Sunday, June 23, 2013

Internet: Good vs. Evil

The Internet, as we all know, can be a giant vortex of time suckage.  I have little willpower, it seems, and thus find it dangerously so.  At the same time, I can't imagine how I ever functioned as a writer without it.  Any national security agency or Internet giant personnel monitoring my search history might be alarmed by recent forays into the topics of murder plea bargains, drug dealer slang, and paramedic protocol for overdose, interpersed with "Thanksgiving party games" and  "Schoolhouse Rock."  Such an interesting life I lead...

While I am far from methodical about endeavors such as organizing, searching, schedule-making, etc., I have happened in my peripatetic Internet travels upon several useful business sites for freelance writers.  Many of our faithful readers are probably already familiar with these, but for those who aren't:

Robert Kent's Middle Grade Ninja is invaluable for any writer seeking an editor, an agent, or plain old writing inspiration.  Each week brings informative new interviews with agents, editors, and/or writers.  I've gotten a lot of great reading recommendations here.  The online "book club" is fun to follow, too.

Emma D. Dryden's drydenbks blog is full of great advice, but even better, if you friend her on facebook, she aggregates information from the best writing blogs and saves you the trouble of finding it yourself.  Highly recommended!

For those interested in digital publishing and new technology, Jane Friedman is a cutting-edge source.

Finally, QueryTracker is a informational and organizational treasure trove -- part spreadsheet, part encyclopedia, part user review site and entirely free.  If you haven't already tried it, check it out pronto.

Happy Internet travels!  And may the time saved exceed your time spent on facebook and Words With Friends.  --Jeanne Marie
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Don't forget about our latest Teaching Authors Giveaway.  Follow the instructions to enter for a chance to win a copy of Parched by Melanie Crowder.  Good luck!
 
 

4 comments:

Carmela Martino said...

Oooo, I'll have to check out Middle Grade Ninja. Thanks, JM. I used to use QueryTracker, but I recently heard an agent speaking at a conference recommend http://agentquery.com/
because the agents update the info there themselves.
BTW: your first paragraph made me smile. My recent Internet searches have been pretty mundane in comparison, including things like "how to get smells out of wool."

The Pen and Ink Blogspot said...

I added Middle Grade Ninja to our favorites. Couldn't find any way to contact them or follow them with Google reader.
I love your searches.

Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford said...

Carmela, I also have a recent search that goes something like "eliminating cat urine odor from air ducts." I'm not sure whether that qualifies as mundane (at least it wouldn't if you smelled our house after a recent air duct cleaning gone bad). Thanks for the tip re: agentquery.com. I'll have to check it out.

Pen N. Ink, glad to know Middle Grade Ninja made your list. I love your blog!

April Halprin Wayland said...

Okay..."The Internet, as we all know, can be a giant vortex of time suckage." may be the truest weird sentence in all of TeachingAuthors history.

Thank you from the bottom of my tiny heart!