Follow Friday: Missing Miss Snark Edition

Remember the inimitable Miss Snark, the anonymous and sharp-tongued literary agent who doled out no-nonsense advice on finding an agent? I can't believe it's been three whole years since she closed up shop, and yet I still keep hoping she'll think of new things to say on the topic and stage a comeback. I guess that's not too likely to happen. But I've made some recent discoveries of snarkilicious writers and agents that help to fill the void that she left.

Maureen Johnson, f'rinstance, is a romance author whose blog combines practical advice on writing and life with a delicious sense of humor. If you haven't read her Social Media Manifesto, I insist that you stop everything and go read it right now, especially if you've been feeling pressured to make everything you do online about creating and promoting your "brand."

Slushpile Hell, where "a grumpy literary agent wades through query fails," leaves out the advice and goes straight for the snark. The anonymous blogger's cutting commentary on the cluelessness of some of the queriers is pretty hilarious (I was going to say "comedic," but didn't want to risk alliteration overkill).

Bringing us almost full-circle, there's also Miss Snark's First Victim, whose being on the receiving end of Miss Snark's biting critique apparently inspired her to create a kinder, gentler place for would-be authors to solicit honest feedback.

And finally, having absolutely nothing in common with the above blogs whatsoever except for the fact of being funny: Catalog Living.

Follow Friday: "I Covet Your Craftiness & Creativity" Edition

I like to think of myself as a crafty and creative person. But the truth is that, apart from semi-annual forays into sewing or paper crafts, my craft repertoire is pretty much limited to knitting. And as much as I try to be creative on a daily basis, compared to these bloggers, my creativity is just plain limited.

Swell Designer - Photography, graphic design, drawing, jewelry making... I'm not sure there's anything Alexa Westerfield can't do. I've been following her adventures in craftiness and design for a while now, hoping to gain inspiration, but mostly just constantly shaking my head with envy. She's one talented gal.

Mad In Crafts - This blog features some seriously cute DIY & budget-friendly home decorating ideas. These are a little more within my skill-set, and yet, I am still filled with envy because I always lack the time to implement any of these ideas in my own home. And yet I keep reading as I dream of some far-off someday when I'll figure out how to make the time to cuten things up around here.

Follow Friday: Done and Done Edition

Remember, folks, it's not too late to ask me anything you want to know about freelancing!

I wiped my slate clean of two hefty projects today (more or less -- one will require a bit more tinkering once the client gets feedback from the committee, but for all intents and purposes, it's done). As a result, I'm wiped out and ready for the long weekend, my plans for which mostly involve cleaning my house in a run-up to having my mom-in-law over for a cookout on Memorial Day. There's nothing that can motivate a cleaning session like a visit from the in-laws, is there? At any rate, in lieu of a well-thought-out blog post that requires actual brain-power to write, here's another Follow Friday. Two Follow Friday's in a row... it's like this is becoming a regular feature or something!

Eye of Polyphemus is the blog of one Jamie Jeffords, a self-proclaimed conservative Christian sci-fi fan who writes, in his own words, "a lot about politics, law, science fiction, Christian apologetics, and the general downfall of Western Civilization." I have to say, I'm delighted whenever I find a fellow Christian sci-fi geek. He's currently doing a series of Deep Space Nine reviews that are giving me a hankering to re-watch the entire series.

Love, Power & Fairytale Endings is the blog of poet and sff author Jeffe Kenedy. She blogs about writing and life in Santa Fe, and makes a really good point about the perceived self-involvement of writers (we're not self-involved, we're story-involved! Usually).

Follow Friday: Blog Edition

In case you're not familiar with the concept, Follow Friday is a Twitter tradition (one I haven't actually remembered to participate in for a very long time) in which Twitter users recommend other Twitterers to follow. Well, seeing as how it's Friday, and how since Wednesday I've been too busy with behind-the-scenes type Build a Better Blog challenge assignments to actually WRITE a blog post, and also how I saw Big Fat Deal do this earlier and thought, "Hey, what a great idea for a quickie filler post, I shall steal it!", and also also how these are some great blogs that deserve some recognition, I decided to bring the tradition over here. And so I give you Follow Friday: The Blog Edition, wherein I introduce you to two blogs that I recently discovered and added to my Google Reader feed:

Kim P. Werker - I first stumbled across Kim's writing at the apparently defunct blog, The Creative Life, and followed her from there to Twitter, where this week I followed one of her tweets to her personal blog. Circuitous! Anyhoo, once I got there I stuck around, because this woman is a crafter, a writer, AND a Whedon fan (who even had the honor of interviewing Herr Whedon for her crochet web site. Any gal who does public speaking engagements wearing her very own homemade Jayne hate is a gal after my own heart.

Don't Pet Me, I'm Writing - Tawna Fenske is a romantic comedy novelist, one that I'd unfortunately never heard of (but will definitely check out her stuff as soon as I have some money in the book budget) until her post You ARE a Real Author, Dammit! was linked by... er, um. I don't recall where I found the link, actually, but I'm thinking it was either from one of Mur Lafferty's or Cat Valente's blogs (or Twit-streams). Anyway, if Ms. Fenske's novels are as funny and entertaining as her blog tends to be, then they must be good reading, indeed.