Monday, October 31, 2011

Monday's Meanderings: The Remarkable, Wonderful, Frustrating World of Websites

Do you ever wander from one writing website to another, looking for information, help, advice, ideas? Do you ever get frustrated because nothing seems to be just what you are looking for? For the next couple of posts, I'm going to give you some of the best websites I've come across in the years I've been writing. Most of these came from the  Writer's Digest "101 Best Websites," but I've used many in the past, and have found them useful, humorous, and sometimes, just plain frustrating. I hope you find some you can enjoy.

Grammar Girl:  www.grammar.quickanddirtytips.com
We can all use a little help with grammar from time to time, and this is a good place to get that help.

Long, Story Short: An E-Zine for Writers: www.alongstoryshort.net
These editors offer great writing tips and personally reply to every author who contacts them for writing and publishing advice.

Plot Whisperer for Writers & Readers: www.plotwhisperer.blogspot.com
A great place for help and tips on writing plots.

Easy Street Promps: www.easystreetprompts.blogspot.com
If you're having trouble getting your muse to come back from her vacation, this is the place for you. Lots of picture prompts and video story-starters.

Six Sentences: www.sixsentences.blogpspot.com
For those of you who can "write short," something I can't seem to do. Here you can submit a six sentence story and take a chance on getting published.

Agent Query: www.agentquery.com
I've used this off and on for a couple of years, just got serious with it this year. If you're looking for an agent, this is the place to come. There is a lot you can do for free, but if you're seriously looking, pay the annual fee of $40, because it is well worth it.

Babbles from Scott Eagan: www.scotteagan.blogspot.com
Scott Eagan is the founder of Greyhaus Literary Agent, and writes multiple columns on querying tips, defining your genre, the pros and cons of social media, and much more. It's worth checking out.

Fundsfor Writers:  www.fundsforwriters.com
A great site if you're looking for money, grants, contests, awards, and markets. Hope Clark is an editor and her free email newsletter is a good one.

Slush Pile Hell:  www.slushpilehell.tumblr.com
What more needs to be said?! The tag line is "One grumpy literary agent, a sea of query fails, and other publishing nonsense." Check it out!

That's all for now, I'll have a few more in the next post.

Until next time,
That's a wrap.

6 comments:

  1. Great links, Mikki. Thanks! Another one I like is QueryShark. http://queryshark.blogspot.com

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  2. Nice round up, Mikki. I see several of my favorite here =)

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  3. These are great sites, Mikki. I've used several.

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  4. Ellen, have you ever sent a query to the Query Shark? I've meant to, but never have. I love her comments about those she posts, however! She really "tells it like it is"...to be cliche-ish!

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  5. Kelly and Ruth,
    I've already used some of these, also, but a few were new. I'm going to post some more, maybe you'll find a couple you've not used before.

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  6. No, I've never sent her a query. I might when I'm at that stage with the novel I am working on now. I'd rather have someone be honest with me than to sugarcoat things. If I don't want to know the honest answer, I don't ask. I think that's why I like her so much. She definitely tells the truth as she sees it.

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