New Blog!

Hey all! I'm graduating to a WordPress blog that should theoretically allow me to do so much more than the Blogger blog. Of course, that depends on my ability to navigate everything. Hop on over to my new blog jeanknightpace.com

Have a look around and tell me what you think. Are all the buttons and links working? Is there anything about it that annoys you or is overly difficult. Let me know!

Hope to see you there!

jeanknightpace.com

My Favorite Books on the Craft of Writing

1. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott. It's just the best.

2. Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. You know how sometimes when you want to clean out your house you read a book on cleaning. It's not that you need that particular method; you just need a book to inspire you to clean, maybe some tips and fresh ideas. Writing Down the Bones is kind of like that. Truthfully it's full of fantastic advice for writers, but even more than that, just reading it inspires you to write.

3. Writing Fiction by Janet Burroway. Basic good advice laid out in an easy-to-read approachable way.

4. On Writing by Stephen King. I don't know why I liked this one so much--partly because the first half is King's memoir and it's fantastic. As far as the art of writing--Stephen King just made it incredibly approachable and basic. Also, he addresses the idea of writing for genres or for the mass market, but still writing well (often when we talk about writing, we discuss it in an esoteric, artsy-fartsy sort of way; King doesn't do that, and we can all appreciate that).

5. Publish Your Book: Proven Strategies and Resources for the Enterprising Author by Patricia Fry. Not exactly the craft of writing, but the craft of getting your books sold. Which is part of why we write. I appreciate that she has advice that can be useful to both traditionally published and self-published writers.

Bonus. How to Write a Novel: 47 Rules for Writing a Stupendously Awesome Novel That You Will Love Forever by Nathan Bransford. This book just caught my eye. I love the title and am going to give it a whirl. If you've read it, let me know what you think.

Find Me on Twitter

And now, because I'm hip and cool and not overly verbose at all (all lies), you can find me on Twitter.

For the record, I'm super old (as in 38) and so I have utterly no idea what I'm doing on Twitter yet. Though I want to learn. How could any bird-lover (which I am) not wish to tweet her days away?

So look for me here!

Find Me on Facebook!

This poor blog is not getting the attention it deserves. I will definitely try to rectify that in the coming weeks. I'm busy setting up a new blog with WordPress that I hope will be up and running within the next month. It will give me some more freedom to do some things with the blog that I won't be able to do as easily with Blogger.

In the meantime, I plan to post a little something or other on this blog every week.

If you're looking for me in other places, come on over to my author page on Facebook.

A Busy Mother's Guide to Establishing a Writing Life

Just got an article published with Author's Publish about how to write when you're a busy Mom. Check it out here.

Also, consider signing up for the Author's Publish newsletter. It comes to your email once a week and is a fantastic resource for finding publishers, new journals, or just getting some fresh advice.

My Book Just Won a Contest

My book just won a contest with Ink Smith Publishing!!!

I'm exclamation pointing it up all over the place!!! It's embarrassing.

Not really. Let's have a few more for good measure.

!!!!!!!

There. I feel better. ! (oops, another just slipped out)

You'll find the announcement right HERE!

Food for Thought

Fairy tales are more than true; 

not because they tell us that dragons exist; 

but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten. 

G.K. Chesterton