At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, together, these websites changed my writerly life. Want to write a book, but not sure where to start?
Here’s your step one: National Novel Writing Month (it’s what it sounds like, but even better).
Still not convinced this is doable? Check out Autocrit: It’s a subscription editing service, but the insights from their “What’s the score?” blog are totally free (and you can get a free test run by entering your email).
Need more? There’s much more.
Education
- Fiction School (podcast by a former professor of mine and his friends, w/ transcript)
- Babe Town (podcast by one of my childhood friends on inspirational women)
- Cure for the Common Actor (podcast by a fellow Gustie for actors and other artists)
- Free Rice (a fun and fruitful way to practice/learn new vocabulary)
- Nearly Complete (blog for writing advice/humor/encouragement)
- American Academy of Poets (giant poem database PLUS great plans for National Poetry Month)
- Smashwords Style Guide for formatting e-books in Microsoft Word
Poetry
- Poetry Daily (it’s what it sounds like)
- The Poetry Foundation (the biggest deal for poetry there is)
- American Life in Poetry (weekly poems)
- The Writer’s Almanac (archives) (poem of the day + “on this day…” w/ audio & text)
- The Writer’s Almanac 2018 – present (for new entries from Garrison Keillor, solo)
- This blog post recommended by the student of a Salt Lake City librarian for young and beginning poets (although you may not want to start with Shakespeare)
Places to publish
- HITRECORD (crowd-sourced creation of all kinds, founded by Joseph Gordon-Levitt)
- DeviantArt (primarily for graphic art, but free and easy to publish anything)
- Patreon (a fundraising platform for all kinds of creators)
- Submittable (click the Discover tab for contests; this one is a must for writers)
- Chill Subs (another fantastic resource for writers to find places to publish!)
- WattPad (for writers who want their work out there NOW, popular for fanfics)
Other
- Coffitivity (you might have to click the link to understand this one…)
Caitlin M.S. Buxbaum 