Best in Blogs July 4-10 #amreading #amwriting #ya #mg #fantasy

Welcome to my weekly roundup of fav writing blogs. Share yours below!

Miss Snark's First Victim
Writing support and great contests - and here's a new one!
"What better way to say "I'm back!" than to announce the details of our brand-new, super exciting contest!"

Flogging the Quill
While this blog normally is an opportunity to get an opinion on your first page, here's an extremely helpful post on formatting your ms - something which I've come up against while editing manuscripts.
"I received submissions formatted every whichaway, and that's okay. Writers should use whatever formatting--font, spacing, page size, whatever--they like best for working onscreen. But when it comes to submitting to agents and publishers, they have certain expectations, if not requirements."

Writer's Digest
No matter how immersed I get in studying grammar, I still look up lay, lie, laid. I keep this same handy table in an open email which is my running to-do list for quick reference.
"All these verbs have two things in common: They begin with the letter “L” and confuse the bejeezus out of many people. But here’s a simple breakdown that will hopefully help you decipher when to use each one and when to use their past-tense equivalents..."

Dawn Allen
Pitch your book to agents opportunity!
"What is #Pit2Pub? A Twitter Pitch Party for writers to tweet a 140-character pitch for their completed manuscripts. "

Janet Reid, Literary Agent
An amusing, but sometimes hard look at querying!
"Recently, I've  received several queries that "helpfully" define words for me.
This is a bad tactic.
Don't employ it."

Storyfix
Excellent article on story structure with a fascinating example!

"I prefer the “Hero as…” designations for the acts, so that’s what I’ll use here. If you need a quick refresher, the four acts are

1. Hero as Orphan (the setup quartile)
2. Hero as Wanderer (the response quartile)
3. Hero as Warrior (the attache quartile)
4. Hero as Martyr (the resolution quartile)"

Writer Unboxed
Great info for everyone, but especially self-pubbed, indie authors

"To most indie authors, Amazon is really confusing. There seems to never be a clear path to success and once there is some clarity, the path changes yet again. If you feel like this, take heart. Though Amazon is tricky, it’s not a total mystery."

Inquiring minds want to know - what is your favorite blog? Please post in the comments, you'd make my day! If you don't have a blog to share, which of these intrigued you the most?