For a long time now, Angela and I have wanted a way to acknowledge the people who have helped us develop into stronger writers and who add to the writing community as a whole. As a new feature here at The Bookshelf Muse, Angela and I will take turns giving well-deserved recognition to some of the people who really make an impact…people who truly are Writing Heroes.
For my first hero, I picked Laura Pauling. As a matter of fact, when we first started discussing this series, I believe my words to Angela were I get Laura. It was like a fantasy draft, and I WON!
One of the things I love about Laura’s blog is how very useful her information is. She keeps up with what people are talking about. Her posts explore topics that are timely for authors, and issues that are not often clear-cut. And she informs without telling you what to think. She puts the information out there in a way that makes you want know, want to learn more. As a person who values truth and the importance of figuring things out for yourself, I love that. I should also mention that Laura is active on twitter too, finding great articles and being a bright, supportive voice for all writers!
She also has excellent taste in books. When she reviews a book, it almost always peaks my interest, and let me tell you, I’m pretty picky. And when I finally get around to reading her recommendations (my TBR list is as bottomless as Hermione’s purse), they almost always satisfy. For her taste alone, I salute her!
And lastly, I adore her because she’s so freaking honest. When popular bloggers stick a virtual foot in the mouth, she talks about it. She pokes fun at the ongoing ambiguity of the writing world (do blog/don’t blog, be honest/don’t be a jerk). She admits to dancing in her pajamas to Lady Gaga. With the blinds open.
I am speechless. Speechless.
So all I can say is Thank you Laura, for being one of my WRITING HEROES. You inspire me, woman!
To pay it forward, Angela or I will give a 1000 word critique to each Writing Hero we profile. These writers can then choose to keep it for themselves or offer it as a giveaway on their blog! All writing heroes will also have a permanent link in our header!
So tell me Musers…do you know Laura? Has she helped you or your writing in some way? Please tell us in the comments and help celebrate this amazing WRITING HERO!
Angela is a writing coach, international speaker, and bestselling author who loves to travel, teach, empower writers, and pay-it-forward. She also is a founder of One Stop For Writers, a portal to powerful, innovative tools to help writers elevate their storytelling.
I follow Laura and she is great! I seriously love this series. 🙂
Very cool idea! I don’t know Laura (yet), but plan to hop over and check her out. 🙂
Thanks for this feature on Laura. I just discovered her blog today through another pay it forward. I am even more excited to follow her blog and learn from her.
Thanks for reminding me about Laura. I meant to put her on my blogroll and forgot; now she’s there, so I’m more likely to keep up with her.
Thanks for introducing us to Laura. I will certainly check out her blog!
I’m looking forward to other writing heroes you’ll be featuring. 😛
nutschell
http://www.thewritingnut.com
Laura definitely sounds amazing, but you ladies are too for supporting writing heroes. Love it!
I agree – Laura’s blog is fantastic. 🙂
I think blogger ate my comment. Laura has helped me tons with her blog posts. Thanks Laura! Also, thanks for your logline advice.
Thanks to Angela for doing this, so nice.
She is new to me. Thank you! I can tell I already like her blog from the first post there!
I do know Laura, and I think she’s great! She is a hero. 🙂
Thank you for introducing us to Laura! I’m off to follow her. 🙂
…That sounded creepy, didn’t it? Let me rephrase that. I’m off to follow her blog. *grins*
Nice when you can honor someone to whom you are indebted~~~
Great choice! I adore Laura – she’s so sweet and smart too! 🙂
This is awesome! I love paying it frwd. Thanks for introducing us to Laura.
Laura is all kinds of awesome and your tribute is perfect!!! 🙂
I always enjoy reading what Laura has to say. Very thought provoking. I think maybe I’m most in awe of the large number of great links she provides on Twitter.
*Bows to Laura’s awesomeness*
Excellent choice, Becca! Laura is totally amazing, totally sweet, totally supportive, and I’m totally happy I know her. Thanks so much for this well-deserved shout out to someone we know and love.
YAY, LAURA!!!! *dances in pajamas in solidarity* Maybe not in front of an open window though. I might scare the neighbors…
I recognize Laura’s picture. I’ve visited her blog before, but I haven’t been the greatest with blog visiting lately. I’ll have to go there and follow her more closely. She sounds fabulous! :0)
Okay, anyone you ladies suggest I’ll be checking out!
GREAT post 🙂 I’m a fan of her blog – inspirational, friends, very, very helpful – Laura is definitely a worthy writing hero 🙂
I love Laura! I first checked out her blog because she always left such amazing comments on MY blog. I just had to see who this woman was! And I agree she’s wonderful. Excellent choice. 🙂
Haha, we totally did fight over Laura–I imagine there will be a few more folks we fight over too–Becca and I get inspiration from many of the same sources. 🙂
Laura is a wonderful, hard working writer who has a great attitude and a genuine caring demeanor. I feel so grateful to know her and I wish her much success in her writing career!
Angela
Laura’s blog is fantastic–I can see why you and Angela had a fantasy draft over her. 🙂
“It was like a fantasy draft, and I WON!” –> HILARIOUS!
Aw, such a nice write-up on Laura (and all true)!!!! YAY, Laura, you deserve it!
Yay for Laura! Love her blog!
Thanks for sharing the kind words and helping to pay it forward, everyone. Laura, you rock.
I don’t know her! But, I’m going to meet her right now.
Wow! Such nice words. This was truly unexpected. Thank you so much. There are so many much bigger bloggers out there you could spotlight.I appreciate it. Like everyone, I struggle sometimes with the direction of my blog, what I want to blog about, what should I blog about. But in the end, I write about structure b/c I’m learning about it and it affects so many areas. And other times I write about what’s on my heart like dancing in my jammies. 🙂
Laura really does keep her finger on the pulse of the writing/publishing blogosphere. She’s great.
I do!! I do!! Angela introduced
her to me when I was having
problems with my WordPress and
plugins and I’ve kept contact
ever since and not regretted it
a moment. She’s always been
friendly, constructive, and all-
around a good person. So, yay, you
go, Laura!!
I know she’s my hero. After reading my WIP, she had me rethink my story structure and I started questioning my mc’s motivations and goals. The result was a more emotion based story.
Her blog is filled with awesome as is her WIP (which I was lucky to get to read in it’s early draft and can’t wait to read again).
Laura is absolutely awesome! So glad to see her recognized by another set of fabulous bloggers. 🙂
I love the way she breaks apart plots and helps us analyze story construction that works. And, like you, I rely on her fair and honest approach to publishing issues that I need to understand.
What a great way to pay it forward!
Laura is one of my all time favourites and deserves recognition – it’s hard to pick from the many writers who offer great advice but I’d like to nominate Jody Hedlund as one of my ‘writing heros’ – her blog at http://jodyhedlund.blogspot.com/ is so inspiring.
I don’t know why I didn’t already know about Laura, but I’m there now. Thanks for the introduction 🙂
Thanks for sharing about Laura. I just met her in the Pay It Forward blog hop and look forward to reading her blog.
Laura is fantastic! I’ve been reading her for quite some time. Thanks for spotlighting her.
I love Laura’s Blog a great balance of inspirational and instructional.
I love Laura’s examples of Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet in action; they really helped me with story structure, and of course led me to read Save the Cat, which in turn helped me outline and write my second MS. Plus her post on how to pick the best story idea is great for, well, picking the best story idea and then making it even bigger and better.
Thank you for the introduction to Laura. She has just gotten a new follower!
J.C.
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