Favorite Online Writerly Resources Roundup

Photo credit: Brendan Lynch
So as many of you have probably gathered, I spend a lot of time plugged in. Like, probably more than I should. Which means I’m all over the internet all the time, basking in social media sites of all things writerly and publishing.

And so, when someone kindly suggested I share some of my favorite resources, I thought a roundup was in order.

Without further ado, here are my favorite online writerly resources, and why I love them.

For motivation and progress tracking: MyWriteClub
MyWriteClub is still in beta, but I use it constantly when I’m making any sort of progress—whether revisions or drafting. It’s a nice little community where you can keep track of all sorts of customizable progresses with charts and what no, and I wrote about it here.  
Point is, it’s very motivational and has the added bonus of very nice charts, which I’m basically addicted to know. Très recommended. 

For querying: QueryTracker
I obviously don’t use this anymore as I’m done querying, but I did find it very helpful when I was querying. It’s a great way to keep track of your queries and find literary agents to submit to, and as a bonus, it recently got a new facelift. 

For pitch contests: @brendadrake, @AuthoressAnon (Miss Snark’s First Victim) & @Michelle4Laughs 
These lovely ladies frequently host contests for writers searching for representation. I got my agent through one of said contests, so I can tell you first hand it works. Plus, they’re all very nice. Definitely follow them if you’re on Twitter! 

For writing & publishing tips: chasingthecrazies (@atrueblood5), Writers Helping Writers (@AngelaAckerman & @beccapuglisi), & The Daily Dahlia (@MissDahlELama).
All of these blogs (and their respective creators) are fabulous for slightly different reasons. Chasingthecrazies has loads of agent interviews about what they look for in the first five pages, as well as other great writing tip posts. Writers Helping Writers is chock full of great information to (as the title says) help you with your writing. The Daily Dahlia has so much really fantastic information not only on writing, but on pre- and post-publishing tips and information about the industry and supporting other writers and…yeah. You should check it out. 

For diverse representation education: We Need Diverse Books (@diversebooks), Corinne Duyvis (@corinneduyvis), Marieke Nijkamp (@mariekeyn), Disability in Kidlit (@DisabilityInLit), DiversifYA (@_DiversifYA), Diversity in YA (@diversityinya), & Gay YA (@thegayYA).
If you care about diverse representation and want to learn more about why it’s important and how you can help, make sure you follow basically everyone listed above. Each of them share really valuable information about different aspects of diversity and they’re all super insightful. I’ve learned a great deal from them. 

For book recommendations/reviews: B&N Teen Blog (@BNTeens), Rich in Color (@Rich_in_Color), IceyBooks, The Midnight Garden
Not sure what to read next? Looking for some book reviews? The above blogs have really fantastic reviews and recommendations for loads of books. Definitely recommended! 

So that’s it! What are some of your favorite writerly online resources? 

Twitter-sized bites: 
Looking for some online writerly resources? Writer @Ava_Jae rounds up her favorites. #writetip (Click to tweet)  
Motivational tools, writing & publishing tips, book reviewers, & more! @Ava_Jae shares her favorite writer resources. (Click to tweet)  

10 comments:

Laura Rueckert said...

Ava, what a great round up! I also find these helpful...

General Information:
- Agent Janet Reid's blog: http://jetreidliterary.blogspot.de/

Critique:
- Query Tracker Forum, for workshopping queries, first pages, etc with other writers: http://www.querytracker.net/forum/index.php

Research on agents:
- Literary Rambles: http://www.literaryrambles.com/2009/03/introducingagent-spotlight.html
- Absolute Write Water Cooler: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=22

Ava Jae said...

Yes! These are fantastic additions, Laura—thank you! I don't know how I forgot Janet Reid's blog, Literary Rambles and AWWC. Whoops. :)

Ana @ Butterflies of the Imagi said...

Thanks for all of these links. I've heard of Query Tracker before, but I've never used it since I've never queried before. My goal is to be querying by the end of the year, though, so I guess I'll be on that site a lot then. I've also heard of MyWriteClub, but I've never actually checked it out. Some other favorite resources that I know of are the YA Highway Publishing Road Map, the Go Teen Writers Blog, Literary Rambles, Publishing Crawl and Susan Dennard's Writing Resource Page. SO MANY HELPFUL LINKS!

Heather said...

Ooh, these are great resources. I definitely need to save some of these for later so I can use them when I need them!

Bridgette Johnson said...

I haven't heard of the myWriteClub. I'll have to check it out. For critique, if you're willing to put the time in, there is CritiqueCircle.com. It's free with paid option and it works on a merit system, but it can take some time for your chapter to show up in the queue.

For diversity, I just found this on Tumblr this week: writingwithcolor.tumblr.com. You can ask the mods questions about writing POC, submit an except for a critique, and they post some great writing POC related topics and just general awesomeness. They also have a ton of tags on the site to search through posts and a fantastic resource of stereotypes/tropes/things to avoid in their Ask-FAQ section.

Candace Ishmael said...

For diversity, @LEEandLOW on Twitter is really great (as is their blog). They're an independent publisher committed to publishing diverse children's literature and they're super involved with We Need Diverse Books.

Ava Jae said...

Those are so GREAT resources, Ana! I know I practically studied Literary Rambles while querying, and though I found Susan Dennard's site way late, she really has some super insightful and instructive posts. Thanks for sharing!

Ava Jae said...

I hope you find them helpful! :)

Ava Jae said...

Interesting! I hadn't heard of CritiqueCircle.com—thanks for sharing! And yes! Writing with color is another fantastic one—I follow them on tumblr as well. :)

Ava Jae said...

You know, I'd heard of them, but I don't think I'm following them? I'll have to check them out. Thanks for the recommendation! :)

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