Wednesday, July 15, 2015

Resources for Writers

by Leslie Colin Tribble

Resources like dictionaries and thesauri are as individual as the writers who own them. Some writers use multiple resources and can't even imagine starting to write without being surrounded by their nearest and dearest. Other writers only pick one up when they're looking for a specific word or are stuck on a particularly unrelenting language pothole.

I recently queried people from two Facebook groups and asked which resources they couldn't live without. Here are their responses with the most mentioned resources listed first. Maybe you'll find something on this list to help your writing journey. Let us know which resources are your personal favorites.

Flip Dictionary - this resource was mentioned several times and is a perennial favorite.




Online Dictionary and Thesaurus - there are several such as Merriam Webster and Dictionary.com. Find one you like and stick with it.



Emotion Thesaurus by Angela Ackerman and Becca Puglisi



World Cat - global network of library content

Fastfacts.com - tool to answer kids' questions about anything

Rhymezone.com or any online rhyming dictionary




SCBWI The Book: The Essential Guide to Publishing for Children

EasyBib - online bibliography maker

The Purdue Online Writing Lab (Owl) - Purdue offers over 200 free resources for writers

The Time Tables of History

Historyorb.com - an 'on this day in history' resource

Please comment below and help us add to this list.

4 comments:

  1. These are great resources. I'm going to check out some of these sights...who knew there was a bibliography site? As a writer of historical MG, I find the book DAILY LIFE IN THE UNITED STATES: 1920-1940 by David E. Kyvig (2004 Ivan R. Dee Books) enormously helpful.

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  2. Thank you, Leslie, for the list of excellent resources for writers.

    Sharing a link with 50 additional resources to improve your writing: http://www.smashingmagazine.com/2009/06/28/50-free-resources-that-will-improve-your-writing-skills/
    ~Suzy

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  3. Appreciations Leslie. I benefit from some of them already & am pleased to know the ones new to me!

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