Today I found the Writer Beware Blogs.

From the blog header:

“Writer Beware, a publishing industry watchdog group sponsored by the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America with additional support from the Mystery Writers of America, shines a light into the dark corners of the shadow-world of literary scams, schemes, and pitfalls.”

I’m ashamed to say I fell victim to one of these in high school, promising scholarship money for poems.  Instead, I was invited to attend an awards ceremony in Orlando where the prizes included a fine sterling silver bowl (at $300 value) and a ‘free’ copy of the book of winning poems.

The National Endowment for the Arts has a great online resource for researching and applying for NEA grants.  The literature page has a complete listing of fellowships, grants, and other funding opportunities.  Particularly of interest is the Creative Writing Fellowship, available in alternate years for prose and poetry. These grants are for those who have previously been published. The deadline for applying for the fiction or creative nonfiction grant for this cycle is past, but for poetry you have until March 2010.

Have you ever wondered what “bellwether” meant?  How do you correctly use “either”?  And what should one do with a comma, exactly?  If you’ve been bugged by these and other grammar and usage questions, you should pick up Bryson’s Dictionary of Troublesome Words.   I recommend this book to even those writers who feel secure in their linguistic knowledge.  We could all use a refresher sometimes.

Bill Bryson makes grammar seem less like a monster (a fault of some instructional books I’ve come across) and more like a doddering relative.  He acknowledges the inherent confusion of English, the language of mish-mashes, dialects, ethnicities and slang.

Also try Bryson’s Dictionary for Writers and Editors.

As a new writer, I’m always looking for the perfect on-line resource.  There’s so much material to sift through, and the information can be overwhelming.  I’ve tried for several years to glean what I need from Writer’s Market, but the colossus defies both my will and spreadsheet capabilities.

Thankfully, more experienced writers tend to be willing to share their resources.  One of my favorites, the gem of a former writing teacher, is NewPages.com.  It has a wonderful index (under “Writer Sources” on the left-side navigation bar) that lists magazine and book contests, calls for submissions, creative writing programs, writing conferences, and a young author’s guide.

The entries (particularly those under “Contests”) are easy to digest, manage, and navigate.  Most of the pertinent information can be found directly beneath the magazine, journal, or book title, and the rest is just a left click away.

I’ve only begun to use NewPages, but it looks like there’s no end to its usefulness.  Does anyone else have suggestions?