#WWoW Wacky, Motivating Websites for #Authors

RePOSTED with permission from the Writer's Words of Wisdom blog.

Have you ever been in the writing dumps? Don't lie! We all have. Well, here are some motivating websites for writers that are fun, wacky and helpful. Check them out...

Written Kitten - www.writtenkitten.net
Positive reinforcement for writers through KITTENS! For every designated amount of words written, you get a new kitten image. I have to say, it's quite humorous!

750words.com
A way to turn your writing into a game. You get points for writing 750 words daily and even more for writing consecutive days. Compare points with others, get badges and motivate other writers.

Rescue Time - www.rescuetime.com

Keeps track of your time spent on the computer. Helps you become more productive. Alerts you when you spend a certain amount of time on an activity, blocks distracting websites, etc.

Edit Minion - www.editminion.com

A robotic copy editor which checks weak words, "said," passive voice, cliches and more.

Word Hippo - www.wordhippo.com  One place to stop for help with synonyms, antonyms, and such. I like it because it goes beyond a normal thesaurus. It helps with name meanings, words ending with certain letters, 4-letter words, 5-letter words, tranlations, rhymes. You name it! 

Omniwriter - www.omniwriter.com

Conquer the intimidation of the white screen! Keep focused and relaxed while writing by downloading this program. Creates a relaxing atmosphere for writing with backgrounds and zen-like music.

Unstuck - http://107.22.217.125/index.htm

Have a writing challenge? Go to unstuck to help you make a decision. Say goodbye to writer's block!

Go try some out! Have Fun! :) Melinda

Reading romance has always been at the top of Melinda Dozier’s favorite past times. After hectic days of teaching English to middle school students, Melinda finds time to write and read in the evenings. She lives in Guatemala, Central America with her husband, three boys and German Shepard. She enjoys being the queen of her household and dreams of being pampered fully by her boys once they are grown. Melinda loves reality t.v., traveling, blogging and playing Words With Friends. 

Melinda is a contributing author of the Writer's Words of Wisdom #WWoW! Blog. She's also a contemporary romance author for Crimson Romance and Swoon Romance. You can find more information at www.melindadozier.com.

One Author's Experience with @Pinterest

I’m not the most knowledgeable when it comes to social media but I will try my darnedest. This month I’m going to talk about Pinterest as a novice. I have found it to be a lot of fun. I don’t let it take up too much of my time and I do try to use it to my advantage.

First know that Pinterest can suck you in. My husband has joined and the man spends hours looking at pictures and re-pinning them. As an author, most of us don’t have time for that, but I limit my time by only collecting things I feel represents me as a writer.

When you first start with Pinterest they automatically set you up with generic boards. You can use them or rename them, then create more as you develop your page. I chose the latter as I worked on my page because most of the ones they gave me didn’t work for what I wanted to pin.

Boards: I have a lot of them. Some have nothing to do with writing and a few are a stretch but they work and do bring followers. I recommend setting up one for your releases. I have my covers there with a link to a place where anyone can buy them. I also have one for my blogs. Each time I post a blog I pin a writing related picture and give my followers the link. I also have a board called writing tools. Pins on writing, grammar, anything I feel helps a writer. I have one for my characters, images of what they might look like, ideas for clothing in the future. I have one on wolves because I have a shape-shifter in my series. I have a fantasy one because I feel that falls into my realm of writing. I have one for the cosmos because I write SF/Futuristic Erotic Romance. The rest are just fun, recipes, cat and dog pictures – that kind of thing. These boards still work because it brings in followers who will see my posts on my books and blogs.

Pins: The more people you follow the more pins show up on your feed. The pins there are images you can re-pin to your board that will go across the feeds of anyone following you. There are so many things you can use these pins for. If you find pins from someone you can also follow those pins to their board and then see all the other pins they have. Looking around will also allow you to see how other authors have their boards set up. It might give you some great ideas.

I know writers who have a board for clothing and shoes their characters might wear. Locations where their stories take place. Pets their characters might have. Jobs they might hold. There is a lot you can do with Pinterest. All you really need is a good imagination and what author doesn’t have that?

See you next month!
Barb:)

Writing for Barbara Donlon Bradley started innocently enough, like most she kept diaries, journals, and wrote an occasional letter but she also had a vivid imagination and wrote scenes and short stories adding characters to her favorite shows and comic books. As time went on she found the passion for writing to be a strong drive for her. Humor is also very strong in her life. No matter how hard she tries to write something deep and dark, it will never happen. That humor bleeds into her writing. Since she can’t beat it she has learned to use it to her advantage. Now she lives in Tidewater Virginia with two cats, one mother in law, her husband and teenage son.

#MFRWorg Monthly Quote - Feburary 2014

“But if they all tell you it is bad and you still think in your soul that what you wrote was good—if you find that you still believe what you wrote and feel it and it is true to you, then you must stand by it. And it might help to think of Beethoven who was stone deaf, and people said he made all those discords in his music because he could not hear correctly. But Beethoven knew that he intended those discords. He stood by them against the whole world.”
-Brenda Ueland



Emerald
Emerald is an erotic fiction author whose short stories have been featured in anthologies published by Cleis Press, Mischief, and Logical-Lust. She serves as an assistant newsletter editor and Facebook group moderator for Marketing for Romance Writers (MFRW), and she selects and posts the monthly inspirational quote on the MFRW Marketing Blog. Find out more about her at her website, The Green Light District.