Peggy Bechko's Blog, page 34

Writers Websites Wednesday - PaperRater for online proofing

 Need online proofreading? Grammar check? Vocabulary building? Then Paper Rater is the place to do it. It's free and there are no downloads.  Young or old, new or experienced, this is a free resource, developed and maintained by linguistics professionals and graduate students. PaperRater.com is used by schools and universities in over 46 countries to help students improve their writing. Perhaps it can help you to

3 Writing Rules to Fracture Considerably

For writers these days there are so many rules and ideas, how-tos and do-nots coming at them that they forget they're there to just write. So I think it's time to ponder a couple of the biggies.  The first is "Show, don't tell".  Really?  Do you always 'show' everyone everything or do you tell as well? I mean in the real world, who gets up from a grog-inducing night's sleep, looks at him or herself in the mirror and does a critique of him or herself noting scars and other physi...

Writers Websites Wednesday - The Market List

Hey writers - want a great site that offers hundreds of market listings for genre fiction writers?  It even offers screenwriting resources. Then go visit The Market List. An excellent resource.

Fiction is a Much Maligned Market

 Karen Cole Executive Director of Ghost Writer, Inc. is my guest blogger today and she has her opinions on Fiction and Non-Fiction and conventional vs. indie publishing.  
Welcome Karen ~
Fiction is a Much Maligned Market- Nonfiction is what sells, they all say. Depending on whether or not you’re an atheist, here would you include the Bible in that area? It sells more copies than any other book on the face of the planet, and it’s in dispute whether it’s a work of fiction or nonf...

Writers Websites Wednesday - FireFox as Writer's Suite

It's Wednesday again and I found this site for writers who use Firefox as their browser.  7 Writing Addons For Turning Firefox into The Ultimate Writer's Suite  
Big claim.  
Not sure I'd go that far, but these tools can be helpful for the writer. Check 'em out.

The Writer's Life - What to Do With Horrible Reviews

Somewhere out there somebody hates you - not just your writing, but it's personal - you.
At least that's the way it comes across.
After you put your heart and soul and lots of work into writing a book, gotten it published either by a major or minor house or self published, the worst (as you see it) has happened. Your writing received a truly horrible review. One so horrible and vicious that it feels very personal and it really, really hurts.
One so bad that to take the sting out you want to...

New Book For Writers - Out Of Thin Air Updated and Revised

It's big news - after weeks of work, revising text, adding great new web links of free stuff for writers and other sites of interest and help for writers I've launched a new version of Out Of Thin Air. Come checkout the Kindle edition!

Writers Websites Wednesday - Story Starters

A bit hard to come up with an idea at times? Need a little kickstart?  The Story Starter is a fun site that kicks out random story starters. Over 2 billion of them!  Surely there's an idea in there somewhere that'll get the creative juices flowing.  Wander over and check  it out.

Writers Story Mistakes

Every writer, whether new or old makes mistakes - stumbles, creates glitches and otherwise does/writes things that are, well, mistakes. Some are small, grammatical or details. Others are really big, and still others simply happen and get lost in the shuffle when a writer is really into his/her zone and doesn't catch it on the first go-round.
After all, we writers know what we're talking about when we get the words down on paper so every one else should as well, right? 
No.
Wrong.
I could wr...

M Pax and The Backworlds Interview

This week I’m talking with Science Fiction Author M Pax. 

I’ve just recently read her novella Semper Audacia (a mere .99 at Amazon) in which not only did she do a fantastic job creating a detailed and intriguing world, but gave her readers a plot that was fast-paced and engrossing So, when I heard her new Backworlds series was coming out, I had to read it as well, the first in the series being free, The Backworlds. The story centers around Craze, a poor, bio-engineered, far-future human w...