Best of the Web: Some fabulous new resources for writers

Posted by Tom Colvin

March 29, 2008

After six weeks of travelling and resettling into a new apartment in Manila, I finally have a broadband connection at my home. No more internet cafes and wi-fi hotspots — yippee! The new home connection, sadly, turns out not to be fully reliable, losing 45 minutes of my work a couple days ago — but I’ll perservere.
That means I can once again freely roam the web for the best items online for writers. Here are my initial finds.

Writers Digest Redesigned Website

Writers Digest has just unveiled its redesigned website. Always excellent in the past, it now establishes new benchmarks for itself. It should be on every writer’s bookmark list.

For one, writers can find articles by genre so much more easily now. There’s a new blog tracking agents and writers’ conferences, a great addition. And more…

Particularly, check out The Writer’s Ultimate Resource Guide for 2008. Included on the reasonably-priced CD is the highly-regarded annual list of 101 Best Websites for Writers — and, this year, a guide to the best writing software. The website also currently features an important article about how to back up your writing for free.

I normally visit the website once a week. You wouldn’t go wrong by doing the same. It brings you directly into the writer’s community.

The Writer’s Technology Companion

Just online now for 24 hours or so, this new blog, authored by our reader Dustin Wax, promises to be a very interesting resource for writers. Dustin immediately sets forth his objectives:

Stay tuned for:

reviews of software and hardware to make writers’ lives easier (or at least more organized),

tutorials on using and maintaining the tools of the writing trade,

tips and advice on using technology to promote yourself and your work, and

links to resources for writers across the web.

The Writer’s Technology Companion will post at least three times a week, with extra posts for breaking news (whatever that turns out to be?—?I’m not sure there’s “breaking news” in the writing technology world) and tutorial series. I’ve got lots of great stuff planned for the weeks and months ahead, with special series on podcasting, getting the most out of Word 2007, and creating e-books in the works.

Already, in his very first post, Dustin tackles the interesting arena of Content Directories, with an interesting case study and some definitive conclusions.

I am very pleased to see another voice join our cluster of blogs/websites — also including Jeremy Osborne’s blog with exceptional content — that address the issues of productivity of writers. Anyone who reads my blog should also check out these other two. AND join us in the evolving conversation, with your comments to the posts on these three blogs. I envision a community growing from these blogs that may become invaluable to many writers.

Tracking Evolving Versions of Your Writing

Speaking of Jeremy’s blog, I am fascinated with his current how-to videos on the open-source software Subversion. Jeremy and I have engaged in conversation before about the importance of keeping track of all versions of any big evolving writing project. Some time ago, he promised to investigate this free software — and now he’s delivering. Definitely worth a read! Visit his blog and scroll down to view the posts and demos.

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03-Other Sources of Income, 4-Joining the Community, 8-Specialized Writing Tools, Uncategorized

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