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Quote of the day
The tipping point is that magic moment when an idea, trend, or social behavior crosses a threshold, tips, and spreads like wildfire.
~MALCOLM GLADWELL, author of The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
WRITING
Sending Your Character Back Home, Go Teen Writers | Tweet
One of the most rewarding parts of a story is when we get to see how much a character has changed. There are lots of ways to show this, but something I really like to see is a character being “sent home.”
How to Write Great Characters: The Key to Your Hero’s Growth and Transformation
How to Whip Your Muse into Shape, The Write Practice | Tweet
The Muse has gotten a bad rap for being temperamental and ruling Her artists by cruel whims. One day She’ll bless the writer with a flood of words that keeps him or her up until dawn. Then She’ll disappear for weeks.
Writing with the Muse: Opening to Conscious Creativity
- Voice Drift: Does your manuscript have it?, Write Divas | Tweet
You know when you’re around that one friend who speaks in an accent (Southern, British, Spanish, etc.) and after a while you find yourself using the same words and phrases or speaking with a similar accent as that friend? This is called voice drift.
Finding Your Voice: How to Put Personality in Your Writing
3 Tools to Help Part Time Writers Work Smarter, Stay Focused and Track Progress, Fiction Notes | Tweet
I work! Over and over, I said this to people, “I work!” Writing is work. I happen to love it, but unless and until you approach it as a job – even if it’s only a part-time job – you won’t be taken seriously.
The Art of Slow Writing: Reflections on Time, Craft, and Creativity
SCREENWRITING
- A WRITER’S VOICE: BIRDMAN – Writing a Screenplay is Like Writing a Poem, Script Mag | Tweet
Birdman did not begin with a high-profile director saying, “let’s figure out a cool gimmick that nobody has ever done before.” Birdman began with an observation by writer-director Alejandro González Iñárritu. His observation was that life doesn’t happen in cuts. Life doesn’t feel like cuts.
- 10 Things You Might Not Know About James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’, Screen Crush | Tweet
The design of the Na’vi was one of the most striking parts of James Cameron’s Avatar, an entire race of people with their own look and language. But the look of the Na’vi didn’t come from Cameron or his talented team of artists. They actually came from his mom.
SELF-PUBLISHING
- Are eBooks Really Dying?, Author Marketing Experts | Tweet
There’s been a lot of noise out there recently around eBook sales lagging behind print and already several news outlets are heralding the return of the print book. Candidly I’m not sure it was ever dead.
Ebooks: Secrets To Getting Ahead (Indie Authors Guide Book 1)
- Yes, No, or Maybe? How a Business Plan Can Help the Indecisive Writer, Positive Writer | Tweet
You’re told to start a blog, get involved in social media, attend conferences, do school visits and book signings—all while honing your craft and writing that all-important next book. These are all good ideas that can work toward your goal of becoming a career author. But you can’t possibly do everything. How do you decide where to focus?
SELF-IMPROVEMENT
- Attitude is a skill, Seth’s Blog | Tweet
You can learn math. French. Bowling.
SKILL: 40 principles that surgeons, athletes, and other elite performers use to achieve mastery
FOOD
Eating more fruits and vegetables can help control weight, but a new study suggests that it depends on which fruits and vegetables you eat.
Vegetables, Revised: The Most Authoritative Guide to Buying, Preparing, and Cooking, with More than 300 Recipes
SOCIOLOGY
How to Use the Principle of the Tipping Point, Becoming Minimalist | Tweet
In sociology, a tipping point is “a point in time when a group—or a large number of group members—rapidly and dramatically changes its behavior by widely adopting a previously rare practice.”
The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference
MINDSET
Failure Is Inevitable. What Matters Is How You Deal With It, Accidental Creative | Tweet
What do you do when you spend weeks, months or even years working on something that just doesn’t… work? What story do you tell yourself?
The Other “F” Word: How Smart Leaders, Teams, and Entrepreneurs Put Failure to Work
SCIENCE
New Study Decodes When Working From Home Is Actually Productive, Huffington Post | Tweet
Researchers found there are a few key things that indicate whether it’s a good idea for an employee to work remotely.
There’s No Place Like Working From Home: Get Organized, Stay Motivated, Get Things Done!