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The time had come. I had finally finished my masterpiece: A story that took me many hours and long nights to accomplish, not to mention the sweat and tears. It wasn't easy, but I did it. Now what? I wanted to share my work with others. What if I wanted to make a profit from it? Could I actually try to...publish it? That seemed far from reality to me. I needed to know where to go from there, so I played around on the Internet. I typed in "writers" in the search engine, and that's when I came up with the well-known site Writers Digest. I had never bothered to view their site before. What exactly are they all about? Let me tell you: Writers Digest provides many useful links, tools, and resources for writers of all ages. Here you can find links to literary agents, publishing companies, and sites filled with writing tips. More publicly known are the monthly, quarterly, and yearly contests that result in great prizes and cash awards: not to mention seeing you work published and in print. There are also writing prompts each month that are set in contest form: one for adults, and one for children. I wish they had something like this when I was a child, as I had enjoyed writing immensely back then. This website is set up in a style that is very easy to use; you can access each page smoothly, without any confusion. It is very organized and easily accessible. Writers Digest keeps the information current, providing updated content consistently. If you have a passion for writing and you've hit that spot where you're asking yourself, "What now?" Or you have that story idea that's dying to come out, than this site is highly recommended. Anyone who may be new to writing or are currently exploring their options will find all resources at Writers Digest valuable, and enjoyable. Check out Writers Digest at http://www.writersdigest.com  Writers on the Net The name proves to be as simple as the site itself. Writers.net is a place I marked as one of my favorites; where I continually refer back to. What makes this site unique from other writing websites? It allows you to create, and maintain a writer’s profile, and gives you the opportunity to have your work viewed by other writers and agents. Besides setting up your personal profile, you can obtain your own home page, and create an easy to remember email account. It is conviently set up, so you can easily access, edit, or update your information at any time. Writers.net offers a lot of useful information and links. The site is set up in a very simplistic style, which allows you to easily maneuver around, or quickly find information that you may specifically be looking for. It is broken up into pages for writers, agents, editors, and publishers. A discussion forum, which gives you several topics to such as looking for an agent; information on alternative, non traditional publishing; or if you need to get past your first published book and start a career, you’ll find topics here to assist you. A writer’s and author’s directory is provided on the writer’s page. You can showcase your work, and ask questions if you’re stumped on a subject or need to pick the brain of fellow writers. You can search for an agent by topic or location, which works well since information is provided for just about every genre. I really like this site is that it is made for the published and unpublished writer. It can help you with getting your writing started, or continuing down the writing path, if you’ve already achieved some of your goals. It is directed towards the serious writer, and provides a lot of useful information for those who are new to the writing world. Involvement of everyone belonging to the site is strongly encouraged. Another resource that is offered, and what I always look for, is Writers Resources. It’s always helpful to get out there to view and compare all the different sites that the writing world has to offer; especially those sites that may be hidden away and you wouldn’t have stumbled upon otherwise. Each one is uniquely written and put together providing you with different doses of information. You can also subscribe to their newsletter, which will keep you updated about important upcoming information. Writers.net continually updates, which is a must for any successful site. There are also postings that come up on occasion, which offer publishing opportunities. In one such recent case, an offer was extended to the writers belonging to this site to submit their work into an anthology. Whether accepted or not, each writer would receive profession editing and critique. This was a great opportunity to get publishing experience and feedback. Being a smaller website, it has a comfortable style, and is not overwhelming or loaded with useless information serving no other purpose than to take up space. Each section is short and to the point. A search engine is offered so you can look for other writing sources that may not be provided on these pages. Overall, this is a well put together website for serious writers, and provides great links to other writing sites. I would encourage those of you who have a passion for writing to visit www.writers.net.  |