August 21, 2020 Carol Brennan King

My classes have had this month off, at least from coming to class. I am sure you all have been busy continuing to write, but I hope you have also taken time to browse, to feel a bit of what is going on around you, and think about how it might enrich your work.

I wanted to give you something useful this week, some resources, so here we go. Although this post will be rather short, remember length does not equal value. You will find some very useful material here, so I encourage you to browse.

1. If you are thinking about blogging or have started one, this one will entertain and educate you: https://annerallen.com/2019/06/10-lessons-10-years-blogging/  Yep, Anne R. Allen writes about what she has learned from 10 years of blogging.

• If you are having trouble getting started one day, skip on over to Grammar Girl: https://www.quickanddirtytips.com/grammar-girl  This site has been name one of Writer’s Digest’s 101 best sites many times and it will be worth it to you to wander around on this page.

• If you want to start right, then check 9 New Mistakes New Authors Make here: https://www.thefussylibrarian.com/newswire/2020/07/22/starting-a-writing-career-what-mistakes-new-authors-make#9%20Mistakes%20New%20Authors%20Make   Learn what to avoid, and once you are there, wander around and see what else interests you.

• If you have gotten a good start, but have written yourself into a corner, you might want to head over to Vie Stallings Herlocker’s post here: https://thewriteediting.blogspot.com/   Once you are there, wander around and see what else interests you.

I learned a lesson checking out the last resource. I used a particular word in the book I am writing, a term I understood to mean toilet. But using the Google Ngram viewer, I learned my word, loo, did not come into common usage until the last century – too late for my book. So I have some work to do before I send this manuscript onto a final editor.