First, this is somewhat relevant to the panel I was on at Swancon about what makes a good short story, today’s daily writing kick from David Farland which discusses how to judge a story.  And for anyone who’s trying to work their way up in the writing field, I can highly recommend subscribing to David Farland’s daily kicks emails.

Second, something I actually meant to mention on that panel was Forever magazine, a reprint-only magazine recently launched by Neil Clarke (of Clarkesworld).  I’ve been a long-time subscriber of Clarkesworld and subscribed to Forever when it first came out.  And I have been utterly astonished at the brilliance of the stories that have been reprinted.  You want to know what makes a good story?  This is a really good place to start looking.  It’s subscription-only, but cheap and in my opinion, worth the money.

And third, I’d also like to recommend the new podcast by Mur Lafferty (of I Should Be Writing and the Shambling Guide books) and Matt Wallace – Ditch Diggers.  I’ve listened to every episode of I Should Be Writing and highly recommend it for all writers (and especially beginning writers, it’s very worth getting access to the archives by supporting Mur on Patreon and listening to all the episodes).  Ditch Diggers aims to explore writing as a business, and is highly entertaining besides.  Kameron Hurley and Chuck Wendig have guested, and the latest episode has an interview with Brianna Wu.  Go and listen and learn.