While I probably won’t spend a lot of time discussing the nuts and bolts of writing or publishing on this blog (there are other sites that do so far more effectively than I’ll ever have time to do here), I wanted to provide a short list of resources I’ve found useful over the years. Perhaps you’ll find some value in them as well.
If you have some favorite resources you’d like to recommend that you don’t see listed, please do share them in the comments.
Note: I feel I do have to offer one gentle admonishment, and it’s based on personal laziness experience: you can read all the blogs, how to guides, reference books, writerly discussions, and the like until your eyes glaze over and your brain explodes from information overload, but the only true way to get anywhere with your writing and publishing career is to 1) write stuff, 2) publish or submit that stuff, and 3) do so over and over and over again.
Lists are in no particular order
Writing-Related Discussion Forums
Websites and Blogs
- The Passive Voice
- Dean Wesley Smith
- Kristine Kathryn Rusch
- Robert J Crane’s advice for indie writers
- Writer Beware
- SFWA.org
Books
list forthcoming
My Writing Toolbox
Assorted software and hardware used with my wordcraft
- I write all of my first drafts on an Alphasmart Neo–hands down the best pure, distraction-free writing machine I’ve ever used (no longer made, but check eBay for used models)
- Scrivener for editing and for formatting and compiling manuscripts into ebook formats; also a brilliant outlining and brainstorming tool (available for Mac and PC)
- Adobe InDesign for print layouts and cover designs
- Evernote for jotting down notes and ideas so that I always have a record of them
- A simple digital voice recorder (I’m frequently sitting in DC metro traffic, and having a voice recorder makes the commute time fly by); I use it for dictating notes, rambling brainstorms, and to hash out ideas, plot issues, and so forth
