Writing Resources

It’s a long, long year from Labour Day to Labour Day, so here are a few links with writing tips, literary advice and creative experiments to hone your skills between 3-Day Novel Contests.

Writing Contest of the Month

Every few weeks we’ll post a few new writing challenges from sister organizations, just to keep your keyboards busy until the next 3-Day Novel Contest. This month’s cool writing contest is:

ROOM magazine’s annual writing contest
Deadline: registration, June 15, 2010
Canada’s oldest literary magazine by and for women is calling for fiction, poetry and creative non-fiction for its annual literary contest. Fee: $27 (for Canadian entries, see website for other fees), includes a 1-year subscription. Details at the Room magazine website.(Full disclosure: 3DN admin volunteers for Room, and Room donates ad space to 3DN. But it’s still a great contest and mag!)

Other Literary Pressure-Cookers

NaNoWriMo
Every November is National Novel Writing Month.

ReelFast 48-Hour Film Festival
OK, not a literary contest, but the organizers used to live across the street from us, which we thought was cool and coincidental.

Script Frenzy
Write a screenplay in a month. Happens every April.

24-Hour Comics Day
Create a graphic story in a day. Every October.

Writing and Reading Resources

A few links, organizations and festivals which the 3-Day administrators love, and which you might too.

Geist Magazine’s Writers Toolbox
Good advice and writing exercises to help perfect your prose.

I Wrote a Novel, Now What?
NaNoWriMo’s guide to revising and reshaping your speed-written manuscript.

Preditors (sic) and Editors
A good resource site for educating yourself about scam publishers, literary agencies or writing contests.

AbsoluteWrite “Background Check” forum
A discussion forum for writers to pass on their own experiences with shady literary scams.

Fold-Over Poetry
A fun, creative time-sucker from our friends at Canadian Literature magazine.

BC Book & Magazine Week
A spring writing and publishing festival with events across B.C.

Magazines Canada
Canadian mags of all types. Find your periodical markets here.

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses
U.S. organization of independent publishers - another good source for markets.

Common Errors in English
3-Dayers take note! Mind your pique/peek/peak and your lose/loose!

List of Grammar Resources
A great set of links from the Editors Association of Canada

List of Writer’s Resources
A wide variety of (mostly Canadian) links of interest to writers from the BC Association of Magazine Publishers.

Another List of Writer’s Resources
A good compilation of U.S. sites from the Council of Literary Magazines and Presses.

Places for Writers
News about (mostly Canadian) calls for submissions, events, and writing contests.

Roget’s Thesaurus
Because there are so many ways to say “I love you.”

Strunk and White Online
The famous, debated, yet still relevant (sez us) style guide.

The Word On The Street
One-day festival of words happening the last Sunday of every September in Halifax, Toronto, Vancouver and Kitchener.

AWP Association and Conference
Giant annual writers and publishers conference, happening every February in rotating cities across the U.S.