Goings-on in the Industry Blogs

I don't know if any of you are aware of the neat things going on around the writing blogosphere lately, but I'd thought I'd share a few of what I've come across lately.

First on everyone's lists should be the Pitch Critiques going on over at BookEnds, LLC. Last week these ladies asked for writers to post their pitches (I noticed too late) and today they started going down the list of 180 pitches, giving crits on each one. Some very useful information in those critiques, so don't miss it.

On a similar note, Kristen Nelson is giving what she calls her Blog Pitch Workshop. Again, any time you can get this kind of information from an agent, inhale it. Every little bit helps, and this will help a lot.

I'm a bit late blogging about this one, but Nathan Bransford ran The Most Largely Indispensable Paragraph Contest - wherein he looked for the best opening paragraph. The winner is now posted, but it's worth the time to scroll through the rest of the contest to see what kinds of opening paragraphs an agent is looking for.

I think there may have been another one or two of these, but I can't find them now. If you know about any, please leave it in the comments.

And lastly, I'd like to give a little link-love to the Manuscript Mavens, who've been hosting a Choose Your Own Adventure® story. Remember those? The writer gives you part of a story and then options to choose from that take the story in different directions. It's been great fun, and I've been remiss in not mentioning it sooner. There are two days left of the fun, though. (And there are prizes to be won, so get thee over there and join in the game.)

Okay, really lastly... Recently, I joined a writing forum. Kristen Painter--that diva of the writing world, bless her--is one of the founding members of Romance Divas and this forum seems to be one devoted to the function of writing. If you've been around for a while, you might know that at the beginning of the year, I left another writing forum because there was too much non-writing crap going on. I think with this new forum, I'm not going to have to worry about that. These gals seem to have a hold on the reins. Give them a look. I haven't participated yet, but if you're into a group experience, this would be the place.

If you've found any interesting links this week, or any pertinent writing information, please drop a line in the comments.

(And in case you hadn't noticed, Karin Tabke is running a first line contest. The contest is closed to new entries now, but she's also providing a critique on some of the lines, so it's not only entertaining, it's educational.)