A. Victoria Mixon, Editor
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  • In keeping with Dunn Week, I’ve got a guest post up right now on Judy Dunn’s blog, CatsEyeWriter.

    You think storytelling is only the province of fiction writers? Think again. All of life is storytelling. Even business bloggers can appeal strongest to their readers. . .with storytelling.

    How?

    Join us for: Storytelling for Business Bloggers

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  • Many of you are already familiar with Larry Brooks’ site, Storyfix, where he teaches writers through his theory of the Six Core Competencies. When he invited me to write this guest post for him I did a little reading up to see where he’s coming from and learned he’s not only strong on structure—as you all know I am—but also on why professionals from other fields, like law and law enforcement, seem to make the switch to successful fiction careers so darn easily.

    What do they know that the average aspiring writer doesn’t yet?

    Join us for The Bootstrapping Writer—the Secret at the Core of Competency

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  • That’s today. I know. I’m springing this on you. Sorry about that.

    Today, Sunday, 3:00-4:30 Pacific Time, I’ll be talking about exposition on #storycraft on Twitter. I’m the guest speaker. I don’t know what time that is where you are—you’ll have to break out the ole calculator. Just go on Twitter and search for #storycraft. That’ll be us.

    I’ve been writing a lot of pieces about exposition on the magazine lately, but not so much on this blog. So here’s your chance! Haven’t you ever wondered what exposition IS? Much less how to use it properly? Tricky little devil, I know. Just like omniscient narrator is, only different. Because they’re not the same thing at all, although they share certain characteristics and goals, and they have a quality that makes them two of the most misunderstood and misused aspects of the craft of fiction out there, especially by beginners.

    Are you confused enough? Because I am.

    Join us today on Twitter: exposition on #storycraft.

    (OH. Almost forgot! The #storycraft folks will be hosting a flash fiction contest on exposition after this chat, over on their site at the Storycraft blog. Judging will be performed by moi. First prize: a freebie downloadable version of my new book The Art & Craft of Fiction: A Practitioner’s Manual, 2010, La Favorita Press.)

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  • I wrote about the release of my book for She Writes today, my final guest post for them.

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  • Hey, guys! I’m today’s guest poster for Susan Johnston’s insightful blog on freelance writing, the Urban Muse. Check it out. I’m teaching them to write like fiction writers. . .

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  • It’s the week before I’m scheduled to release THE ART & CRAFT OF FICTION: A PRACTITIONER’S MANUAL in e-version, and my head is exploding. I blogged about it today on She Writes, along with an excerpt from my book, which some of you might recognize from last year as the blog post “Returning from the Dead,” now part of my chapter on the very special despair of writing.

    How loose are YOUR windings?

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  • My guest post on She Writes for today is on the editing of THE ART & CRAFT OF FICTION. How’s it going? Well, it’s going. . .

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  • I have a guest post up at the Literary Lab today. Have you lost friends to critiquing? Are you afraid someday you will?

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  • I’m the featured guest blogger on She Writes today, talking about indie publishing for their Countdown to Publication. I’ll be the Friday guest blogger there for the next few weeks. You can check in on Fridays or follow my posts.

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  • As the clock strikes midnight on Halloween, 2009, Penultimate kicks off NaNoWriMo with a guest essay. By me.

    At a few minutes after midnight, it will be my wedding anniversary. Yes, exactly a few minutes.

    Coincidentally, today my husband discovered the most extraordinary interactive site in the world—a comparative illustration of the sizes of the tiniest objects from a coffee bean down to a carbon atom.

    And yesterday a glossy black half-grown kitten with gold eyes wandered out of the woods, took one look at my son, and adopted us. My son’s named him Jack—Panther Jack O’Lantern.

    Happy Halloween!

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Writer's Digest: 2013 Best Writing Websites (2013)

Authors


MILLLICENT G. DILLON, the world's expert on authors Jane and Paul Bowles, has won five O. Henry Awards and been nominated for the PEN/Faulkner. I worked with Dillon on her memoir, The Absolute Elsewhere, in which she describes in luminous prose her private meeting with Albert Einstein to discuss the ethics of the atomic bomb.


BHAICHAND PATEL, retired after an illustrious career with the United Nations, is now a journalist based out of New Dehli and Bombay, an expert on Bollywood, and author of three non-fiction books published by Penguin. I edited Patel’s debut novel, Mothers, Lovers, and Other Strangers.


LUCIA ORTH is the author of the debut novel, Baby Jesus Pawn Shop, which received critical acclaim from Publisher’s Weekly, NPR, Booklist, Library Journal and Small Press Reviews. I have edited a number of essays and articles for Orth.


SCOTT WARRENDER is a professional musician and Annie Award-nominated lyricist specializing in musical theater. I work with Scott regularly on his short stories and debut novel, Putaway.


STUART WAKEFIELD is the #1 Kindle Best Selling author of Body of Water, the first novel in his Orcadian Trilogy. Body of Water was 1 of 10 books long-listed for the Polari First Book Prize. I edited his second novel, Memory of Water and look forward to editing the final novel of his Orcadian Trilogy, Spirit of Water.


ANIA VESENNY is a recipient of the Evelyn Sullivan Gilbertson Award for Emerging Artist in Literature and has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. I edited Vesenny's debut novel, Swearing in Russian at the Northern Lights.


TERISA GREEN is widely considered the foremost American authority on tattooing through her tattoo books published by Simon & Schuster, which have sold over 45,000 copies. Under the name M. TERRY GREEN, she writes her techno-shaman sci-fi/fantasy series. I am working with her to develop a new speculative fiction series.


CHRIS RYAN drew acclaim from the New Yorker for the hook to his novel Heliophobia. He is the author of poetry collection The Bible of Animal Feet from Farfalla Press. I edited Ryan’s debut novel The Ishmael Blade and worked with him to develop Heliophobia and his WIP Pogue.


JUDY LEE DUNN is an award-winning marketing blogger. I am working with her to develop and edit her memoir of reconciling her liberal activism with her emotional difficulty accepting the lesbianism of her beloved daughter, Tonight Show comedienne Kellye Rowland.


In addition, I work with dozens of aspiring writers in their apprenticeship to this literary art and craft.