My Favourite Writing Resources - Kimberley Payne

About a year ago, my family packed up our home and moved an hour north. In the process, I had to say goodbye to my built-in bookshelves and reduce my personal library from seven full shelves to only three. As a writer getting rid of books felt like giving away a piece of myself. But it had to be done. I had to evaluate each book individually to determine if it would make the cut.

The most valuable books I kept included those written by authors I personally know including Ray Wiseman’s Write Better! A Writing Tip for Every Month of the Year and Marcia Laycock’s Abundant Rain – Inspiring Words for Writers of Faith. Of course, the benefit of ebooks is that I was able to keep Donna Fawcett’s Duke the Chihuahua Writes! A Tutorial for Beginning Writers, Melanie Fisher’s Ya…But How – Online Platform Building for the Very, Very Beginner! and Ruth Snyder’s books Learn Twitter. I’ve got a number of anthologies including As the Ink Flows – Devotions to Inspire Christian Writers and Speakers and 7 Essential Habits of Christian Writers (in which I have two pieces).

Books I’ve referenced a number of times include Stephen King’s On Writing – A Memoir of the Craft, and How to Take the Fog out of Writing by Robert Gunning and Douglas Mueller. Although I’m a non-fiction writer, I’ve returned time and again to Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne and Dave King.

Besides books, there are resources like blogs, podcasts, and webinars that are invaluable to writers. I’ve bookmarked websites from D’vorah Lansky (Book Marketing Made Easy) http://www.bookmarketingmadeeasy.com/, Karon Thackson (Marketing Words) https://www.marketingwords.com/ and Sandra Beckwith (Build Book Buzz) https://buildbookbuzz.com/.

I love to listen to podcasts as I putter around the house. The bonus is that they are free and can be listened to repeatedly. Podcasts I recommend include The Art of Work Conversations with Jeff Goins, This is Your Life with Michael Hyatt, The Creative Penn Podcast by Joanna Penn, and Author Audience: Helping you reach more people with your message with Shelley Hitz.

Although Facebook can be a time thief, there are worthwhile groups to join including Canadian Writers who are Christian and White Rose Writing – Spread God’s Word through Your Writing. I host a Facebook group called, Writer Helps, and post current information about upcoming writer’s contests, conferences, and books. If you’re on Facebook you’re invited to join and keep informed.

I also host a blog called Author Resources for Success at http://www.authorresources.wordpress.com. I’ve created specific tabs to cover such topics of interest as Amazon, articles, book tours, book covers, copywriting, fiction, marketing, podcasts, publishing, reviews, and more. 

Of course, conferences are invaluable to writers. I have personally attended Write Canada for the past 14 years and highly recommend it. For those living in western Canada, I’ve heard wonderful things about the Inscribe Conference. If you have opportunity to attend a one-day conference or workshop, it’s a great opportunity to learn and to meet like-minded individuals.

I’m always open to learn about new resources and I’d love to hear about your favourites.

The tools of the trade... By Vickie Stam

It seems that I have everything I need to write a best seller - at least that's what all the writing resources tell me. 

 Here I have "The Everything Guide To Writing A Novel." 

Joyce and Jim Lavene offer their book as a tool to help you complete "the first draft to landing a book contract - all you need to fulfill your dreams." While this book has proved to be a helpful guide in my writing endeavours, there have been many others that I have also turned to.

Every book promises to share the whole caboodle - provide me with all of the answers. Each one holds the nuts and bolts to help me find my creativity, the big hook, my voice, and the right genre. Even though I've read a lot of  books over the past seven years, I'm still a long ways away from whipping up that best seller.

There are so many writer's tools on the market today that it often becomes an overwhelming search. They line the shelves of Indigo like penny candy did in the corner store when I was a kid. Each one bears a title that beckons me to buy it. Whenever I opt to pull just one from its resting place I imagine them all tumbling into my arms as if to say - Pick me! Pick me!

All of these helpful tools offer snippets of wisdom between their pages and yes, I rush to the check out with my picks in hand eager to get home and underline, circle or highlight every word or sentence that will most certainly help me to fulfill my writing dream.

Here's a book that offers "50 Essential Strategies For Every Writer" along with the idea that "Writers will be inspired to pick up their pens."

You can bet that one didn't take long to follow me home. Once again, this book features a number of sentences underscored and pages earmarked for those days when I do need a little help being inspired.

I have more books but I can't possibly write about all of them, therefore I have left my favourite writing tool to the very end.

Writing Your Legacy is "A Step-by-Step Guide to Crafting Your Life Story" by Richard Campbell, M.Ed. and Cheryl Svensson, Ph.D.

My passion for writing stems from my journey in life and so it should come as no surprise that this book would be my favourite.    

Each chapter offers themes that help turn your memories into words. The book is designed to keep you focused while you write about the different aspects of your life. It offers useful questions and suggested prompts to assist you in getting started. There are endless exercises that make it easy for you reach your writing goal. This manual can usher you into your own personal reflection.

An avid writer or a newbie will find everything they need to reach the finish line. 

** In closing, I must admit that out of all of the books that I have on hand this one does hold a special place in my heart. You see, I know Richard Campbell personally. I first met him when he facilitated a Life Story Writing class that I was enrolled in at Redeemer University. I was a frightened newbie writer looking for a place to free the words that I had imprisoned in my heart for so long. Richard's love for helping people write their story shines through in this book and in his teaching. Tucked between the pages of this little gem you'll find a fragment of my heart. I feel so honoured that Richard Campbell gave me the opportunity to allow others to see a glimpse of my journey - something that is forever bound inside the cover of, "Writing Your Legacy." 

Richard truly is a wonderful friend and an inspiration to many.

Resource Rich -- Sharon Espeseth

I feel thankful for the many writing resources I have at my fingertips.

1. Literally at my fingertips is my 2007 iMac, which continues to be a faithful workhorse. With thankfulness I am reminded of my first typewriter, a portable Remington, that my aging fingers and wrists couldn't possibly handle today. Then there was my IBM Selectric that had a cartridge you popped in and out to fix errors. Writing anecdotal report cards and the odd writing submissions was a chore when compared to the ease of typing, editing, rearranging stories on computer as I do today. Also at my fingertips is the Internet.

2. My family who supports me in my writing and often gives me someone or something to write about, like our chocolate drop below.

I would have to put up lots of photos to represent all my family helpers: my father who was a colourful character and a storyteller himself, my grandkids who are the cutest, my husband and proof reader, our own kids, sisters . . .

3. The writing books and other books I have squirrelled away over the years, and the availability of our Public Library.

4. God's word have I hid in my heart. Still I have to look up verses and passages for my writing, so I have several versions or translation.

5. The Roman Catholic missalette, Living with Christ. Each Sunday has an O.T. reading, a Psalm, something from the Epistles, and the Gospel reading with a related theme. Week day readings are similar, so each day's reading gives the basis for a Scripture-based article.

6. The Women Word Weavers of Barrhead, who are excellent supporters, teachers, friends, and fellow learners. They are my critics, my motivators, my cheerleaders.

7. Inscribe Christian Writers Fellowship with its contests, feedback, ListServ where I am motivated by what others are doing, conferences, role models, teachers. Marcia Laycock's devotional course was an excellent resource for me. FellowScript writers and editor Bonnie Way always have new writing ideas to try and lessons to learn.

8. Hope Clark from Funds for Writers 's two newsletters, Small Funds for Writers and Total Funds for Writers, have given me many sources for markets, contests, and an occasional "bonk on the head." 

9. Meaningful feedback from a Writer-in-Residence for Alberta Authors Association. This is something to look into as many of the colleges and some of the city libraries have writers-in-residence. Look for them.

10. Resources come in all shapes and sizes. Some are inanimate; some are animate, even human. I am thankful for them all. My office, my life, my surrounds are resource rich. Writing continually calls me, and life goes better when I make time for my writing.  When I take time to talk to and listen to God, I find my writing goes more smoothly. God, the Creator, is really my number one resource for writing and for life.

"The Sovereign Lord is my strength;

he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,

he enables me to go on the heights."

Habakkuk 3:19a NIV

Great Resources for Writing – Ramona Heikel

I am astounded by the amount of helpful information that generous writers are giving away free, and I’d like to pass along some of my favorite resources to you.

With the publishing industry seeming like a moving target, I trust the information on the internet to be the most current, and most of my resources are there. And since I am usually writing for children, much of what I list relates to that area. I hope you find something useful…

• Here’s a great book that I just finished reading, the ebook Time Management for Creative People by Mark McGuinness, free at http://www.wishfulthinking.co.uk/2007/12/03/time-management-for-creative-people-free-e-book/

• Writer’s Digest’s Robert Lee Brewer writes a blog that covers just about everything on writing. Here’s an awesome post: http://robertleebrewer.blogspot.ca/2012/02/best-blogs-for-writers-to-read-in-2012.html?et_mid=538100&rid=189868766
   
• I go to ”Verla Kay’s Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Chat Board” to post questions and find answers about anything related to children’s writing. http://www.verlakay.com/boards/index.php
   
• Even before I took the Institute for Children’s Literature course (which I highly recommend), I learned a lot from their helpful articles. Here is an example, an article entitled “Turning Ideas Into Stories” with Susan Uhlig http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/rx/tr01/susanuhlig2010.shtml
   
• I also subscribe to two newsletters, one print http://www.childrenswriter.com/ , and one online (free) http://www.institutechildrenslit.com/rx/ws01/webnews.shtml . These alert me to market news and highlights of a fantastic blog, Writer’s First Aid, written by a children’s writer but relevant to all writers. http://institutechildrenslit.net/Writers-First-Aid-blog/
   
• Evelyn Christenson provides an ezine of up-to-date markets for children’s magazines, especially educational material. http://evelynchristensen.com/mags.html
   
• Freebie articles at the online library of Cricket Magazine help me to see samples of excellent fiction and non-fiction from all their magazines. Here’s an example: http://www.cricketmag.com/ProductImages/articles/make-it-snow.pdf
   
• The Ebsco Masterfile Premier search at Calgary Public Library’s elibrary shows me what has recently been published at the major magazines such as Highlights for Children, and shows stories and articles from every year since 1993. http://www.calgarypubliclibrary.com/books-more/e-library
   
• When I want to find children’s books of a certain grade level or from a certain publisher, I go to Renaissance Learning’s Quiz Store www.renlearn.com and use the advanced search.

Now I must confess to a quirk that I have. I love how-to-write books written especially for children. Their fun, goofy, imaginative ideas for stories inspire me. For these writing prompts, I usually have to write down the whole story in one sitting, which forces me to plan the conflict and endings, which I have always found challenging. Here are a few of the ones I’ve collected:
      

I hope that as time goes on and I learn more, I will be the one that offers tons of helpful information for free!


Posted by Ramona
www.happilywriting.com