Day: August 9, 2014

As I progress, I’m finding new websites and other resources to help me. I’m still using a lot of the tools like Evernote, Writer’s Digest, local library, and Dictionary.com. In addition to these standbys, I’ve played around with new tools like Scrivener but there have been a few new resources I’ve discovered this year that I’d like to share.

Writer’s Beware: Each year Writer’s Digest puts out a list of 101 best websites for writers. This one is usually on there and for good reason. The purpose of the website is to educate writers at all levels about the scams which exist in the publishing industry. It’s scary to read about the same people over and over changing their business names in the hopes of continuing to con writers into giving them lots of money, promising to publish them, but never doing anything. In addition to alerting writers to repeat offenders, the site also highlights new schemes that pop up. While it’s distressing to think a site like this has to exist it’s a great thing it does. For writers it helps us spot potential issues we get to the point where we want to start pursuing getting a novel published.

Anne R. Allen’s Blog : I find this blog to be very helpful as her weekly posts explore a myriad of topics which speak to writers at all levels. It’s another site that usually shows up on Writer’s Digest’s list each year. I frequently clip the posts to Evernote and repost them on Facebook. I’ve gotten lots of useful tips on many aspects of the craft and the writing life. If Writer’s Beware is written in a cautionary tone, Anne R. Allen’s blog injects more humor while still doling out realistic advice.

Romance University: This is a site I discovered a couple of months ago. I don’t remember how I discovered it and at first I was cautious about exploring it since I don’t write romance. I quickly realized despite its name, the site doesn’t concentrate on giving advice for just romance writers. All genres can benefit from the weekly schedule of ‘lectures’ (in other words, articles) presented by various authors of both genders and different genres. It’s another site that is geared toward writers at all levels.

Meetup.com: Not a resource solely geared toward writing but I have found it invaluable as it has allowed me to discover my new writers group as well as a couple of book clubs.

Pinterest: Just a fun place for me to look up pictures to help inspire me or describe something. Still learning how to back my boards private, though, since the point of it for me is for my eyes only. There are images I can get there that I can’t get via either Google or Bing.

Just a few of the new, fun, and informative sites I’ve added to my ever expanding writer’s toolbox.