teaching myself to insert links properly!

after yesterday's brain meltdown (i feel better, though. that counts for something), i figured that i would be helpful to everyone.

i've been slogging around the internet for some time now, gathering as much information as i can about publishing/agenting/querying and several other -ings, and i've found some extremely helpful sites along the way. for anyone who finds this and has questions or is looking for feedback, there are quite a few sites around the interwebs and so far, everyone i've encountered has been incredibly helpful, supportive, and all-around awesome.

most of these sites are actually blogs i follow through blogger. i have a lot of agents, agencies, and authors on my dashboard, but i want to highlight a few of them because they are the ones who have posted some of the most helpful information i've found or have helped me personally.

first and foremost, i have to send a shout out to my lovely ladies in cleveland, lisa and laura. not only are they hilarious, but they also have some incredibly helpful posts, including their new "ask LiLa" where you can email them a question and they'll answer it (just like it sounds). i emailed them a query question and they got someone completely amazing to answer it with wonderful advice. they're fun, easy to connect with, and extremely friendly. go check them out when you have the time.

tied with lisa and laura is the bransford blog, which i've mentioned more than once. nathan is an agent living out in cali, and his blog is one of the most comprehensive everything-you-need-to-know sites around. plus, he has a FORUM (which has captivated my attention for many many hours) where you can also ask him questions, or post your query for critiques (mine was obliterated, which was AWESOME), or talk about writing and publishing in general. there are a lot of people on the forums who have helpful advice and tips, lovely singing voices, and great feedback. for the writer who is beginning the entire writing process or the one who's trying to sell his first novel, this one's a great site.

next is the query shark. janet reid has been in the business for a long time, and both her personal blog and query shark blog have some helpful advice and tips as well as some pretty hilarious links. she's great. unless you're the one she's chewing up ;-)

and then there's always the lovely miss snark. unfortunately, she no longer blogs, but the site is still up and still housing great writing advice ranging from conception of your idea to querying and the mysteries of landing an agent. she is most excellent.

both querytracker's website and blog are great. the website has forums, too (which i discovered today), and it's also the greatest way for organization when you actually start building that list of agents to query. i know i've said it before, but i'll continue to shout it from the rooftops: "QUERYTRACKER.NET IS SUUUUUUUPER!!!!!!!!!!!" you not only get the organizing and the forums, you get all the information you'll need on the agent, including website, client list, accepted genres, and comments from users who have already taken the query plunge. incredi-helpful.

also, be sure to check out elana johnson's personal blog. she's a contributor to querytracker's blog, and she's hosting a contest in conjunction with shelli johannes this week that has all kinds of goodness attached to it. even if you don't write in the genres that these two wonderful ladies do, you'll still find some GREAT advice. the writing world is virtually the same throughout. you won't be disappointed. trust me.

there are more in ye olde dashboard that you're more than welcome to peruse, but those are my personal favorites and the ones i follow most diligently.

oh, and this one.

hmmm...

just read an interesting article entitled 'how young is too young for facebook?'

that is a question that needs to be addressed--not just concerning facebook, but any social networking site. myspace, twitter, livejournal, and all the countless others taking up space in the interwebs. facebook's terms of use state that you must be 13 years or older to create an account. but we all know that it's easy to lie. even so, i feel like 13 is still a bit too young for that sort of thing. i mean, why should our children depend on the stupid internet for 'social networking.' isn't that part of what school is for? i didn't get facebook until college (when i was in the age group for which the stupid thing was invented). same for myspace. i'd had a livejournal from about the age of 15, but a lot of those entries became friends only or private after a near-beat-down from some stupid jock's stupid girlfriend. *yeah, i said it. AGAIN!*

we live in an age of fantasy and deception thanks to the 'net. men can pose as women and women as men. 10 year olds can be 25. 40 year olds can be 25. i could go to myspace and create an entirely new identity. i could be....a 37 year old German photographer looking for male models. it'd be simple, apart from the whole not speaking German... but you get the point. kids, however, don't. while a few of them may still live in their very own imaginationland, they don't realize that the internet truly can be, and usually is, imaginationland. they think that everyone's who they say they are. they post their pics, phone numbers, addresses, and think it's okay. then when someone abducts them, we wonder what went wrong.

admittedly, most adults aren't mature enough to use these sites. i've seen enough scantily clad, cleavage-popping pics from women and the whole "let me pull up my shirt so you can see my abs" pics from men. i only have one thing to say to that: EMPLOYERS CHECK THIS STUFF. stop being a total idiot.

it saddens me that the future of our country hinges on twilight-obsessed, technology ignorant, foolhardy kids who have nothing better to do than play around on the internet. really saddens me.

how long before texting lingo takes over the world?

because the future of our language will only contain the vowels 'u', 'e', and 'omg'

damn. that'll make wheel of fortune a little tricky...