Websites for Writers

As most of you know, the Internet (for writers) can be both a blessing and a curse. It's great to have unlimited access when you're researching a new article or trying to write a good query letter. However, the Internet often becomes a black hole that sucks you into hours of idle Facebook time as you apathetically click from one profile to the next - fulfilling your need for useless information on people that you don't know anymore - but completely reducing your total word count for the day from 2,000 to 200. There is no known cure for social media quicksand, but there are ways to streamline your web use. The easiest option that I have discovered is this blog. I can come here and click links to get the pages that I need, thus avoiding the futile sites that I would normally visit, and going straight for the writing necessities. If you don't have a blog that you can compile your links on, just bookmark them in a writing file that does not also contain bookmarks for mind sucking sites like Craig's List (don't get me wrong - I love Craig's List - but I hate the gulf of time that disappears when I use it regularly). So to help you (and me) in more efficient Internet use, which should lead to more productive writing time, I have gone through some of my favorite websites for writers and listed them below.

Queries/Agents/Publishing

Guide to Literary Agents  (blog about finding an agent etc)

Agent Query (search thousands of agents)

Publishers Marketplace (find agents, publishers, book deals and more) 

Book Marketing Bestsellers (blog about marketing and selling your book) 

Jobs/Markets/Money

C. Hope Clark's Funds for Writers (everything: submissions, jobs, markets, advice)

Duotrope's Digest (lots of markets for writers) 

Writing Tips/Articles/Information

Kaye Dacus: Humor, Hope and Happily Ever Afters (fun blog with great articles info. for writers) 

Book in a Week (writers support, articles and inspiration) 

Editor Rent (blog by two editors with a lot of great advice) 

The Creative Penn (great blog by a self published author with everything from the stigma of writing horror to selling e-books) 

Fiction Factor (writing articles, links, markets and even classes) 

For Writers (useful site with info. on markets, writer's groups, workshops and more)

My Writers Circle (forums galore with questions, critiques and writers just getting to know each other) 

Novel Journey (author interviews) 

Research

Mag Portal (search for magazine articles on any topic) 

Bartleby (access to classic literature) 

Writers Free Reference (list of useful references for writers)

Poetry is a deal of joy and pain and wonder, with a dash of the dictionary.  ~Kahlil Gibran