Best Links of January

Hey, blogfrogs, I'm starting a new recurring post idea here on the blog. On the last Tuesday of the month, I'll post my linklove--that means a list of the best blog posts, articles, tips, whatever that I've read from other people that month. I'm not linking to my own stuff, because, well, duh.

So here we go ... Linklove for January 2013 ...




WRITING & MARKETING ADVICE
Gwen Hernandez on How to Write Faster and Get Organized with Scrivener 
Lee Wardlaw from Project Mayhem: What Every Middle-Grade Writer Should Know About Middle Graders
Kristin on Smack Dab in the Middle: The best marketing advice you'll get
Lee Wind from the SCBWI Blog shares Mitali Perkins' Ten Tips for Writing Race in Novels
from Write to Done: Your Grammar Mistakes Are Killing Your Traffic
Lee Wind on the SCBWI Blog offers a timeline & checklist leading up to your book's release
John Claude Bemis from Smack Dab in the Middle tells where to find & engage with your MG readers
Elana Johnson on the importance of taking time off
Kristin Lenz on Literary Rambles has a great revision/reading tip
Elizabeth Craig from Mystery Writing Is Murder on The Importance of Doing Nothing
and Craig also on finding time to write in small chunks of time
Cynsations on the brilliance of Joss Whedon
C. Hope Clark on surviving writer's envy

AGENTS & QUERIES
Jennifer Represents explains why you need an agent (or don't)
Agent Rachelle Gardner on Why You Should Pitch a Single Book


KIDLIT / PUBLISHING NEWS
Yay! Galleycat reports that 41 New [Indie] Bookstores Opened Last Year. Is there one in your town?
Hooray! PW says that one of my fave authors will soon be back in print: Random House to Reissue Ruth Chew's Fantasy Oeuvre
PW reports on A Very Merry Christmas for Children's  Booksellers
from Galleycat: Dr. Who Short Stories Coming from Famous Children's Authors (maybe Ms. Rowling?? The AQ [Awesome Quotient] would be staggering!)


INTERVIEWS
from Galleycat, a video: How R.L. Stine Discovered Ray Bradbury and changed his life
from Cynsations, an interview with debut author Lenore Appelhans (Level 2)
and another with debut author Erica Lorraine Scheidt (Uses for Boys)
Natalie Aguirre from Literary Rambles talks to debut author Ellen Oh (Prophecy)
PW talks to debut author A.G. Howard (Splintered)


BOOK REVIEWS--JANUARY RELEASES THAT LOOK FABULOUS! 

(links go to reviews from Kirkus unless otherwise noted)

Hokey-Pokey by Jerry Spinelli (upper MG contemporary)
Jinx by Sage Blackwood (MG fantasy)
The Water Castle by Megan Frazer Blackmore (MG mystery)
Navigating Early by Clare Vanderpool (MG historical)
The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepherd (YA historical paranormal/suspense)--from IceyBooks
Hooked by Liz Fichera (YA contemporary)
Nobody But Us by Kristin Halbrook (YA contemporary; review from PW)

Level 2 by Lenore Appelhans (YA paranormal suspense)
Uses for Boys by Erica Lorraine Scheidt (YA contemporary)
The Cadet of Tildor by Alex Lidell (YA fantasy)
The Wrap-Up List by Steven Arntson (YA supernatural)
Prophecy by Ellen Oh (YA fantasy)

BOOK TRAILERS
via Cynsations: Because Amelia Smiled (David Ezra Stein)
via Cynsations: The Miseducation of Cameron Post (Emily M. Danforth)

MISCELLANY
Agent Jennifer Laughran from Jennfier Represents weighs in on Boy Books & Girl Books

Galleycat video: R.L. Stine Explains the Gersberms Meme
Karen from Teen Librarian's Toolbox on what she wishes library patrons knew



*Note: PW = Publisher's Weekly, the venerated trade mag. I got tired of typing it out.

image courtesy of wikimedia common; resuable under this Creative Commons License.