Welcome to 2010.

Well, now that the new year has begun, I must make good on my promise to update and "revamp" this blog. While I have decided to keep posting writing samples on occasion, I will also be adding some new content.

There are a lot of web sites and blogs out there that offer advice to new and/or aspiring writers. But with so many people out there giving opinions and advice you often run into conflicting information. What I propose to do here is to choose one site a week to peruse and then offer my conclusions/findings about each site. I'll be giving each a rating as to how helpful (or not) I found the content. Take these ratings with a grain of salt. I don't pretend to be an expert. What I am offering is another aspiring writer's viewpoint in hopes that I might help one of you find a venue to becoming the next big thing in the writing world.

Because my work schedule changes weekly, I do not have a set day of the week upon which I will be posting. However, I will have a new post up by Sunday each week before 12:00am, Pacific Time.

In addition to these site reviews, I will also be posting the occasional writing prompt or discussion topic.

I will begin 2010 with a discussion topic.     

In recent years, self-publishing has become a more respected form of getting your book into the hands of readers. (Look at Christopher Paolini, for example. He began as a self-published auther at the age of 15.) Have you, or would you, consider self-publishing your novel as a way to get noticed by a large publishing house? Or would you consider self-publishing as a lucrative business without a "real publisher" coming in with an offer?

I'm looking forward to hearing what you have to say.

K. Looney(writer)