Well, it looks like my email is up and running again. Sorry about the confusion. Anyway, today I wanted to remind you to make sure to check my sidebar once and a while because I periodically upload new links and resources. I have also finally separated my blogrolls into two lists: blogs that relate to Mira's List subjects (and other issues, such as how to find an agent, how to write a great query letter, etc) and blogs that are my personal and quirky favorites (okay, I like food, I like neuroscience and I have a special fondness for the strange marriage of art and science, particularly science during the Age of Discovery. I also am fond of baby animals, graphic novels and 19th century polar exploration. Well. I could add to the list but I won't bore you any more than I already have.
One another note, and this one is for writers—Lately I have been getting a lot of personal mail asking me about the publishing world. Now, while I do know a bit about that elusive and mercurial world, I think there are many more bloggers out there who are really experts in this field. Here are a few of my favorite sites for you writers out there who have written me asking about how to get an agent, how to write a query letter, etc. Victoria Mixon, who writes eloquently and amusingly about a variety of publishing and writing issues: http://victoriamixon.com/. I love Victoria and suggest you visit her site. Another blogger I just adore uses the name Moon Rat and you can find her at http://editorialass.blogspot.com. She is an editor at some unnamed publishing house and, for my money, offers the best advice for both emerging and published authors. She's hilarious, witty, ironic and will answer all your burning questions about the publishing industry. I am all about Moon Rat.
If you want to write a kick-ass query to an agent, then there is no one better than Wendy Burt-Thomas at askwendy.wordpress.com. She is the author of the The Writers Digest Guide To Query Letters
which I will add (right now!) to my bookstore at the bottom of this blog. Another great site is literary agent, Nathan Bransford's blog: http://blog.nathanbransford.com. Nathan is an agent for Curtis Brown so he really knows what he is talking about. I find his posts extremely insightful. And knowing what I know about the biz and how hard most agents work at getting writers deals (mine certainly deserves a Purple Heart), it is heartwarming to know that there are some literary agents out there willing to take time out from their busy schedules to help emerging writers understand how to get published.Anyway, there are so many great sites in the blogsphere that deal with publishing and breaking into the literary market that I am just leaving it all up to them. Come here for your weekly dose of Mira's List but go to these experts on the business of getting your great poems, stories and novels out into the world.
And speaking of publishing, please check out the books at the bottom of this blog. And if you have a hankering to buy any holiday gifts from Amazon in the next few weeks, please do your book search from my site, on the right sidebar where it says "Search for Grant Books!" because I might earn a couple pennies that way!
More to come in the next few days....and we have some great interviews lined up for you for December and maybe this month too. Now get off the computer and do your art.
Cheers,
Mira