Wednesday links: Critique sandwiches and too much prep work

I love regularly reading tips and advice articles in certain subjects — particularly writing and publishing. I don’t always need the information right then, but I know that it’ll eventually come in handy. Or at least, I hope it will.

I know there are a lot of other people out there who feel the same way I do, but sometimes it can be difficult to find every useful advice article that’s out there. So I thought I’d bring you a few.

Here are the tips and advice articles that jumped out at me the most over the past week.

1. Crafting the Perfect Critique Sandwich, from Pub(lishing) Crawl: Providing another writer with a good critique isn’t exactly as simple as reading their work and commenting on it. A good critique needs to talk about both strong and weak points in the work, and should be presented in a way that makes your view clear without discouraging the writer. Excerpt: “Last summer I was on the Young Authors Give Back Tour with fellow Pub Crawlers. Part of our tour included free writing workshops with young aspiring writers. When we talked about the necessity of finding a good critique partner, Pub Crawl alum Sarah Maas suggested giving your CP feedback in what she coined a ‘critique sandwich.’ ”

And a bonus: Comic: A Caution For Writers, from inkygirl: A cute — but accurate — one-panel comic about the perils of prepping too much.