I had a couple of articles I read this week that I wanted to blog about, but instead of doing individual blog posts, I figured I would summarize and then provide you with the links. And, for those of you who aren't doing the Twitter thing yet, you're missing out on a lot of good info. Most of these articles came to me by way of tweets. (Btw, if you want to follow me, click on the flying birdie on the right.)

Alright, so things I learned this week...

First, blogger has a PAGES feature now! I have to thank Jody Hedlund for bringing this to my attention. If you're not sure what I'm talking about, look at the top of this page. See that? Other links to other pages within this blog! So, now we can make our blogs be more like websites. Of course, I find this out right after I built my professional website, but that's okay. I'll maintain both for now. Feel free to click around above and let me know what you think of my new pages. (To add this feature to your own blog, add the pages gadget in your layout.)

The action opening isn't all it's cracked up to be. This is one of the things that has come up in a few of the Beta Club critiques--help me know the character so that I care that she's/he's in danger in the first place--but this article explained it's much better than I could: The Biggest Bad Advice About Story Openings (thanks to @elizabethscraig for the tweet)

And if that's what not to do in an opening, here are some "to dos" from C. Patrick Schulze's blog.

Why critting others makes you a better writer. So bonus points for you guys participating in the Beta Club critiques! (tweet from @inkyelbows)

For some reason writers continue to put down other genres. Why can't we all just get along? Here's a quote, but the full article is here. (thanks to @Gwen_Mitchell for the tweet)

Nicholas Sparks has no love forpeople who call his stories "romances." "If you look for me, I'm in the fictionsection. Romance has its own section," he says toward the end of a long conversation.