Welcome to the Writing Resources page

 

This page is for those folks who teach writing, or who want to be or are writers. I've written a few things over the years and have found the resources on this page to be very helpful.

Writer Resources

  101+ Web Resources for Students , is a great list of resources for students (and any other) writers. You can find almanacs, biographies, dictionaries and more. A must list for the writer.

 Bookslut, is a cool site for readers and writers. You can find reviews and interviews of some of the best of writing. Take a look.

 Brainy Quote, has famous quotes by a wide variety of people. The list is alphabetized and very easy to use. If you're looking for a quote from one of your favorite people, this is a good resource.

 Cliches and Expressions Origins, has famous quotes by a wide variety of people. The list is alphabetized and very easy to use. If you're looking for a quote from one of your favorite people, this is a good resource.

 Confusing Words, is a site that explains the meanings and the origins of some common expressions like, "bring home the bacon." Cool site for those ESL students who want to understand slang, students of language who just find stuff like this fascinating, and writers who are looking for obscure information.

 Digital Librarian , is a librarian's choice of the best of the web. Take a look at her picks and see what you think.

 Fairy Tales Collection, is a website with a variety of fairy tales and myths and legends available. Great as a resource.

 FindQuotes.com - Famous Quotes, has over 40,000 quotes organized by author or topic. Just finding an interesting quote is a great way to come up with a topic to write about should you be suffering writer's block. Here's one that I like: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Tell me who that is from.

 The Free Library , has been around since 2003. It's a great research tool as it offers the writer free access to classic literary works, quotations, articles and images.

 Hubpages, is an online site for writers who are looking to publish as a hobby, or who are aspiring freelancers. I've just started using the site.

 Internet-Resources.com, has a great list of resources for the writer focusing on the technical issues that we face in terms of grammar, etc.

 LookLex Encyclopedia, is a curious site. It is owned by an individual who says that his goal is to present information on North Africa and the Middle East that is in opposition to "...Western university-based ideal of presenting the region as positive as possible, in order to balance out an often very negative media image." Thus the encyclopedia looks at the region through the lens of "...international human rights and ideals of equality and respect for the differences between people." The site has a travel guide to the region, the encyclopedia and an online Arabic language course. Interesting, take a look.

 MLA Formatting and Style Guide , is the site for information on how to format your work according to the Modern Language Association guidelines.

 Online Etymology Dictionary, is a neat little site that gives looks at words and what they mean and how they sound hundreds or thousands of years ago. Very cool stuff if you are a writer or a student of language. Read the about page - very idiosyncratic. I love it.

 Quoteland.com , says that it has quotations by every author, on every topic, and in every fashion possible. Great resource for the writer.

 Serendipity , is the home of a random generator. What is that? Well it just generates what you ask. So, for instance, on this one you can get the names of French girls or boys, the name of places, plot lines for fantasy writing. Very weird, but definitely something worth looking into.

 Visuwords , is an online graphical dictionary. You put in a word and you can find the meaning, related concepts, and other associations and words. This is really cool. I'm going to use it all the time.

 Wikipedia, is the open source encyclopedia that anyone can work on. It's an exciting concept and the information level is quite good.

Online Publications

 21st Century Adventures Travel 'Ezine, has been online since 1995. Their magazine aims for the folks who like adventure travel or exotic locations. They are looking for content and not length. They take photos along with your article, and both can be submitted by email. If you get published here, you will be paid $15 for your article plus another five if you send along some photographs that they use.

 3 AM Magazine, is an offbeat, cutting edge literary magazine that publishes fiction, political pieces, reviews and travel articles. This magazine is definitely not the place for mundane writing. Writers are not paid, but receive "spiritual" rewards. Article length should be under 3,000 words.

 EscapeArtist.com, is an online resource for people that want to get away and move to another country. They don't pay, but they do publish, and they get a lot of traffic. After I published my first article with them, I received a load of traffic telling me how much they enjoyed my article and how they too had left America, or how much they want to leave. It's nice to get the feedback and know that someone reads what you write. Articles published here run from quite well written to very elementary "this is my vacation stuff." This is what they have to say about themselves:

What we're looking for are ideas, not Pulitzer Prize writers. Ideas are what fuel our magazine and our website. You don't have to be a professional writer to submit an article that provides important information - - information that you yourself have learned by having been there and done it. That is exactly what our readers are seeking, facts about living overseas from people who've done it, facts about sailing down the Danube, what it takes to migrate to Argentina, how to open a business in Prague, buy an island in Belize, get a job in Paris, start a farm in Mozambique, run an internet business out of the Dominican Republic, bank in Mauritius.

What we are seeking is rich content, style takes second place.

 GoNOMAD.com, is another travelzine that calls itself the "alternative way to travel". They publish four different types of feature articles: journeys (500-1000 words), destination guides (1200-1700 words), go local(500-1000 words), and destinations (800-1200 words). They pay $25 for feature articles. This is what they have tosay about their guidelines:

GoNOMAD prides itself on providing excellent, entertaining, informative and unique travel articles and research about destinations, activities and experiences. No glossy magazine fluff, no standard guidebook descriptions, no promotional hype; just honest, accurate, well-written and detailed articles and destination guides that speak to an educated, curious and well-traveled audience. TIP! Read the stories we have up on the site, and format your story the same way. We like short paragraphs, subheads between every few paragraphs, and photos with detailed captions.

 Inside Indonesia, is a magazine about Indonesia. It covers the cultural, political, and economic issues and developments in the country. It is looking for writers. They accept articles from travelers, students, academics, and others who have an interest in Indonesia. The magazine does not pay.

 Just Markets, is a daily markets email for writers. I haven't had time to check it out so I'll fill this in more once I get a chance to visit it.

 Literary Traveler , is about travel and literature. They note that they "...hope to bring you inspiring, informative articles about writers, creative artists, and the places that they lived and traveled. " The Literary Traveler is looking for professional writing. They note that "subject matter can be anything artistic or creative. Each one of our articles in some way, is about someone who creates. Some of our articles are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers, or artists. Please read some of our articles to see if your article is right for us." Literary Traveler pays $25 for an accepted submission.

 nthposition, is a webzine that publishes a variety of writing genres: poetry, people, places, opinion, politics, fiction, and reviews. It was started in 2002 and was shortlisted for the European Online Journalism Awards. You can subscribe to be notified when new writing appears. They do not pay for articles.

 Oriental Tales, is an online travelzine. They are looking for articles on the "Orient." They prefer writing in the first person that transcends the usual guidebook writing. They do not pay for articles.

 short stories at east of the web, is a site just for short stories. They publish a wide range of stories including classic stories and new writing in nine categories - fiction, humour, children's, science fiction and fantasy, crime, non-fiction, romance, horror and hyperfiction. This is definitely an interesting site for short story writers.

 The Smart Set , is an online magazine that covers just about everything. This includes culture and literature, food and travel, science and politics. They accept submissions for Columns and Features; columns should be under 1,500 words and Features run from 2,500 to 6,000 words. Take a look at their writer's guidelines for more specfic information and read some of the publication, of course, to see what it is that they publish.

 Tales from a Small Planet, is another online travel magazine. They publish poetry, sections from novels, book reviews, short stories, trip reports, and more.

 Travelmag, is an online magazine of people's reports on their travel adventures. This magazine isn't as flashy as some of the other travelzines around, but some of the reports are interesting and useful if you are planning a trip in that region of the world. Preferences for travel pieces are 2,000 words, but will publish shorter or longer quality pieces. Articles should be sent as attached files. Travelmag doesn't pay contributors.>

 World Hum: Travel Dispatches from a Shrinking Planet, wants to publish travel articles that get past the usual been there, done that format. They are looking for "first-person stories and essays that reveal the beating heart of a travel experience."