Saturday Link Special #13

Yes, I did have time this week to scour the blog world and compile some linkage for all of you. Yay! Thanks for reading.

Amazon's Breakthrough Novel Award Contest is open for submissions.

Over at Write Away, voting is open on Dawn G. Sparrow's flash fiction contest. Take some time to read the entries and cast your vote.

GLA has an Agent Advice post from Nicole Resciniti of The Symour Agency. Why should you care? She's looking for: "...romance, mainstream suspense, thrillers, mysteries, young adult, inspirational, science fiction/fantasy, and action/adventure." (Hint: research opportunity.)

Literary Rambles: Agent Spotlight: Logan Garrison may be of some interest to those of you who write children's, MG, or YA. She's not specific as to what genres within those age groups but sounds pretty open. Pop over and read through the material and maybe add her to your query list.

Agent Vickie Motter discusses query letters in What Not to Include and What to Include.

Writer's Digest has an informative post on What Writer's Need to Know About Formatting (FAQs) if this is the stage you're at and need some guidelines.

Over at Verbose Veracity, guest blogger Ian Isaro shares his thoughts on Maintaining Your Voice Against Writing What You Think People Want to Read. Guest blogger E.M. LaBonte writes about Writer's Block.

For anyone who believes they are ready but need a nudge to actually put their work out there, read Dean C. Rich's post: Putting the Check-Mark Next to the Goal.

Questions and Archetypes makes a good case for Killing Off the Parents.

Kidlit.com brings up a good point with The Problem With Immortality (or end of the world scenarios.) And oh boy, did I need this one: The Promise of the Novel. It solved some of my current "need to cut out huge chunks due to word count" issues.

Patricia C. Wrede continues to hit things on the nail: Getting from the Beginning to the Middle, More On Prologues.

Angie Sandro writes about How to Find and Keep a Critique Partner.

Writer Cherie hits a similar note with: An Editing We Go...

Likewise, Bookends blogs regarding Giving a Project Multiple Reads. A post that makes you stop to think about what you make beta readers go through if you use them for the same project several times and how important it is to have your work at a polished point before starting to use beta readers.

Strange Horizons maintains a list of Stories We've Seen Too Often. Not only short story writers, but novel writers might find their original twists and plot devices aren't so original after all. Check it out to see if your baby is actually a common denominator.

Jane Friedman at Writer Unboxed has an excellent post on the 5 Attitudes Toward Publishing You Should Avoid. And Carleen Brice brings up the topic (of) Quirky Character Names.

Agent Courtney shares Five tips for revising your novel.

And that's it for this week. So many good blogs to wade through. I know I only skim the surface.