Daring Novelist's Greatest Hits

On Thursday this blog will be two years old. I thought, by way of celebration, I would review the top posts and maybe post some links.

Blogger's built in stats started nine-months after I started this blog, so the Top All Time Posts (in terms of visits) don't really reflect "all time." So I also went back and looked at Feedburner's stats to see about adding a few earlier posts.

Books Are Not Commodities! They're...Pastrami On Rye!
(a look at why we don't have to worry about the "race to the bottom" on ebook pricing)

How Readers Find Books (These Days)
(part of a multipart series on how Google and algorithms have changed publishing -- and why writers should worry less about marketing and more about writing)

Dialog Tags - "Fear Them Not," Said She.
(a little common sense on the irrational fear of the word "said")

eBook Experiment Update - Better Than A Poke With A Sharp Stick
(a look at my less than stellar success at self-publishing, and where I decided to go from there)

Novella, Novelette, Page-Count and Word-Count
(how to measure the length of an ebook, and also clear defitions of novella and novelette)

On Hatchlings and Neo-Pros -- When Is A Writer "Good Enough"?
(a look at dealing with criticism as a young writer, and how it's often accurate but not helpful, and how you'll find your answers eventually yourself)

Story Notes for "Balancing Act"
(Notes about the writing a frivolous little romantic flash fiction story -- this was the top "click through" on my RSS feed -- I would not have guessed this was a top post, but the clicks don't lie)

Volume vs. Quality - A False Dichotomy
(saying "I prefer quality over quantity" is an excuse, and a poor one - you can' t have one without the other - but we also need to learn to pace ourselves)

My Live Real Choices, Beat-by-Beat, As I Write
(I was surprised this one was popular too: a log of my decision-making process in plotting a couple of scenes. It feels self-involved to me, but it was fun to write, and I may continue the series later on)

Turning Expectation into Anticipation
(a look at suspense theory, and Alfred Hitchcock)

I'll be back on Wednesday with the "A Round of Words In 80 Days Challenge" update.

See you in the funny papers.