Advice, Opinions, Resources, and How-2 for Writers: Over a Hundred Micro-Reviews

There's a wealth of information (accurate and otherwise), advice (helpful, sometimes), and opinions (fact-based, idiosyncratic, and just plain weird) on the Web. Quite a lot is useful, one way or another, for writers.

Some of the 3,019 posts I've published to date on Apathetic Lemming of the North are micro-reviews of articles and other resources that might come in handy for a writer. Earlier today, I stumbled on one ("Plotting a Novel - Like a Snowflake?!" (February 10, 2009)) and realized that I didn't remember each of the one hundred forty or so posts about writing.

Looks like Socrates was right. New information technologies can be dangerous. More about that in another post.

On the other hand, I think the trade-off between concentrating on wrote memorization and learning how to index, store and retrieve information is a no-brainer when it comes to benefit/cost ratios.

Problem is, in this case, I hadn't indexed those posts about writing. Until now.

I've divided the posts into four catgories, plus the usual "miscellaneous" for the occasional oddball topic:

• Advice and opinions
• For fun
• How-2
• Lists and resources
• Miscellaneous

The posts in each category are in reverse chronological order.

A few of the usual disclaimers: The links in those micro-reviews may not still work. Websites and blogs change, or disappear entirely; I have no control over what's on other websites or blogs; I've provided links to pages and posts I think are interesting, but have not verified any of the claims or assertions on other sites or blogs. In other words, before you spend money or sign up for anything: check it out on your own! "Due diligence" may seem dull, but it can save a lot of time, grief, and money.

Enough. Here are those posts:

• Advice and opinions
  • "Writers Take Note: 'And It Was All A Dream' Not Necessarily Welcome"
    (July 8, 2009)
  • " 'Editor's Secrets' - Hardly Secret, but Good Advice"
    (April 8, 2009)
  • "Writers: Beware! 10 Overused Words"
    (March 24, 2009)
  • "Yet more Writing Advice: Describing People"
    (March 7, 2009)
  • "Linkbait SEO Insider Secrets!"
    (January 1, 2009)
  • "Yet Another Bit of Writing Advice, Again"
    (December 20, 2008)
  • "Once Again: Advice on Becoming a Better Writer"
    (August 18, 2008)
  • "Technical Writing's Got a Big Secret"
    (August 9, 2008)
  • "Writing Advice: Show, Don't Tell - With an Example"
    (July 31, 2008)
  • "Pity Your Readers: Learn How to Write With Style"
    (July 13, 2008)
    • Vonnegut
  • "Yet Another Bit of Writing Advice"
    (July 11, 2008)
  • "Another Writer Writing About Writers Writing"
    (July 3, 2008)
    • Dialogue, introspection and narrative, scene and summary
  • "Essay Assignments: Ingredients Needed"
    (July 2, 2008)
  • "Yet More Writing Advice: A Blogfull"
    (June 29, 2008)
  • "Don't Never Use These Words: Really!"
    (June 28, 2008)
  • "Mark Twain vs Pretentious Words"
    (June 24, 2008)
  • "Eschew Obuscation, and Other Good Writing Advice"
    (June 4, 2008)
  • "Other Writers are Crazy - That Explains a Lot"
    (May 21, 2008)
  • "Abulia, Writer's Block, and Doing Something About It"
    (May 14, 2008)
  • "Questions to Ask Before Writing for the Web (or Anything Else)"
    (May 13, 2008)
  • "Don't Over-Stuff Your Brain - Or Your Readers', Either"
    (May 8, 2008)
  • "Stop Thinking, and Do It!"
    (April 17, 2008)
  • "10 Habits of Effective Writers - One Writer's Opinion"
    (April 17, 2008)
  • "Cure for Writer's Block: WRITE!"
    (April 12, 2008)
  • "Kurt Vonnegut: 8 Bits of Advice"
    (April 9, 2008)
  • "Press Embargoes: Old Custom Defended"
    (March 28, 2008)
  • "Writing for For Profit? Too Many Unbillable Hours? Think Virtual Assistant"
    (March 15, 2008)
  • "Information Age Nostalgia: Writing With Retroware?"
    (March 15, 2008)
  • "Muse on Holiday? Write Anyway!"
    (March 14, 2008)
  • "Overused Words: Maybe"
    (March 10, 2008)
  • "Never End a Sentence With a Preposition? Not!"
    (March 10, 2008)
  • "Random Plot Points for Writers"
    (February 21, 2008)
  • "Writing Advice and How-2"
    (February 10, 2008)
  • "Tasty Writing Advice"
    (February 5, 2008)
  • "Pretty Good Advice for Writers: In Reverse"
    (February 2, 2008)
  • "Writing is Important: Who Knew?"
    (February 2, 2008)
• For fun
  • "Grammatical Hijinks: Dirk Driver and the Dark and Stormy Night"
    (July 3, 2009)
  • "Story Celebrating the Letter 'W' "
    (July 2, 2008)
  • "Get Rich by Freelancing: It's Worth Reading, Anyway"
    (April 7, 2008)
• How-2
  • "78 Ways to Start a Book: or Maybe 77 - or 101??"
    (May 22, 2009)
  • "Another How-2: This One's About Writing Fantasy Stories"
    (February 23, 2009)
  • "Plotting a Novel - Like a Snowflake?!"
    (February 10, 2009)
  • "More Writing Prompts"
    (January 31, 2009)
  • "A Plot-First Plan for Novel Writing"
    (January 17, 2009)
  • "Waiting for the Muse, Getting the Club: Two Approaches to Inspiration"
    (January 13, 2009)
  • "Spot Amateurish Writing Glitches: Before Your Readers Do"
    (December 10, 2008)
  • "Building Fictional Characters: a 10-Day Approach"
    (July 1, 2008)
  • "Yet Another Post About Developing Fictional Characters"
    (June 7, 2008)
  • "Learning to Write English: It Can be Done"
    (April 18, 2008)
  • "How to Write Strong Arguments: Rise Above Name-Calling!"
    (April 9, 2008)
  • "Blogging Ideas: A System to Keep Them Coming"
    (March 19, 2008)
  • "I.E. isn't E.G. - How to Remember Which to Use"
    (March 15, 2008)
  • "Writing One Thing Today: And Doing it Well"
    (March 10, 2008)
  • "Fiction Writing: Characters Rule the Story"
    (March 10, 2008)
  • "Writing on a Schedule: Or, Being Creative When You Don't Feel Creative "
    (February 17, 2008)
  • "Would-Be Novelists, Take Note: and Get Organized"
    (February 17, 2008)
• Lists and resources
  • "How to Write Better: 100 Posts"
    (July 16, 2009)
  • "Rhyme Writer"
    (June 4, 2009)
  • "Yet Another List of Writing Resources"
    (March 14, 2009)
  • "Ulitmate Character Profile Sheet! - Your Experience May Vary"
    (February 26, 2009)
  • "Getting Paid to Write: Not the Worst Idea in the World"
    (January 31, 2009)
  • "Overused Words: a List"
    (November 13, 2008)
  • "Attack of the Killer Rabbits: Attention, Writers!"
    (August 16, 2008)
  • "Yet Another 'Secret to Writing' Article: This One's a List"
    (July 29, 2008)
  • "And Now for Something Completely Different: Proofreading Marks"
    (July 23, 2008)
  • "Writing a Resume? This Might Help"
    (July 6, 2008)
    • Action verbs: not just for resumes
  • "Commonplacing: Not Your Usual Quotations Collection"
    (June 3, 2008)
  • "Yet Another List of Rules for Writers"
    (June 2, 2008)
  • "More 'Amazing Resources' for Writers"
    (May 12, 2008)
  • "Counting Cash: The Video"
    (May 2, 2008)
    • Cultural differences
  • "Creating a Character Sheet - An Overview"
    (May 1, 2008)
  • "Downloads & Worksheets"
    (May 1, 2008)
  • "A Writing Blog Post With a List of Writing Blogs"
    (April 26, 2008)
  • "Character Trait Chart - Getting Your Fictional Character Started"
    (April 20, 2008)
  • "101 + 101 = 202 Resources for Writers"
    (March 24, 2008)
  • "Chekhov's Gun: the Literary Technique"
    (March 22, 2008)
  • "Trying to Write for Television? Learn the Tropes"
    (March 22, 2008)
  • "Trading Money for Words"
    (March 21, 2008)
  • "Online Rhyming Dictionary: and it's Free"
    (March 18, 2008)
  • "Online Rhyming Dictionary: and it's Free"
    (March 18, 2008)
  • "50 Writing Ideas You Probably Haven't Heard of"
    (March 2, 2008)
  • "And Now, for Something Completely Different: Proofreading Symbols"
    (February 29, 2008)
    • I can't get enough of this, it seems
  • "Kids Doodling on Homework: Continuity Across the Centuries"
    (February 23, 2008)
  • "List of Writing References"
    (February 12, 2008)
• Miscellaneous
  • "Writing, Recession, Lemons, and Life Lessons"
    (July 24, 2009)
  • "Lingo Slinger: Writing by a Writer Who Writes"
    (March 24, 2009)
  • "Ploak.com Article Directory: Looks Interesting"
    (March 11, 2009)
  • "New Brunswick, Again: This Time for Writers"
    (July 3, 2008)
  • " 'WOW! Women on Writing Blog:' Women Writing About Women Writing About ... "
    (April 12, 2008)
  • "Writing House"
    (March 26, 2008)
    • A wonderful little building
  • "Seven Select Sources for the Serious Scrivner"
    (March 11, 2008)
  • "National Novel Writing Month"
    (February 3, 2008)
    • A pep talk

Drifting at the Edge of Time and Space: A New Blog

When I was in my teens, I wrote a science fiction story: about 5,000 words. It surfaced, a few decades ago, during a bit of re-organization: and wasn't half as embarrassing as I might have feared.

It's time to try again.

This blog will be where I make notes, ruminate on backstory, potted biographies, and other impedimenta which may or may not help get a readable story done.

You're welcome to stop in from time to time, and see what's happened since your last visit: but I can't promise a finished narrative.

The fragments, drifting in from the deeps, may prove interesting, though.