spring 2012.

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