Useful Links - November 2017

This month I'm going to share with you my favorite web pages, newsletters, and blogs. Below you'll find a little of everything, from grammar to the best (IMHO) blog on the planet. I hope you find them useful.

Karen Barr - Editor in chief

Margaret Atwood has a page of good resources for writers. Some, common sense: If invited to read at a festival, try not to get drunk, hit people, throw up onstage, smite the sound technician, etc. - others more thoughtful: It's tough out there in Bookworld. Tread Carefully. Check out the rest of Atwood's Resources. If nothing else, you'll find it entertaining.

Atwood also suggests one of my favorite blogs. You'll find a lot of good advice (and plenty of swear words) here on Chuck Wendig's Blog terribleminds

A one-stop resource for writers can be found at the "Writers helping writers" website

If you need something to help you with your Grammar, check out The Oatmeal

Or check out, Grammarly for instant auto-corrections. No one program can possibly correct every possible spelling or punctuation, but this one certainly gives you a head start.

Maria Popova believes that multiple points of creativity drive our ideas and stories. Her site Brain Pickings is a one-woman labor of love. (The link leads to one of my favorite recent articles: Gauguin's stirring first-hand account of what actually happened the night Van Gogh cut off his own ear) Be sure to subscribe to this one!

Bane of Your Resistance is another blog that comes to my inbox each week. This week's article is timely advice for anyone attempting NANOWRIMO.

If publishing is your goal, check out C. Hope Clark's newsletter: Funds for writers. Each week she'll share everything from grants and contests to paying markets and good old-fashioned advice.

If you're a plotter, Jami Gold's resources are some of the best. Check out her "For Writers: Tips & Advice" section.

Which brings me to Screenwriting. (Yes, there is a reasonable connection) Blake Snyder's Save The Cat page is touted as "The Last Website on Screenwriting You'll Ever Need" If you're already familiar with Snyder's work, then you know about Beat Sheets. Also, a great tool for scene writing, whether they're for the screen or not. Tim Stout put together a great explanation of each Beat. And for Novel writers, this Beat Sheet Calculator is a handy tool.

The Write Practice has free, quick, tutorials on a wide range of topics.

Finally, I have a few places to find help. Writer's Digest is full of suggestions, both free and paid options. Here is a list of Literary Agents.

Nathan Bransford was a literary agent and now has a great site dedicated to helping writers chase their dreams.

I hope you find some of these links useful.