Web Links and Children's List Links

While writing my book review of Sharon Creech’s Walk Two Moons, I ran across a great website. BloomsburyUSA. This site was launched in 1998 by Bloomsbury Publishing Plc. An England based publishing company and independent publisher. Its USA children’s list was launched in 2001.

I love looking through their children’s catalog. I have been told by many professionals that it is wise to read publishers catalogs before sending out queries. Reading publishing catalogs will give you a sense of the type of books they are interested in.

Also click here for free online data of reference books.

Write it down,

Carma

Eight Links to Expand Your Writing Know-How

There are literally thousands of web sites and blogs that are useful to writers. This wealth of information can be overwhelming. How does a writer, especially a new one, know who, what or where to turn? To help keep your mind from going wacka wacka and to help you cut through the cyber maze, I have chosen eight informative links for writers of children’s books, stories and articles that may be helpful.

Enjoy.

www.ukchildrensbooks.co.uk/pubs.html

www.signaleader.com

www.bookmarket.com/childrens.htm

www.write4kids.com

www.freelancewriting.com/writingcontests.php

http://owl.english.purdue.edu

www.asuen.com/blog.central.html

http://editorialanonymous.blogspot.com

Make New Friends with Trackback

This is my cat Orangey. She has kept me company many hours while I compose blogs and she is an excellent tracker. Ask any mouse around. Oh, that's right, there aren't any.

Unlike Orangey, most of the time I do more backtracking than trackbacking.


Since I began blogging, I have added approximately 15 blogs to my favorites column. I check these blogs on a mostly daily basis.

On top of that I have added about 16 links to a variety of articles with helpful hints from experienced professionals on writing and blogging.

Within all those links there will invariably be more links to research and digest. Deeper and deeper I go. What’s a girl to do?

My brain freezes and I get overwhelmed. I wail “Iwillneverbeabletodothis!! Iwillneverbeabletodothis!!!!" Then I exhale a long and weary sigh.

There is one word that keeps popping up in regards to linking and blog posts. That is trackback. I Googled it but it confused me more than helping. Then I went to Liz Strauss at Successful Bloggers and read her post on “What New Friends Have You Met and How Have You Made Life Easy for Them?” which prompted me to get brave and ask the question "What the heck is a trackback?"

She not only answered me but also sent me links to access some tools. I’m so thankful to have found such a wonderful community of caring people.

EDIT NOTE: AUTHOR ADDING CONTENT MARCH 30

Here are the Links Liz Strauss sent me. I am sure someone may have asked "Where are the links?" :)
Trackback Links here

Who uses trackback? What is a ping? I imagine I will, in time, become more familiar with blogging terminology, but until then I will take baby steps.

Write it down,
Karma

What's Your Motivation?

Today I was surfing blogs and I got sort of lost in the blogosphere where so much rich content is available to us. It is impossible, for me anyway, not to click on relevant links in a blog post. If there is any negativity associated with blogging this would be it, but there is nothing negative in helping other people as these links do.

For example Roger at Creative Think, made me think. (That’s a no brainer), but it is not that I thought-- it is that Roger accomplished his purpose which is to engage in a conversation with his readers. Roger invites us to read Tom Haskins post about Different Motivations for blogging. Tom sums up our motives in his concluding paragraph.

Different motives for blogging yield different impacts on the rest of us. Some blogs reflect a consistent motive while others change character often. There are some indications of bloggers evolving from base motivations to higher motives. These possible progressions lend to blogs making bigger and better differences in the world.

Next I go over to visit Suzanne Lieurance at The Lieurance Group where she reminds us of the wonderful world of information at our fingertips every day. For example if you are tired of using the old cliché and they are making your writing boring check out Cliché Finder or if you need a jump start when you are drawing a blank, go to 11 Rules of writing.

My next stop is at Design Your Writing Life, where Lisa Gates is inviting us to pass the SOAP and scratch each others back. Now, I thought blogging was a family affair. Well, we are a family filled with caring and helpful people and this is what I am finding on each and every blog I go to.

My perspective of blogging has undergone quite a change since I became a blogger, but I will reserve that observation for another day.

If you have watched enough Law and Order as I have, you would know that motive is usually considered a negative word. So let's use motive in a positive way this week. What is your motive for writing?

My motive is to express myself intelligently. Also, writing will give me the opportunity to think before I speak. Have you ever written in anger or even excitement and after the words simmer down a little you go back to read them but they don't have the same tone?

Write it down,
Karma