Sunday, March 22, 2009

Great Friends, Great Advice!

As a writer, one of the best assets that you have in your writing arsenal is your group of writing friends. I can't begin to explain to you the comfort that it gives me to know that there are people out there that understand and sympathize with what I am going through. Your family members may love you, but they don't really know what you're talking about (with the exception of my husband, of course!) when you try to explain about plot twists, writer's block, prologues, query letters, and all the myriad phrases that mean something to us in the writing world, but are nothing but words and meaningless phrases to them.

Throughout my cyber-travels, I have met several friends that I have come to know quite well through emails, reading their blogs, and a choice few I have even written snail mail to and called on the telephone. The friends that I have made, I believe, will be lifelong friends.

Some of those friends' blogs I have favorited and their blogs are listed in "My Blog List," which is to the right of this column. One such friend is Jean Henry Mead. She has several incredible blogs that I follow, such as: The Logan & Cafferty Mystery/Suspense Series; A Western Historical Happening; Make Mine Mystery; Mysterious People; and finally, a Monday through Saturday blog that she co-hosts, (she's responsible for Fridays) called: Murderous Musings.

Each of these blogs is a jewel in it's own right, and you really ought to take the time to visit them. I visit them for several different reasons. First, and in no particular order, there's the fun factor. I enjoy the stories, the guests and most of all, Jean's writing. Next, I glean a lot of valuable, useful information from her blogs. There is a wealth of information in them, and I bet you will find the same in your friend's blogs, too, if you start following them. Last, but not least, I do it because she's my friend and I want to support her. She is a wonderful writer and an amazing friend--everyone should have a friend like Jean. She's one in a million!

I have favorited some other authors whose blogs I thought were exceptional, so I have started following them as well. One in particular in Rob Parnell. His blog, The Easy Way To Write, is full of great information, useful links, you can sign up for his newsletter and...I have even signed up for some of his free writing courses that I can take at my own pace. I'll have to let you know how that goes, since I still have to finish my course at The Institute Of Children's Literature (ICL).

Until next time...stay safe, stay well, and may God bless you all.

Cynde
Please visit my other blogs. They are:
Cynde's Daybook ~and~ Usurper Exposed