Let’s Play a Game …

Fifth-two Pick Up.

Today I would like to play a game I divined solely for the pleasure or madness of my fellow writers in cyber space.

Fifty-two pick up anyone?

The four aces might be the best industry blogs. For a list of the top 100 you can check Writer’s Digest, or another five or six ratings systems. Best funny blog? Best blog for kids, Granny, and the best darn sites in the universe for newbie writers.

The first card you want to pick up is the foremost, original blog if you are a clueless “newbie.” Joe Konrath’s, A Newbie’s Guide to Publishing.

This is your Ace of Spades, an introductory course in how to get published, become jaded by your publisher, decide to go indie, make book deals, go on book tours, give up tours, create a brand, find other publishing alternatives, sign or don’t sign on the dotted line, and don’t count your royalty checks before you pay out your advances.

Next let’s get “high” on ether, or if you can grasp the image, you can visit with Porter Anderson’s Writing on Ether.

I must warn everyone. Writing on Ether is not flash fiction. Averaging a mind bending total of at least 5,000 words per post, Mr. Anderson is as serious as a tornado in Kansas.

This amazing talent is your Ace of Hearts, and you had better take him to heart because these posts are not ethereal, they are more like building a house with cinder blocks and stucco, solid, serious and goes up faster than a new adult condo community in South Florida.

Do not attempt Porter Anderson without a strong sedative, a working knowledge of what the heck those tweets are all about, and at least two hours to work out the details. I mean when this man starts a subject, there is no stopping him until he comes crashing into the finish line.

On other days you can click Jane Friedman, There Are No Rules, and get all the rules fit to print on how to write, edit, research, plot, plan and sell your first or fifth novel.

Jane is for sure, the Ace of Diamonds and worth her weight in them.  Read her last post on How To Research Your Novel and then scroll around the block and find more of her incredible posts.

The Ace of Clubs? This can be none other than Nathan Brandsford. The reason he is your “club” is because Nathan encompasses both sides of the coin.

Actually, Nathan encompasses a whole bag of coins, gold and silver and spanking brand new. As a writer of children’s books, an industry expert and a great looking reporter on television, Nathan can only be joined by one other …

The King of Hearts, that sweet, baby face, kind-hearted gnome fighting, blogger extraordinary, Chuck Sambuchino. You knew I had to get at least one Italian in there, didn’t you?

Guide to Literary Agents, has been for several years the King of agent information for thousands of newbie, wannabe and just got published writers. A great place to read successful queries, find out which agency has recently added to their staff, read profiles on writers, books and locate the latest conferences, not to mention, he plays the guitar.

An Italian who plays the guitar and has the face of an angel. How could you not pick him up for your team? 

The other three Kings and the Four Queens? Take your pick of any two platform building, social network specialists for your Kings. Find the four most enchanting how-to-write a novel in less than two weeks, one month, or as the case might be forever, and crown them as your Queens.

Then take Jack Nicholson and your Four Jacks and go have a stiff martini because you’ve earned it.

In course of any writer’s day, there are so many sites and advise posts, on-line and print magazine articles, that the mind cannot extend to its full girth.

 Note:  Has anyone noticed that not one single agent or publisher gets my vote as the major picture cards in the deck? It’s simple. The agents and publishers are like us, the numbers in the game. Hungry, confused, stressed out and often, clueless as to who is holding the winning hand. Me?

I’ll take the odds with the rest of the deck stacked in my favor. Why? Because once when I was a kid, I beat the pants off my two older brothers with four deuces.

I was reading Chuck’s blog the other day and scrolled down on the first page and counted six new agents. Six new agents from December 28, 2011 to February 21, 2012. That is less than two months and only his first printed page.

In addition to being able to access the Guide to Literary Agents, you can also do a “search” for 1001 Literary Agents, you can check each of the major national writers groups, i.e. RWA, MWA and find more lists. You can type ”list of literary agents” into your search engine and come up with over a dozen other places to find agents.

In one search you can find at least 1,000 literary agents in the United States alone.

1,000 agents who need to pay their mortgage, send their kids to college, and want desperately to meet you at the more than 100 writer’s conferences all other the country, including the one in South Florida that takes place on a cruise ship.

So ask yourself this important question. Why are you here playing games when you should be polishing your query to help those struggling agents feed their kids?

How do your choices stack up in the game?

fOIS In The City