Resources and Advice for Writers

There are many types of writing: novels, short stories, articles, technical documents, copywriting, business plans, and the list goes on. Looking for some inspiration or help in your writing career? Here are some programs and pieces of advice from fellow writers.

Fiction Writers (and creative non-fiction writers)

Thinking about getting an MFA? Then go through New Page‘s directory, where you can search for programs based on degree, genre, type, and state.

Are MFA’s too expensive? There are alternative programs, often very competitive, such as The Grotto fellowship, Stanford’s Stegner Fellowship, and Grub Street’s Novel Incubator.

You can also attend workshops (online and offline), such as

• Sleeping Cat Books’ Short Story workshop
• Writers Village University
• MediaBistro
• UCLA Extension’s Writers Program
• Institute of Children’s Literature
• Gotham Writers
• Writers.com

Freelance Writers

Need to earn some income? Contenta posts paying writing gigs.

If you want to pitch to magazines, read Random Writing Rants’ “How to Write a Rockin’ Pitch for Magazines, by Janine Petry.”

And for a more comprehensive list of tools and resources, check out The Ultimate Freelancing Career Guide.

Copyblogger is also a great resource for copywriting.

Copyhackers has a great infographic about copy writing, Mad Men style.

And last, thanks to one of my readers for this recommended link: “Accounting and Bookkeeping for Freelancers” UAB Collat School of Business. It’s a useful article about tracking your finances as a freelancer.

Writing Advice

Looking for some free advice? Hugh Howey has an interesting interview with indie author C.L. Stone, where she gives a list of writing tips.

Nebraska Center for Writers is another place to find resources, advice, and more links.

Do you have any go-to resources online? If so, please share in the comments!

This post was originally published on February 8, 2016.