Writing is a solitary and lonely career. It’s up to you to find the ideas for a story, compose your draft, edit, edit, edit, then polish, polish, polish. Then you can ask someone to read it for you, give you some feedback. But up until then, you’re mostly on your own.
So we as writers, in our attempts to find inspiration and support, can spend hours and hours at our computers reading ezines on writing, researching sites on how-to’s, and downloading eBooks on unlocking the secret to getting published. In doing so, we don’t actually write, because we’re too busy reading and studying.
I’ve been down this track and wasted oodles of time. But now I’m much wiser. I’ve culled the number of ezines I subscribe to, and stick to the websites that give me the information I need. Why search for more when you’ve already found it? Yes, it’s a great way of avoiding the dreaded blank screen with an expectantly blinking cursor, waiting for your first eye-catching sentence.
Where Do I Go For Writing Tips and Useful Advice?
I’ve narrowed my websites down to the following. Have a look and see what you think. They’re not all just for childrens’ writers, as you’ll see.
writing4success.com This is one of Marg McAlister’s sites on writing in general. What I love about Marg’s site is that she has many tipsheets on all aspects of writing that are easy to digest. Her explanations of techniques are always accompanied by examples of “good” and “bad” writing. This makes it so much easier to understand concepts such as “show, don’t tell” and point of view slips. Marg offers these tipsheets in free downloadable eBooks.
Jill McDougall is a wonderful children’s author. You’ll see straight away from her site that she knows how to write for kids. Her language is snappy, full of life (you can almost see her bouncing around), and captivating. What Jill has taught me is to perk up your writing. Don’t be boring. She has a great eBook on how to write for kids, which is one of the best ones I’ve come across.
Sally Odgers is another prolific children’s author. She offers a very affordable manuscript assessment service that is invaluable to all childrens’ writers. Her response time is amazingly quick, the cost incredibly cheap and her feedback so helpful. Because she is Australian, she is well aware of the market here, which is helpful when it comes to approaching publishers. She also knows the US and the UK markets, and where your story might fit.
How Could I Forget?
I mentioned ezines, so I can’t leave out the one I find the most useful. There are heaps, but this one gives me what I need.
Pass It On is Jackie Hosking’s weekly ezine for childrens’ writers. It includes general industry and publishing news, competitions and markets, great articles and a chance for writers to ask questions of the group. It’s not too long, so I don’t spend hours reading it, but I always get something out of it.
So there you go, my top sites and ezine. Now, back to the writing!
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Hi Janet, Thanks for sharing your favourite sites. I am looking forward to checking them out. I think you are wise to limit the sites to ones that really help. It is a skill not to get overloaded by all the information available to us. Best wishes with your writing.
Hi Janet,
I’m suffering a bit from balancing my writing hours with my researching hours and you’ve hit the nail on the head as to the problem. I am spreading myself too thinly between too many resources. Time for a Spring Clean! Thanks for the reminder. S.
I have been down the path of spending so much time researching and reading too. It’s frustrating and often leads to paralysis when it comes my writing.
Thanks for a great post and those sites wil be really useful for my mother (a children’s illustrator wanting to write a story book on looking after the planet for kids).