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Tuesday, January 3, 2012

A Writer's Toolbox

Now that we've thought about our goals, how are we going to reach them? Every writer needs a tool box at their disposal. Something they can reach into any time they need inspiration.
There are so many wonderful websites that can help improve your writing skills. Use them, learn from them.

Here are two of my favorite writing blogs.
Janice Hardy--her site is a treasure trove of insights. Every Saturday she has a Real Life Diagnostics post. I learn so much just by reading what she says about other peoples work.(I believe she made the Top 20 Blogs for Writers last year. She'll make the Top 10 this year for sure.)

KM Weiland's Wordplay blog was named among the Top 10 Blogs for Writers! I love how most of her posts are vlogs but she includes the manuscript for the video too. It's easy to access and she always has great ideas.


Other Great Resource Links:

Want to perfect that query? Just read the 200+ that Janet Reid has commented on over at Query Shark.

QueryTracker.net blog is invaluable. Keep connected with the ever changing world of agents and what you can do to get their attention--in a good way.

Write or Die, a great way to shut off the inner editor and just write.

Writing Prompts—found on http://writingfix.com/index.htm where they have over 500 prompts!

Seventh Sanctum is a name generator for almost everything.

TV Tropes is a wiki about the tricks of the trade for writing fiction.

Technovelgy is the site where science meets fiction. As in real life science you can use (or just keep straight) in your novel.

http://www.suite101.com/writingandpublishing/ Writing tips and techniques for emerging and established writers.

Squidoo--How to write a fantasy novel is a step by step guide to writing your first fantasy novel--world building etc.

HowToWriteNovel30Days

http://www.oneword.com/ will give you a word and you write about it for 60 seconds.

absolutewrite.com and Forums Excellent place to research agents, publishers and get questions answered about the writing world.

The Bookshelf Muse has an emotions thesaurus to help you show not tell. There is also a setting, weather and other thesauruses to get your brain working again.
http://www.365tomorrows.com/ has a new 600 word speculative fiction story each day.

American Night Writers Association blog about Life, the Universe, and their place in the World of Writing and Publishing.

Find music to fit the mood of your book at Pandora.

Create soundtracks for your novels at Grooveshark.

Vision for Writers a quarterly ezine about writing.

And just for fun, here's a workshop post on creating book trailers from Vision for Writers.

Who have I left out? Please share linkage in the comments.  

Updates and Additions:
Jodi Hedlund! I find myself starring her posts in google reader ALL THE TIME. 
Predators and Editors
The Practice Room  
The Creative Penn
Thesaurus.com
Here is the list of winners for the Top 10 Blogs for Writers 2011/2012

10 comments:

Luanne G. Smith said...

Ooh, I see a couple of new sites to add to my list. Thanks. Off to check out the links.

mshatch said...

The Practice Room (see sidebar) where you can unplug for an hour at various times throughout the week and write then get back with fellow writers and chat about what you have or haven't accomplished. I usually attend Monday night at 8pm since I'm usually working during the morning sessions.

Great resources!

Angela Brown said...

There are great resources. I've got to bookmark this post...seriously.

I find Predators and Editors can be helpful sometimes with agent research as well.

Huntress said...

*drooling* Oh, yeah, these will come in handy :)

another tool for the box:
http://www.thecreativepenn.com/

It was one of ten best writing blogs on http://writetodone.com/2011/12/23/top-10-blogs-for-writers-20112012-the-winners/

And don't forget http://thesaurus.com/

The already mentioned Bookshelf Muse is another of winner.

Michael Offutt, Phantom Reader said...

I wish I knew about these websites a year ago. It would have made the task of writing so much easier.

Tara Tyler said...

wow! so many sites! some i know, some are new. i will be checking them out!

Roland D. Yeomans said...

I followed you over from Alex's blog. K M Weiland's blog is a treasure trove of wisdom and help. Even my blog at times helps out. Check it out tomorrow. Oh, and sometimes ghosts of famous writers do a guest post to help us struggling writers! Have a great 2012, Roland

Carol Riggs said...

These are GREAT sites; I follow a lot of them already. Thanks for the list--I've bookmarked this post! :) Happy 2012 to ya.

Angela Ackerman said...

I love posts where writers mention their favorite resources, because I find out about new places to visit to improve myself! Thanks So much for this list....many of these I know but there are a few I didn't know about. And thanks also for including The Bookshelf Muse! I'm so happy you find our blog helpful.

Hope you had a great holiday and that 2012 is a great year for you.

Angela @ The Bookshelf Muse

cleemckenzie said...

Some great links here. I've visited some, but you've added a couple that look very helpful.

Thanks for the labor!