Three Links
Loleta Abi
Writing:
1. https://www.janefriedman.com/story-blowing-smoke/ “Today’s post is by regular contributor Peter Selgin, the award-winning author of Your First Page. He offers first-page critiques to show just how much useful critical commentary and helpful feedback can be extracted from a single page—the first page—of a work-in-progress.”
2. https://www.helpingwritersbecomeauthors.com/how-to-choose-the-right-antagonist-for-any-type-of-story/ “Here’s how to choose the right antagonist for your story. You know “If I Didn’t Have You”—that song John Goodman and Billy Crystal belt out at the end of Monsters, Inc.? It’s this total bromance duet about the undying friendship of our two favorite monsters. But pretty much every lyric in there could also be crooned in gratitude by any good protagonist to any good antagonist:
I wouldn’t be nothing
If I didn’t have you
I wouldn’t know where to go
Wouldn’t know what to do
The antagonist may not be the big-money reason readers pick up a book or audiences flock to a theater. But he is ultimately the reason the protagonist either a) has a reason to stop wasting her life eating potato chips on the couch or b) doesn’t just coast through every obstacle with boring ease.” My antagonist, like my protagonists just seem to grown from the pinpoint of light they start out in my Muse.
3. https://www.livewritethrive.com/2019/11/25/5-ways-to-adjust-your-attitude-to-run-the-writing-marathon/ “Have you ever asked: “What on earth possessed me to want to be a novelist?” Are you starting to realize this journey of being an author is not a short sprint but a marathon—and often a grueling one at that? I bet a lot of you doing NaNoWriMo are thinking this by now.
With the hundreds of thousands of novels submitted to agents and publishers each year, you sometimes think winning the lottery offers better odds than getting traditionally published.
But then . . . you finally break through and get a contract, and months later are holding your brand-new brilliant release in your hand, feeling as if you’ve finally arrived at the finish line.” I still love to spend time with my stories and I hope to send them off for others to enjoy as well.
Research & Fun Bits:
1. https://writersinthestormblog.com/2019/11/how-to-navigate-editorial-feedback-and-revise-your-wip/ “The idea of finishing a manuscript is exhilarating—especially if you’re in the thrilling rush of momentum that is NaNoWriMo. (Hope it’s going great, NaNoers!) But as rewarding as it is to complete a draft, most writers know that isn’t the end of the road, just the first rest stop. Before you reach your destination—meaning agents, publishers, readers—you have to get out of the echo chamber of your own head and see what’s actually on the page. And for that, writers need objective feedback.
Yet once you get that feedback—whether you’re hiring a professional editor, sending the manuscript to your crit partners, or soliciting input from beta readers—what do you do with it?
It can be overwhelming to look at pages of editorial letter (often upward of 6-7K words, if you’re working with me), dozens or even hundreds of embedded comments, or an array of varying opinions among your critiquers and readers and process it all, let alone figure out what (and how) to translate that to your story.
Here are my step-by-step suggestions for how to navigate editorial feedback and most effectively approach revisions.”
2. http://booksbywomen.org/the-surprising-silver-lining-of-unsuccessfulness/ “There is a lot of fuss and celebration when a book comes into the world: we do interviews, readers tag us in social media posts, friends near and far send congratulations. And then, inevitably, the world moves on. Messages—and sales—slow down, sometimes to a trickle, and for some, the inevitable silence can be overwhelming. The world must move on. It must make way for more new books, the attention has to shift, and we can end up feeling like our book has been too quickly forgotten.
I would never deny the truth of this. In fact, I’ve been thinking about it quite a bit lately. As I write this article, my book has now been out in the world for a little over six months. I am no longer expecting any great news, and it feels for the most part like this particular book has run its course.
In some ways, this is a little sad for me. I know it doesn’t happen this way for every debut. Some hit bestseller lists or win major awards. Some continue to sell really well, sometimes for years, and put the author in a great position to sell their next book or even their next few books. To see that kind of success for my own work would have been gratifying.
But as I was considering all this and thinking about what I’d like to share in this article, I’ve been finding myself focusing more on the upside of continuing to be a nobody in the literary world even post-publication. For me, there have actually been some advantages to it.” I like her attitude. Very gracious.
3. https://somethingferal.wordpress.com/2019/11/25/sacred-executioner/
Some Things More Serious:
1. https://stevelaube.com/a-personal-thanks/
2. https://www.booksandsuch.com/blog/patron-of-the-arts/ “Over the centuries, a “patron of the arts” referred to (usually) the very wealthy and/or influential who commissioned artists, supported young or budding artists until they could support themselves, advocated for art of all kinds, and served as a benefactor so artists had financial and creative space to…well…create.”
3. https://seths.blog/2019/11/if-every-day-were-thanksgiving/
Teaser Fiction & Poetry:
1. https://charmedchaos.com/2019/11/24/silent-sunday-4/
2. https://jenanita01.com/2019/11/24/robin-and-the-frost/
Book Reviews, Cover Reveals, & Author Interviews:
1. http://lizlovesbooks.com/lizlovesbooks/top-ten-for-2019-my-best-reads-this-year/
3. https://scvincent.com/2019/11/25/swords-redrawn-bookextract-fantasy/ “Some years ago, I published a fantasy novel, set in the magical landscape of Yorkshire. It was initially written to preserve some of the stories and folklore I had learned as a child, wandering the moors with my grandfather. From there it grew and became something I had not expected, making me laugh and cry as I wrote.
When it was published, I was new to self-publishing and wholly inexperienced; the story deserved better. But it is never too late to make amends, so I am happy to launch the new edition of Swords of Destiny.”
A Dash of Words with Loleta Abi Romance Author 
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