My Top Five Picks: Writers' Websites

I have been surfing the net for about ten years or so now, and I have a long list of writers' websites book-marked. I only visit a few of them regularly. Some I visit every day because I have developed close ties with other members. Others I visit when I need inspiration, am looking for new markets or have time to browse articles and such. I have boiled my list down to the five websites I use most often. I am sharing them with you along with a short synopsis of what they offer. They may or may not be helpful to you as much as they have me. You can check them out for yourself.

The Writers BBS was the first writer's forum I found when I started out on the Internet with my WebTV. I think that has been nine, maybe ten years ago. It is a simple website, no bells nor whistles, no fancy graphics. It is a bulletin board style list of about fifty writing forums, plus one politics forum that gets pretty heated at times.

Over the years this band of writers have been there with me in my writing journey, holding my hand, answering questions, giving honest critiques, and offering encouragement. There are discussion forums, critique forums for several genres, and a daily writing prompt. Some of us even became good enough friends to meet in person, and I found my current publisher, Faithful Publishing, for my two childrens historical novels, Pale as the Moon and An Independent Spirit through WBBS.

The site is undergoing some face-lifting and new features will be added soon. In the meantime stop by and introduce yourself.

Write4Fun was created by Rob Benn after Writers and Friends closed. Its an young site and made of of many of the same folks from Writers and Friends. Like the parent forum, what attracts me personally back to this forum, besides its members, most often is the photography forum. I find more and more that writing and photography are sisters in the publishing world. Jeff Slater, a member of the board, is a great teacher and I enjoy seeing his art. He inspires me. But, there are forums for everyone on the site. Fiction, non-fiction, poetry, humor, and photography are just a few of the discussions going on. Read the Tuckertown Tales, chat with a radio expert, talk gardening, and best of all make some writer friends.

C. Hope Clark's Blog has a wealth of useful information for writers including markets, contests, grants and more. Her list of links has blogs written by several agents and writers. I subscribe to her free newsletter, Funds for Writers, and have gained some assignments from the information she shares.

Writers Weekly also has a free newsletter. Angela Hoy gives weekly  warning updates, new markets, and how-to articles. The warnings include non-paying publications and other writer disputes. Angela also publishes POD and e-books. The website has a forum, offers online writing courses and self-publishing resources.

Writing World, edited by Moira Allen, has a huge database of writers' markets. That is what lured me there to begin with, but I read the articles, too. The site is chock full of good articles on everything about writing, including how to promote your book, the business end of writing, selling poetry for greeting cards, and children's writing to name only a few. Writing World offers advertising at reasonable prices and features their reader's books. Links to a forum, editing service, e-books, courses and more are available from Writing World's home page.