CRAFT: Need help with your crafting skills?

Over the years I've collected a heap of website links that I've used at various stages in my writing journey. Some I still use because they really gel with my style as a writer, others are more research or information based sites.

Maybe some of these might work for you.

How to Write Query Letters/Synopses/Proposals (a screed of helpful articles compiled by Gabrielle Luthy)
Georges Polti's 36 Dramatic Situations (a site that lists and gives great detail on the situations you find in most stories)
Great Source - grammar (a wonderful basic guide to grammar)
How to write a novel using the Snowflake Method (starting small & building on your ideas)
Kathy Carmichael's Pitch Generator (how to create the basics for a pitch)
Dictionary of Sexual Terms
Australian Military Organisation & Structure (ranks in the army, navy & airforce)
The Passionate Pen (a list of romance publishers)
Wordle (a great way to check for repetitious words in your work)
Karen Fox's Romance Deals (a year by year list of deals, a bit like Publishers Marketplace)
Author Tech Tips (some hints about what titles to avoid using in your blog)

I hope you find some of these as helpful as I did!

Recounting 2009

I belong to a fantastic e-loop known as the BI50D's, a sub-loop of RWNZ e-loop. We're a small group of writers who initially started it up to get a book finished in time to enter the RWNZ Clendon Award. One of the things we did recently was to recount what we had achieved over the 12 months.
Sometimes we forget in the struggle to get published the importance of acknowledging and celebrating what steps we have made in our journey.
This year, despite working a full time teaching job, I proudly achieved the following in my "spare" time...

*finished another book

*designed a website

*started a blog site

*gained representation with an agent

*lost representation with an agent (this is a positive as I learnt so much with her)

*finalled & placed with 90% of the entries I put in comp's this year (big achievements here were winning the Valerie Parv Award & Clendon Award, multi-placing in the VPA & Emerald)

*edited 2 books

*started a new book

(only goal I didn't achieve was *attended the RWA awards dinner with Hugh Jackman - and boy, did he miss out on a great night - LOL)
Not a bad list considering. Most of these I achieved because I set goals and made decisions on how to attain them, with, of course, support and encouragement from my fellow BI50D'ers. Can't do it without them :-) .
I've already started on next years goals...(I'm sure the list will grow!)
*enter 4 US romance writing competitions (ie.Golden Heart, the Emily & 2 others)
I also want to:
*find representation by another agent
*finish 3 more books (draft & 1 polished)
*help judge in RWOz writing comp's
So, what goals have you achieved in 2009? And what ones are you setting for 2010?

Believing in Yourself

Believe in yourself
and there will come a day
when others will have no choice
but to believe in you.
~ Cynthia Kersey

Success Quote

"I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one had reached in life as by the obstacles that have been overcome while trying to succeed."
~Booker T.Washington

So true...and isn't the journey more satisfying because of it?