Good Links: June ’10 Edition

I’ve been neglecting my monthly tradition of posting good links that I’ve come across for several months now. Which means I have a mitt full. To be kind, I will only post a few.

Here goes:

Writer Advice and Other Interesting Writerly Stuff:

Word Counts at Renaissance Learning. Have you been wondering what the word count is on Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business (6603), The Princess Diaries (58,954), Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince (169,441), or Pride and Prejudice (121,342)? This great little online store is searchable by title and will tell you the reading level, interest level, and word count of each title. It doesn’t have many adult titles, but it is a great resource for those writing for kids or teens and would like to see word counts for comparison purposes.

Terrible Minds…not so terrible advice on how to get writing down on the page. (If you are offended by f-bombs, etc, this site might not be for you.)

The First Page of your manuscript. A nice little smack upside the noggin by Editorial Ass in case you were deluding yourself that your first page doesn’t truly matter. You have a few pages to get the story right, right? Er… you’d better read this one.

Writerisms and Other Sins. A few things to avoid in your writing by C.J. Cherryh. Some essential tricks and tips that will instantly improve your writing.

Laura Miller weighs on a five things writers need to keep in mind when writing. (What do you mean? Atmosphere/Setting isn’t as important as the story? I’m kidding, but it is a good thing to keep in mind as well as her other tips.)

How do you name that character? Advice from writers on picking that perfect name.

Queries:

Rachelle Gardner offers a few query mistakes that may make you look amateur.

Slush Pile Hell. It’s funny because lines from my worst query hasn’t been included.

Research and Conferences:

60 Awesome Search Engines For Serious Writers: A list of links to publishers, encyclopedias, online communities, and more. A place to go to start your search. (If you visit this link, scroll down to the list. It’s pub date is June 20th.)

Some people I ‘know’ on the internet are creating a wonderful (free?!!!) online conference (Write On Con) for kidlit writers. It sounds like it’s going to be great.

Fun Stuff:

Window Farms: If you are a city dweller bemoaning the fact that you can’t grow your own garden, moan no more. These smart little indoor farms are an earth-friendly solution to your gardening woes. (Those not in a city can build them too, of course.)

How to Make Your Stuff Last Longer from Life Hacker. Because I am the queen of stretching every last bit of life out of my belongings, I pass this on to you. (I have a new Mac waiting for me to use it, but I am still using my PC. Why? Not because I have 32 tabs open in Firefox and can’t be bothered to get them over to my Mac, or because I have literally over 3000 messages in my inbox (807 unread) and don’t want to sift through them or forward them. Okay, yes, that might actually be a large reason seeing as my PC had issues starting up (again) this morning, but I swear, there is still a bit of life left in it! I can keep using it, right? Right? You know, on second thought I’d better finalize switching over before I lose everything…. (again)

Have a great July!