Welcome to the last Top Picks Thursday of March! I cannot believe it is already the end of March. Get your taxes ready!
Check out the winners of the 2018 Whiting Awards, and learn more about the history and process of the Pulitzer Prize.
Kristen Arnett discusses what exactly a librarian does (hint: everything), while Jennifer Romolini recommends the best, least annoying books to read to children.
Nathan Bransford muses on how writing changes the world.
Robert Lee Brewer opens Writer’s Digest’s Poem-A-Day challenge for the month of April.
CRAFT
Good writing requires mastering the broad strokes. Kristen Lamb tells us how genre helps you write a successful story, Jami Gold shows how to create a positive theme in spite of bittersweet endings, and September C. Fawkes lists the 5 most common mistakes with setting.
At the scene level, Janice Hardy has the question you need to ask for every scene, and Binge-Writing examines the four layers of conflict.
Mastering craft elements is essential, as well. Jami Gold discusses parallelism, and Jennie Nash explains how to deal with the passage of time.
Knowing the nitty-gritty helps create a gripping story. Kristen Pope walks us through how to research your writing topics, and Janice Hardy has advice on why you should keep track of your story details.
Characters are the heart of the story. Margaret Dilloway explores if your main characters need to be likeable. Which might be hard to do if, as Jennifer Harris did, your villain is your protagonist. And what about, as in Janice Hardy’s example, your antagonist isn’t a villain because there is no bad guy?
Feedback and editing can make writers crazy. Clare Langley-Hawthorne advises how to handle critiques, Laura van den Berg discusses whether it is really necessary to kill your darlings, Jami Gold defines line editing, Shawn Inmon has weasel words and other tips, Nathan Bransford tells us how to edit our novels, Lisa Tener asks: should I edit as I write?, and Kristen Lamb warns of the dangers of premature editing.
Writers can stir their creativity in many ways. Ruth Harris explores summoning your Muse, Ban tells how writing poetry helped his prose, K.M. Weiland answers frequently asked questions, and Anne Greenwood Brown shows us some visual thinking.
Writing is an emotional and psychological journey. Julie Rosenberg lists what you need to write your first book after age 50, Nancy L. Erickson says you can heal yourself and others through writing, Kerry Schafer has a prevention and cure for the comparison bug, and Mandy Wallace shares 5 essential truths you need to know about the path to publication.
BUSINESS
Savvy Book Writers looks at how to get your print book into airport bookstores.
Sandra Beckwith answers the question: are authors allowed to vote on Amazon reviews of their books?
Patricia Marshall lists the 7 top tips for formatting self-published books.
Agent Janet Reid weighs in on how to have two timelines in one query and how often you should nudge after the first nudge.
Lots of marketing takes place online. Frances Caballo instructs us in 7 strategies to clean up our social media and how to grow your Instagram account organically. For those of us who blog, Stephanie Chandler tells how to increase reader engagement and sell more books, while Laney Galligan explains how to use WordPress’ WYSIWYG toolbar to format your blog posts like a pro.
Some marketing, though, still requires the human touch. Debbie Burke describes how book clubs make marketing personal again.
James Scott Bell has a searingly honest answer to a reader who asked: what should I expect from my first novel?
THE UNIQUE SHELF
Welcome to Elfpunk! Abby Hargreaves explains what elfpunk is and has 5 books to get you started. Speaking of elves, Jeff Shear has a brief history of the fantasy genre.
Did you know Frank Lloyd Wright designed a bookstore? But it did not carry the 25 most expensive books you can buy on the internet.
Michael Gustafson visits the world’s smallest publishing house: a typewriter in a bookstore.
Gotta love supportive moms. Louisa May Alcott’s mother was a driving force in her early writing.
Mark Eisner examines what we can learn from Pablo Neruda’s poetry of resistance.
That’s all for this week’s Top Picks Thursday—and for March! For all those on Spring Break, enjoy the time off!
The Author Chronicles 
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