Port of Call

The Daily Port of Call: May 29, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

In today’s Daily Port of Call, you’ll find the contributions of Maya Angelou, why Steven Pressfield writes about war, how to optimize revision, and why writers should fear obscurity more than piracy.

Readers and writers acknowledge the many contributions of poet and activist Maya Angelou.

Steven Pressfield addresses why he writes about war.

Here are five things to accomplish before you self-publish your book.

Learn how to optimize revision: “For the same reason that most businesses fail slowly—by focusing on small details instead of the big picture—most writers can’t get their work better than a certain level of passable mediocrity because they’re optimizing the small stuff before they hit on a project that’s worth optimizing.”

Turn your individual essays into a cohesive collection.

Find out why writers should fear obscurity more than piracy.

Here are three changes bloggers need to make when they write books.

Reading Rainbow and LeVar Burton create a Kickstarter for a digital library! You can back this project here.

Discover these eighteen fancy words for specific shapes. Our favorite is Hippocrepiform.

The Daily Port of Call: May 28, 2014

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

Photo by Alexander Lvov/bigstockphoto.com

In today’s Daily Port of Call, you’ll find why being an indie author is a great business model, how to plot your story like Michael Crichton, and a new site for indies from Publishers Weekly.

Find out why being an indie author is a great business model.

You can use the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to develop your characters.

Do you find plotting your story a challenge? Try using Michael Crichton’s method.

Should you start a podcast this year? Here are some reasons why you might want to try.

Publishers Weekly is launching a new site for indie authors tomorrow. You can find it here.

Here is a great list of resources from the Insecure Writer’s Support Group.

Follow these authors who are brilliant at Twitter.