Two Twists on New Year’s Resolutions for Writers

Not all writing-related resolutions must involve waking up an hour earlier to draft a few hundred words, or sending out a certain number of submissions each month. Just consider these two approaches:

The Book Publicity Blog has posted a set of (mainly) publicity-related resolutions you might want to adopt, especially if you have a new/forthcoming book. For example: “Set up a Google Alert for your book (or all your books if you’re a book publicist).” And “Make sure an author’s web presence is established early, as in, by the time galleys are sent to the media (typically four-six months before a book goes on sale).”

And since there’s a considerable amount of business e-mail in most practicing writers’ lives–requesting guidelines, pitching article ideas, submitting stories or essays or poems, corresponding about assignments, dealing with invoices and payment, etc.–we can surely benefit from a refresher course on how to handle e-mail communications via “10 Business E-Mail Etiquette New Year’s Resolutions.” Truly excellent material there.

The Wednesday Web Browser: Questions for Deborah Treisman, Wiki for Job Seekers, and Guidance for Guest Bloggers

Have a question for New Yorker fiction editor Deborah Treisman? Ask it here. And don’t forget to check out the magazine’s new Winter Fiction Issue, which is packed with promising stuff I have yet to read!
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John Griswold (aka “Oronte Churm”) points us to a wiki for those on the academic job market in creative writing.
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Guest-blogging advice
galore on Buzz, Balls & Hype. (via The Book Publicity blog)

The Wednesday Web Browser: AWP 2009, Jewish Book Council blog, and Joe the Plumber-Author?

Are you a student seeking to save money and simultananeouly attend the next Association of Writers and Writing Programs (AWP) conference? If you’re willing to volunteer at the conference in exchange for your registration fees, click here. And if you’re already planning to attend AWP–say, for the first time, because you have a job interview lined up–you’ll find this advice for conference rookies worth reading (even if, in my experience, AWP is a significantly less formal event than some of those cited in the article I’m sending you to).
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In case you haven’t yet seen this on my other blog: Check out the Jewish Book Council’s new blog.
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Envying Joe the Plumber and an assortment of others who seem to fall directly into book deals? Timothy Egan feels your pain.