Writer's Resources

I thought about all the things I ended up stumbling onto as a new writer and decided to try to make a decisive yet somewhat short list of things I found useful  as a new author. I include links to articles but not the articles themselves. If anyone has any articles or links they want to add, please send me an email on the contact page.

Books:

• William Strunk and E.B. White,  The Elements of Style
  
• The Chicago Manual of Style: one stop shop for your grammar needs
  
• Stephen King, On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
  
• Debra Dixon, GMC: Goal, Motivation, and Conflict
  

Websites:

• Writers Digest – It really is the one stop shop for classes and information.
  
• Romance Writers of America – Membership, contests, and writing groups support.
  
• Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America -- Organization that supports Sci-Fi/Fantasy writers.
  
• National Novel Writing Month --- Sign up and write a novel each November.
  

Agent Querying Resources:

• Query 101: The Basics: Where Do I Begin -- A nice article to get you started.
  
• AgentQueryConnect.com -- Resources for writers.
  
• Query Shark or Nathan Bransford’s Query Forum -- Both let you post queries, get feedback.
  

Twitter hashtags:

• #amwriting,  #askagent,  #tenqueries,  #querytip,  #pubtip #MSWL (manuscript wish list)
  
• Contests:  #pitmad,  #pitchmadness,  #qeurykombat,  #pitcharama 
  
• #writeclub – someone always doing word sprints here -- or #1k1hr
  

Twitter peeps to follow:

• @ColleenSMyers - me of course! Come say hi.
  
• @brendadrake – She runs pitmad/pitchmadness – Awesome lady
  
• @MKDB – Margaret Bail, literary agent, queen of tenqueries
  
• @michelle4laughs -- Michelle Hauck, author and host of Query Kombat
  
• @sc_author -- Blogger, founder of #WriteInclusively.
  

Critique groups:

• Yes, you do need one. Always get a second pair of eyes looking at your manuscript, especially when you are starting out. Facebook also has a lot of resources for this.
  
• Go local. Yahoo has lots of groups where you can find local groups or meet ups. I moderate my local RWA chapter Three Rivers Romance Writers.
  

Editors:

• When writing your first novel, I recommend you get an editor. Mine was Mary Harris.
  
• Another editor I had look at my query letter and synopsis was @Cslakin
  

Useful articles:

• For using Pintrest: 34 Strategic Ways You Can Use Pinterest to Market Your Book and Your Author Brand
  
• For writing a synopsis:  How to Write a 1-Page Synopsis
  
• For shortening your URL links: TinyURL and Bitly
  

Social Media:

• You will need to use social media. In this day and age it is a must!  Try out Facebook, Goodreads, Twitter, Instagram, GooglePlus, Goodreads, Snap Chat. TikTok, The list goes on and on!
  

Website:

• If you are truly serious about writing, you will need a website. There are many different hosting sites. I use GoDaddy and Wordpress, but don't limit yourself.  Here is a begining site to look at for starting your page. https://sitebeginner.com/.
  
• https://firstsiteguide.com/make-website/
  

Newsletter:

• Again, like above. If you are serious, email marketing is a very good investment and way to contact your readers. To sign up for my list, Please go to my Blog/Newsletter page. My hosting service is Mailchimp but there is also Mailerlite and many others.
  

This is a work in progress as I learn more. I deliberately kept the list short so it would one page, but if you have anything to add, please contact me.

Happy writing!

Updated 1/28/2020