Newbie Writers/Publishing?/"Chlot"/Memoir/Silent Night

1.  Multi-published author Jody Hedlund gives sage advice to the novice writer. Don't miss these nuggets.

2.  So, you think you can make this publishing thing happen if you work hard enough. Ashley Clark shares her experiences at The Writer's Alley. There's much wisdom here if you'll read with an open heart.

3.  Wendy Paine Miller has an excellent post on "chlot." What is, "chlot?" Pop over to her  blog and find out. Hint: It will help you write your novel.

4.  LOL! This Weekend Potpourri is shaping up to be for writers. Readers, I promise the last link will be something for you.

In the meantime, I discovered a post at The Write Conversation on How Personal  Little Stories Become Big Bestsellers. If you're into writing a memoir, this is for you.

5.  Silent Night is one of the classic Christmas Carols. Like many songs, this one has a story. Janice Hayden submitted this article.

Here's a beautiful arrangement by Pentatonix on YouTube:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sme8N2pzRx8

Writers:  What do you think is more important to a novel: character or plot? Please explain.

Readers:  What is your favorite Christmas Carol?

Photo Credit:  Michael Pohl

Email/Recipe/Chuckle/De-Clutter/Encouragement

1.  Email. Love it? Hate it? How do you keep it from eating all your time? Check out this post by Claire Diaz-Ortiz for a great strategy on handling email. One interesting point: Deal with email when your energy levels are at their lowest point.

2.  Recipe time! I discovered this Pumpkin-Raspberry Bundt cake recipe at Lisa Lickel's blog, The Barn Door. It's just in time to practice before the big Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations. If you make it, let me know how it turns out. :)

3.  Chuckle for the day: Ane Mulligan shares her Melt Down at Stitches Through Time.

4.  After almost a month of Internet problems, I got back online and was promptly swamped. How do I ever catch up? I used some of that downtime to go through old papers in my office. It was still hard to chuck some of them into the trash even though I knew I'd never have time to deal with them.

Soon after, I found this article at Book Marketing Buzz Blog. Maybe it will help you as much as it helped me.

5.  At the Philly Conference, I met Allen Arnold. He taught a continuing session on The Heart of a Storyteller. Recently, I discovered this article by him at The Writer's Alley and decided to share it with you. It encouraged me. I will do what God gifted me to do.

Writers:  Do slips of paper with ideas fall from cabinets, spill over file folders, and litter your desk like confetti? How do you handle all the many projects you'll do someday? Do you re-file them or let them go at some point?

Readers: Since we're big into recipes lately, do you have a funny (even if it wasn't funny at the time) story about cooking or kitchen mishaps? Please share. (If you don't want to share here, maybe I've given you an idea for a future blog post of your own.)

Photo Credit:  Agne Kveselyte