Writing Links: On Community, Book Blurbs, Facebook, Story Worthiness and Potential Publishing Disappointments

• Check out Christi Craig’s recent post “One Key to a Writer’s Success: Find Your Community.” As a proponent of building writing communities online and with local scribes, I adore what she has to say on the subject.
• Author, editor and writing coach Laura Taylor offers her thoughts on writing successful book cover blurbs. “Boiled down to its true purposes, a book cover blurb accomplishes two things,” she writes. “It provides the reader with a verbal snapshot of the essence of an entire story, and it entices that reader to sample the opening pages of the novel prior to making the purchase.”
• Curtis Sittenfeld, author of “Prep” and “American Wife,” offers the witty and pithy “I’m on Facebook. It’s Over.” For the record, I’m still not on Facebook, and I totally related to the list of events and photos that Curtis lamented missing before she joined the FB ranks.
• The Hack Novelist asks, “Is Your Story Worth Six Hours of Someone’s Life?” It’s a question we all need to ask, especially in those early draft stages.
• And finally, from Anne R. Allen’s blog, we have author Ruth Harris’ take on being published. “6 Prescriptions to Cure the Heartbreak of Being Published” warns that even signing with the Big Six, which so many writers yearn to accomplish, could lead to headaches and heartaches.