Links

I have listed a few recommended blogs on the Blogroll (side menu) and lots of info on the Competitions Calendar and Submission info. pages of this blog but here are some other sites you might like (alphabetical order within their section). I’m obviously not responsible for their content but have found them useful in the past… and of course there are many many more so I shall be adding to this page on a regular basis.

Organisations & opportunities

• National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a 50,000-word project which takes place every November (yes, 1167 words a day!); something I’ve taken part in and completed (‘won’) three times (2008-2010) – I’m best with a deadline – see http://www.nanowrimo.org. Unrelated NaNoEdMo’s (yearly editing month in March) website is http://www.nanoedmo.net.
  
• NAWG (National Association of Writing Groups). Their website is http://www.nawg.co.uk. The NAWG produces a bi-monthly magazine called ‘Link’ which accepts items by NAWG group members (I’ve had articles in the April and August 2011 editions and have a short story – fairy tale with a twist – scheduled for October 2011) and subscribed individuals.
• http://www.northamptonliteraturegroup.org.uk is the website of Northampton Literature Group, Northampton, Easy Midlands, UK.  With four groups per month (1st Tues: writing, 2nd Tues: reading, 3rd Tues: poetry and 4th: theatre) there’s plenty of choice for anyone with an interest in the arts. I also moderate their Twitter profile.
• Writing-related internet station Radio Litopia is a favourite of mine and has live shows every Friday (8pm UK) and Sunday (6.30pm UK) evenings. Friday’s ‘Litopia After Dark’ is a panel-style hour-long show with chatroom following alongside (I’m usually there as MorgenBailey or MorgenWithAnE) and Sunday’s ‘Open House’ (currently on hiatus undergoing a possible name and format change) is a 90-minute fun and games show with more of a focus on the chatroom. It’s also an opportunity to phone or Skype in and I’m usually the only one who does.
• Script Frenzy is a sister organisation of NaNoWriMo (see above) and is 100 pages of script every April: http://scriptfrenzy.org.
• Smashwords is one of the eBook options and https://www.smashwords.com/about/beta has some great information.
• Still Crazy is aimed at writers aged 50+ – see http://www.crazylitmag.com for more details.
• Story A Day May is a similar concept to NaNoWriMo but instead of a 50,000-word novel every November, the site provides a different prompt per day during May. I did it in May 2011 and am doing it again 2012.
• Shropshire (UK) based Wrekin Writers home page has changed. The link is now http://sites.google.com/site/wrekinwriters/Home. Unfortunately it no longer contains guideline info. but still makes an interesting read.

Interesting and useful (sometimes vital) information / websites

• http://www.1000literaryagents.com provides guides to literary agents, lists of agencies, query writing facilities, record keeping to track submissions to agents, and other tools for writers.
• Adrian Magson has parted with some of his wisdom on The Crime Readers’ Association’s ‘How to Write a Crime Novel‘ page.
• Autography is a digital eReader signature function.
• Ron Hogan’s Beatrice – “introducing readers to writers since 1995″.
• Book Barista is a venue for authors, booksellers and buyers.
• TV programmes on writing are far and few between but include The Book Show (http://thebookshow.skyarts.co.uk) and Book Zone (http://www.bookzone.tv). The latter is packed with great author videos interviews.
• The Comics Journal is “an invaluable resource for anyone writing for comics”.
• Critique.org is a group of sixteen online workshops covering various genres.
• One of my tutors at the July 2011 Winchester Writers Conference was Crysse (“Chrissie”) Morrison and her http://www.cryssemorrison.co.uk/links.htm page is packed with useful links – her blog is http://crysse.blogspot.com.
• Days of Celebration may inspire topics for stories.
• The Digital Narrative has hints, tips and much more.
• Copying / pasting a chapter at a time, automated Edit Minion will find common mistakes in your manuscript.
• http://fictionwriting.about.com is a great site from the About.com stable.
• Flash Fiction Online is a 500-1000 word site that is free to subscribe / read, free to submit to. Payment is via donations with 60% going to the author and 40% going to the site so there’s no way of knowing how much (if anything) you’d earn but another opportunity perhaps.
• Forbidden Fiction is a publisher devoted to writing that breaks the boundaries of original erotic fiction.
• For a bit of light relief, take a look at Folding Story, a consequences-type website.
• The Guardian’s book website for children has content designed to encourage child-to-child reading … Michael Morpurgo, whose books include War Horse and Private Peaceful, said: “This new Guardian site will open up the world of books to children. It is wonderful to see a newspaper offering something for children and taking children’s books seriously. Sharing and reading stories from the earliest age can transform a child’s life.”
• The HighTide Festival Theatre has a yearly (May) festival but also assists playwrights.
• The Independent Publishing Magazine is definitely worth a peruse as it contains news, analysis, reviews, interviews and debate.
• Inky Girl is a busy blog by writer/cartoonist Debbie Ridpath.
• Jane Wenham-Jones‘ site Wanna Be A Writer is packed with great information.
• Joel White & Friends‘ satirical comedy blog: An Opinion or Two.
• Kindle Fiction recommends a variety of eBooks and if you’ve read any eBooks you’d like to recommend then you can email suggestions to kindlesrp@gmail.com.
• Carole Baldock produces a wonderful competition magazine called ‘Kudos‘.
• Left Lion is packed with writing-related goodies (for Nottingham, UK and beyond).
• http://lynleystace.wordpress.com/2010/10/27/the-head-hopping-chestnut is a really good article critiquing a passage from Richard Yates’ Revolutionary Road. http://constantrevisions.blogspot.com/2011/01/neil-gaiman-master-class-in-writing.html is another on British author (now living in the US) Neil Gaiman’s book ‘American Gods’.
• Me and My Short Stories: Harper Collins’ Digital Director Scott Pack reviews short story collections.
• Mighty Creatives: job opportunities based in the Midlands area, UK.
• MyOwnVerse is a network to share and discover poetry.
• Author Brian Grove’s website My Perfect Pitch.com is a brilliant resource which has a wonderful page of over 1,000 publishers currently accepting book submissions.
• MyWriterTools.com was recommended on LinkedIn.
• New independent publisher Mythmaker is looking for new writers to submit original children’s and young adult fiction.
• NaNoWriMo: writer a new 50,000-word novel every November.
• New Pages‘ list of literary magazines.
• Online Classes have interesting writing-related articles and these include 8 apps every writer should have.
• Only Indie is an online eBook store which actively promotes work by independent authors. You can download your first 15 books for free but then they rise by “1 penny per purchase”. Sounds good to me.
• Pimp My Novel is a blog by a publishing house sales employee.
• I’d also recommend listening to writing-related podcasts (see this blog’s Podcast page for more details) and ones I’d suggest include: American origin… http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org, http://www.isbw.murlafferty.com, http://www.kcrw.com, http://www.simonsays.com, http://www.writewhereyoubelong.com, http://www.penonfire.com, http://www.writingshow.com, http://www.ivyreisner.com, http://www.thewritingcast.com. English origin… http://www.theclassictales.com, http://www.penguin.co.uk, http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/programmes/world_book_club.shtml, and one of my favourites (although I’m biased because I’m involved) http://www.litopia.com.
• Prompts for writers: http://www.promptsforwriters.blogspot.com.
• There are some great links on http://www.roundtablepodcast.com/links (including mine ).
• Sally Quilford‘s competition calendar.
• Renowned Science Fiction & Fantasy Writers of America http://www.sfwa.org/beware (‘warnings about literary fraud and other schemes, scams, and pitfalls that target writers’) regularly updated and you don’t have to write the genre for this to be useful.
• Seth Godin‘s Advice for authors.
• Shortbread is an online community of short story readers and writers, free to join.
• The Short Review – each monthly issue of the short review brings you original reviews of new, not-quite-so-new and classic collections and anthologies, written by reviewers many of whom are also short story writers themselves and who love short fiction.
• Story A Day May is a similar concept to NaNoWriMo but instead of a 50,000-word novel every November, the site provides a different prompt per day during May. I did it in May 2011 and am doing it again 2012.
• Suess’s Pieces has loads of information on writing resources.
• The Writer’s Site is packed with links to writing-related sites.
• Thrills Kills n Chills is a website “for writers of thrillers, crime, horror and mystery stories to share their short stories or flash fiction”.
• http://www.toasted-cheese.com is a Literary Journal and Writing Community.
• Towcester Writers’ Group has some great writing tips. I especially like the first (join a writing group!).
• Wikipedia is a site that I mention regularly which, although built mainly by the public so accuracy is not guaranteed, the content is usually astoundingly comprehensive!
• Womagwriter blog packed with information about and guidelines for writing for women’s magazines… and much more: http://womagwriter.blogspot.com.
• World Literary Cafe is a place “where readers and authors unite”, sounds good to me.
• Writerlot‘s daily piece of writing from an international group of writers: http://www.writerlot.net/writerlot.htm.
• Writing-related websites - see here (posted 21.06.11) and here (posted 16.08.11).
• There are many writing magazines available and some I mention include hard copy-issues Mslexia http://www.mslexia.co.uk and Writing Magazine / Writers’ News https://www.writers-online.co.uk.
• Various sites recommended by non-fiction author (and forthcoming blog interviewee) Kevin Cullis:  http://etymonline.com, http://www.acx.com,  http://bookshopblog.com/2008/02/03/how-to-package-books-for-shipping, http://www.wordhippo.com,  http://www.deanwesleysmith.com, (Kevin says “Dean is THE best at telling the real story about writers and the book industry”), http://kriswrites.com, and http://www.indiebound.org.

Sci-fi / fantasy / horror-specific

• www.2000adonline.com is the home of sci-fi/fantasy comics 2000AD and Judge Dredd.
• www.elasticpress.com “publishes at the edges of reality and fantasy”. Whilst they are no longer accepting submissions (because they ceased to exist in November 2008), their books are available via Amazon – see the Elastic Press website for more details.
• www.forteantimes.com is a magazine all about the world of strange phenomena. Even if you’re not interesting in the magazine you might get some ideas (for any genre) from the website.
• www.goldenvisionsmagazine.biz is the home page of Golden Visions Magazine of Science Fiction & Fantasy. They also do poetry – see www.goldenvisionsmagazine.biz/poetry.html.
• www.horror.org/hwabooks.htm#write_horr is the Horror Writers’ Association’s bookshop which includes their handbook ‘On writing horror’.
• www.mindflights.com is “a magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction brought to you by Double-Edged Publishing. We’ve recently combined two award-winning magazines – Dragons, Knights, and Angels and The Sword Review – into one frequently-updated, high-quality magazine”.
• Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’ has been mentioned numerous times in my blog interviews and whilst it’s part autobiography, it does provide some great writing information. You can buy / order it from any bookshop or via Amazon.co.uk.
• ‘The Complete Guide to Writing Science Fiction: Volume One – First Contact (The Complete Guide to Writing Series)’ paperback.
• The Writer’s Digest Guide to Science Fiction & Fantasy (hardback) by Orson Scott Card (who’s often mentioned on sci-fi podcasts) and Terry Brooks.
• ‘100 Must-Read Science Fiction Novels’ (paperback). This is available from 50p (+ p&p) for a used copy.
• www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Writing+Science+Fiction is a listing of 712 books relevant to a ‘writing science fiction’ search. Again the books is generally sold new or used and there are bargains to be had.
• www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Writing+horror is a similar result for the genre of horror with 860 results.
• www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_ss?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Writing+fantasy has the most results with 1660 fantasy-related books found, including ‘How to Write Science Fiction and Fantasy’ by Orson Scott Card and Lisa Tuttle’s ‘Writing Fantasy and Science Fiction’.
• Amazon also sells Guy N Smith’s ‘Writing horror fiction’.
• http://www.365tomorrows.com is “a collaborative project designed to present readers with a new piece of short speculative ‘flash’ fiction each day. Using the broad palette of science fiction, our vision of the future creates a diverse pool of stories with something for everyone to enjoy”.
• http://www.broaduniverse.org is “an international organization with the primary goal of promoting science fiction, fantasy, and horror written by women. Anyone excited about that project is welcome to join us. If you would like more info., email info@broaduniverse.org or check our resources pages.”
• http://www.bsfa.co.uk is the website of The British Science Fiction Association (BSFA). You can sign up to a free newsletter via the website, check out events via the calendar, join the association or the forum.
• http://clarkeaward.com/Home.aspx is the website for ‘The Arthur C Clarke Award’ “the official site of the UK’s Premier Prize for Science Fiction Literature.
• http://darkscribepress.com/pages.php?page_id=17 explains the requirements for this US small press which publishes a horror magazine (1,000-7,000 word short stories), anthologies and novels.
• If you’re at all interested in writing science fiction, take a look at http://www.scificonventions.com. It lists hundreds of sci-fi conventions and might inspire you. A similar site is http://www.worldcon.org.
• http://www.mjengh.com is the website of quirky sci-fi writer Mary Jane (MJ) Engh.
• http://www.mythsoc.org/awards lists the awards presented by the Californian-based Mythopoeic Society. Who? I hear you ask… “The Mythopoeic Society is a non-profit organization promoting the study, discussion, and enjoyment of fantastic and mythic literature through books and periodicals, annual conferences, discussion groups, awards, and more. We are especially interested in the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and Charles Williams, prominent members of the informal Oxford literary circle known as the ‘Inklings’ (1930s-1950s).” So, now you know.  You can read more about the ‘Inklings’ on http://www.mythsoc.org/inklings.
• Other sci-fi related sites include: www.writesf.com, www.philipkdick.com, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_K_Dick, http://www.ebookcrossroads.com/science-fiction-writing.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_bradbury, http://www.scifi.fictionfactor.com, http://www.military-sf.com and http://io9.com/5106135/science-fiction-novelists-reveal-their-daily-writing-routines.
• Other horror related sites include: http://horror.fictionfactor.com, http://www.scribblepad.co.uk/WritingHorrorStories.html, http://www.horror.org/writetips.htm, http://essentialwriters.com/styles-of-writing/horror-writing, http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/booksblog/2009/sep/23/sexism-horror-novels-row, http://worldhorrorconvention.com.

Cover artists / designers / illustrators

• Dan Cotton and Zach Ball: www.dancotton.com - hand lettering artist and someone to consider for your book cover.

Other authors

• Crime author (amongst many other attributes), podcast and blog interviewee no.102 Adrian Magson.
• For everything poetry take a look at Poet Laureate Alice Shapiro’s website. Alice kindly provided some poetry tips for this blog 21st August 2011 and she’s interviewee no.145.
• Blog interviewee (no.1) and fellow Radio Litopia‘s Colin Barnes website: http://www.colinfbarnes.com.
• Crime novelist, non-fiction writer and interviewee no.94 Dave Wise‘s blog: http://www.writerdave.com. He’s love feedback on his excerpts (please let him know you came from my blog ).
• Another great crime website is Criminal Ties run by writing duo and interviewees no.88 David Coles & Jack Everett.
• Middle grade fantasy author Greg Slomba‘s blog: thedelivererssharkeyandthejewel.blogspot.com.
• Young Adult fiction author Heather Thorpe‘s blog: http://heathersniche.blogspot.com.
• Short story author, Twitterer and Writer Lot contributor Issy Flamel.
• Novelist, short story author, musician, creative writing teacher, red pen guest, Flash Fiction Friday contributor, interviewee no.116 and guest blogger JD Mader: http://www.jdmader.com.
• Jeannie van Rompaey: free and $0.99 short pieces on Smashwords.
• Joel White & Friends‘ satirical comedy blog: An Opinion or Two.
• http://johnbassett.wordpress.com is author John Bassett‘s blog and includes his http://oldjono.wordpress.com (which lists my blog as his ‘writing tips’ link) – thank you John!
• Multi-genre author and guest blogger John J Hohn: http://jjhohn.com.
• Blog interviewee (no.12) and fellow Radio Litopia‘s Joseph V Sultana website (with trailer video): http://www.unsceptred-isle.com.
• Two local (to me; Northamptonshire, UK) authors that I’ve been taught by are Judith Allnatt (http://www.judithallnatt.co.uk) and blog interviewee (no.53) Sue Moorcroft (http://www.suemoorcroft.com). Sue’s latest novel, called ‘Love and Freedom’ came out June 2011. I mentioned Judith’s first novel ‘A mile of river’ in Episode 1 of my Bailey’s Writing Tips podcast (see ‘Podcast‘ page of this website) and her second novel ‘The Poet’s Wife’ was released in February 2010. They are both working on their next novels while promoting their others.
• Blog interviewee no.19 and fellow Radio Litopia‘s Julia Kavan website: http://www.juliakavan.com.
• Blogger, interviewee no.121 and all-round wonder woman Kat ‘K.S.’ Brooks: http://authorksbrooks.blogspot.com. She also has an interesting post on free press release distribution sites at http://askthepublicist.com.
• Autobiographer, novelist, and short story, ‘how to’ author and interviewee no.115 Linda Lewis (aka Catherine Howard): http://www.akacatherinehoward.weebly.com (website) and http://akacatherinehoward.blogspot.com (blog)
• Blogger and novelist Louise Wise‘s blog: http://louisewise.blogspot.com (for writers of all stages).
• Short story author, poet and blog interviewee no.29 Nathan Weaver (I’m no.2 in his Rogue’s Gallery with my story The Threadbare Girl): http://www.talesfrombabylon.com.
• Novelist and blog interviewee no.18 Neal James‘ website: http://www.nealjames.webs.com (which will feature one of my short stories in January 2012).
• Forthcoming interviewees no.197 Neil L Yuzuk and David A Yuzuk‘s Beachside PD website: http://www.BeachsidePD.com.
• Sandra Hill‘s Viva Author blog: http://vivaauthor.blogspot.com.
• Blogger and interviewee no.126 Shelley Workinger: http://bookfare.blogspot.com.
• Interviewee no.164 Taylor Collins‘ random thoughts on living creatively: http://taylorspeak.wordpress.com. Taylor has also just started a series of YouTube videos on writing and the first is on journalling. Do take a look (she’s so delightful ).
• Tony Riches‘ links page: http://tonyriches.blogspot.com/p/writing-links.html.
• http://www.internetwritingjournal.com/authorblogs lists over 40 author blogs, 7 group blogs, 2 author blog directives and blog search / resources. I wonder if I’m there
• Silver Leaf Books Authors’ blog: http://eclecticauthors.wordpress.com (includes YA mystery & fantasy author (and interviewee no.118) TJ Perkins.

If you have or come across a writing-related website or blog that you think is useful you can email me and I’ll take a look.