Smart Things

Jay Lake saying smart thing about not following every bit of writing advice you get, a sentiment I firmly agree with. It's too easy to lose your own writing process in the sea of advice that may or may not suit you. Then, to balance himself out, he goes on to be smart about the idea that some advice you should follow.

Dean Wesley Smith saying smart things about the inherent conflict of interest in agent as e-publisher. I know this is a touchy subject for many, but I think that Dean is right here that no matter how good your relationship is with your agent this is very shaky ground. I also suspect that sometime real soon here agents as publishers is going to result in ugly lawsuits for some.

Richard Parks saying smart things about getting hung up on language to the detriment of story, or as he puts it, "analyzing the leaves and missing the forest."

For Halloween, agent Kristin Nelson says smart things about scary bad contract clauses that every author and agent should be on lookout for.

Finally, via our mutual editor the marvelous Anne Sowards, Jim Butcher saying smart things about what it takes to make it as an author.