Resources for Writers

In today's world, the resources available at your fingertips are immense. Between Youtube, Google, and the millions of websites on the web, you can take up almost any hobby and engage with others who have blazed the trail before you. In this week's blog, I wanted to share some resources that I leveraged that the budding author in you might find handy as well.

Video Learning

• Coursera - Coursera.org provides access to University courses on creative writing besides many other topics. For example, I took the Wesleyan University course on Creative Writing: The Craft of Plot. The Creative Writing course has several modules, so you can pick based on your interest or need.

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• Masterclass - Masterclass.com takes a fresh approach from Coursera. Coursera typically had a few short videos in a week with a weekly peer graded homework assignment. Masterclass focuses on big name experts. I'm taking Dan Brown's masterclass on Thrillers. I enjoy Masterclass for its highly specialized, high-quality content paired with a detailed workbook and ease of access through an app, the web, or an apple TV app. 

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• YouTube - Youtube is the place to go to learn almost anything for free. I currently subscribe to Alyssa Matesic's channel on youtube. Alyssa is a professional editor that gives insights on publishing and book writing. I like Alyssa's content packed targeted sessions. I first connected with Alyssa when I hired her as a developmental editor for my manuscript from the website "Reedsy" which I'll talk about in a minute.

Websites and Tools 

• The app "Scrivener" is my goto tool for writing my manuscript. It's designed for writing books. It helps you organize all of your content and generate many different outputs including outlines, kindle books, word documents or PDF's. Goto the website https://www.literatureandlatte.com to learn more about Scrivener's features. It's available on Windows, Mac and iOS.
• Reedsy.com is a website for connecting to professional book cover designers, editors, publicists that you might need in creating your book. In addition, they have a great blog @ https://blog.reedsy.com . 
• Another great website is bookbaby.com . They are a company that helps you self publish if that is the path you choose. Their blog is another great resource @ https://blog.bookbaby.com
• ProWritingaid https://prowritingaid.com is your AI writing mentor. It goes beyond just grammar and style checking, and can show you things like pacing and dialog distribution and compare it to your favorite author. (See a sample from one of my checks below!) And if you know me, you know I couldn't resist using AI to help me write this book.

So, get out there and pursue your dream! Next week will be another "location" discussion and mystery picture.

Greg
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