Reading List

This blogster, "Twenty-Five Books in Thirty Days," is going through creative nonfiction writers dealing with place. List of classics.

Books as Works of Art

I got a link today to show off really charming sculptures made of books. When you want to do something besides read a book, I guess.

Quote

"To a clear eye the smallest fact is a window through which the infinite may be seen."

-Thomas Henry Huxley, biologist and writer (1825-1895)

Online Writer Markets

Below is a list of websites for online writer markets, passed on by a friend who got it from the memoir writing class she's taking at a local bookstore. I didn't check the links.

(Hopefully) helpful links:
Online market search (mostly literary journals):
http://duotrope.com/
http://www.newpages.com/
http://portal.webdelsol.com/
http://www.clmp.org/ (Council of Literary Magazines and Presses)

Magazines with calls for submissions and great lists of publications:
http://www.pw.org/ (includes agent database)
http://www.writersdigest.com/
http://www.awpwriter.org/magazine/

Great resources for freelancers (including job listings)
http://www.mediabistro.com/
http://www.woodenhorsepub.com/
http://www.erikadreifus.com/resources/where-to-publish/

Writing for radio
http://newscript.com/

Writers Market (includes Poets Market. Pay for online services and/or
buy print edition. Lists agents.)
http://www.writersmarket.com/

Start with a Bang

Standard advice: Start your story in the middle of action. Readers want to be grabbed and pulled in. Those books that start with lengthy descriptions of weather, for example, are so 18th century.

Today's tidbit is from Booklist, which reviews umpteen million books for "librarians, book groups, and book lovers--from the trusted experts at the American Library Association," as they put it. Two middle school librarians (nobody goes to junior high anymore?) put together a list of great first lines, but regardless of your specialty, it's a fun list. Here's a sample:

“That nice Mrs. Kramer lied to me about third grade.”
–from Marty McGuire by Kate Messner (Scholastic 2011)

I'd love to hear what your favorite first lines from CNF books are!