Some weeks, my link love is random, covering everything from business to recruiting to writing. Other weeks, a theme emerges as the days progress. This is a theme week: most of the reading recommendations here are stories, either essays or behind-the-scenes views.
I didn’t plan this theme, but since I’m in a storytelling mood, I’m going to take a moment for a completely self-serving, self-promoting link. My essay The Buzz of Administration was recently published in American Pressings.
Okay, commercial break over. We’re back to this week’s recommended reading. Have a great weekend!
- Chicago Tribune Printers Row Small Press Month: Wolfsword Press I’m a big fan of Valya Dudycz Lupescu, Founding Editor of Wolfsword Press and Conclave literary journal, so I really enjoyed this interview with her. If you’re interested in the back story of a small press, you’ll enjoy it, too. (Full disclosure, I’m a Drama Editor for Conclave: A Journal of Character; the second issue will be out in April.)
- Famous Bloggers Alisa Bowman on 7 Ways to Write a Post So Funny that It Makes People Wet Their Pants The first sentence of this piece says it all: “Readers have told me that they’ve wet their office chairs while reading my posts.” Now go read her tips.
- Huffington Post Rebecca Walker: Liz Monroy’s Happy Family Many of my fellow freelancers and writers have taken classes from Liza Monroy. When I took her personal essay writing class, she shared that her NYT Modern Love essay Elvis and My Husband Have Left the Building launched her career and yet that very essay had been rejected nearly 80 times. I think of her when I need a reminder to not give up. Liza’s HuffPo essay “Keeping Him With Me: New Moments from an Unconventional First Marriage” is a follow-up to that Modern Love piece.
- Powell’s Books Original Essays Confessions of an American Bookstore Junkie I love the Original Essays feature on Powell’s website; these pieces are some of my favorites. The one I’m sharing with you this week is an older item by Danielle Trussoni, the author of the memoir Falling Through the Earth and the novel Angelology, which debuted as #7 on the New York Times bestseller list. If you’d like to see an effective example of an author using Facebook, check out Danielle’s page.
Your turn. Any must-reads from this week? Any articles or blog posts you’d like to share with your fellow readers here? Please share in the comments.
Jesaka Long 
I also loved the pants wetting post. Here’s one to admire for a different reason: ABC from Jenn Mattern at Breed ’em and Weep: http://www.breedemandweep.com/ Jenn recounted her day by going through the alphabet, which is quite a simple idea and yet most bloggers I read do not dare to do stuff like that. Sometimes she expresses herself through poetry instead of straight blogging. I love the variety, and that is one reason I always tune in. Another is her way with words.
Thanks so much, Laura! The tips for creating blog posts that will have your readers wetting their pant (and ruining chairs!) is one of my favorites, too. I’m glad you read that one.
The pants wetting link is my FAVORITE!! Many, many congrats on being PUBLISHED!!!