Weekend Awesomeness: News and Links from the World of Writing

September 19, 2009 by Deb Ng
Filed under Link Love

awesomeness

I took some time yesterday and this morning to do something I haven’t had the chance to do in a very long time: read blogs. Here’s some awesomeness from around the blogosphere:

Newslancers is a social networking job search site for journalists, and it’s now accepting registrants for their beta launch. According to FWJ community member, Ed Sutherland, this site is speficially geared towards journalists and only journalists – including editors. Who qualifies as a journalist? “Anyone who earns the majority of their income writing sourced non-fiction or creates media for news purposes. This means writers and editors, bloggers and newspaper reporters, photographers and bloggers, as well as professional public relations people.” Check it out…

Demand Studios chose the top 20 creators from all of its different communities and are flying them all out to sunny California this week to take part in a Creator Conference this coming Thursday and Friday (the 24th and 25th). Also, Creators in the Los Angeles area are invited to attend a Mixer/Meetup in Santa Monica next Thursday, September 24th. The mixer will be held Thursday from 7:30 to 10:30 at the Cock ‘N’ Bull Pub. This is especially exciting for me, because I will be in Santa Monica to speak at the conference and meet the Demand Studios community.

The finalists for Michael Stelzner’s annual honor, The Top 10 Blogs for Writers, are in. FWJ made the short list for the fourth year in a row. Will we make the Top 10? It’s too early to say. With so many awesome entries, it’s any one’s games. We’re just honored by all the nominations and recommendations.

Chris Brogan is talking about inspiration today. He wonders who inspires us. I’m inspired by creativity, by writers and artists who leave me wondering why I didn’t think of something first. It’s a very rare day when I find myself feeling uninspired. All I have to do is read some blogs or a good book, spend some time with my son and his friends, or go for a walk and I’m back on track again.

Speaking of inspiration…when I started FWJ, I was one of a handful of writing blogs specially talking about finding freelance writing jobs, landing clients and listing job leads. Now, four and a half years later, I’m one of many. Sometimes I feel as if I’m shouting over hundreds of people to be heard. At Copyblogger, Jonathan Morrow discusses How to Stand Out in a Crowded Niche and he’s dead on. The next time I wonder if it’s time to throw in the towel and let the youngters take over, I’m going to re-read Jonathan’s post.

Johnny at Freelance Rant has a Freelance in 40 Days project going. He’s taking freelancing one day at a time, laying out everything you need to know to be a success.

Whenever I need a reality check, I head over to Liz Strauss’ Successful Blog. Liz lays it out on the line, but she does so with class. At a time when so many others excuse rudeness as being “blunt” or “honest”, Liz shows us you can still be honest and respectful at the same time. I’m especially digging “Why the Brave and Smart Will Survive” where she talks about pushing through the fear to find our inner bravery and deal with conflict.