Tag Archives: Writing Resources

Conduct First-Hand Research for Writing Inspiration

Places to Experience and Enjoy

By Annette Rey

My last post suggested you break the monotony in your life and get out of your house to collect new experiences and material about which to write. You can take this new knowledge and adapt it to a fiction piece, poetry, haiku, or create an article about the experience that you may query a magazine to publish.

I promised in my next post to list opportunities, many of them free, that may also be available in your area. You will be surprised at the variety of offerings that can get your writing juices flowing.

Here is the info.

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Challenge to Writers: Jump Into a Blissful Research Break

Boy, Have I Been Having Fun!

By Annette Rey

Any time away from your daily grind job is fun, right? Well, I have been recently blessed with a relief in my workload. I am spending that time enrolling in free, educational, one-day events around town (at colleges, nature centers, libraries, and churches)*.

These are marvelous opportunities for writers. Waves of new information enter your head and the creativity part of your brain lights up. I will be sharing these experiences with you, encouraging you to search out the same types of opportunities in your part of the world. You will be amazed at what is out there to stoke your writer’s imagination to help you break through anything you may think is writer’s block.

Take a look.

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Einstein and Writing

By Annette Rey

Character Ideas From the Past

Writers should take guidance from history’s greats. Einstein is one of them.

Why do I choose him to feature in this post? Read on and see.

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Searching for Great Characters

By Annette Rey

A Research Book

I often direct writers to unusual resources to find real-life personality flaws to apply to their character creations. Your readers will relate to these more believable characters because they are sure to have met someone like them at some time in their lives.

Life Code by Dr. Phil is one of those resources.

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Will Writer’s Digest Die?

Please, No!

By Annette Rey

F&W Media, the publisher of Writer’s Digest and more than fifty other magazines, announced Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to plummeting subscriptions and advertising revenue.

I invoke the little boy’s words as he looked up into the face of his hero, a beloved baseball player accused of throwing the 1919 World Series in the infamous Black Sox Scandal, “Say it ain’t so, Joe!”

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Finding Writing Ideas in Unlikely Places

Book Suggestion

By Annette Rey

Recently I posted on the subject of owning a variety of books outside your genre or general field of interest. I suggested you read them from a writer’s point of view and then experiment with your own writing in these new areas. This is one tactic I use to beat writer’s block.

In that vein, let me introduce you to a completely odd book – certainly not run-of-the-mill selection – I picked up at a sale that has widened my reading experience and has also given me a few laughs.

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Annual Library Book Sales

Help Beat Writer’s Block

By Annette Rey

Beat that blank page! There are lots of ideas out there to spark your brain, to pick up your pen, to place your fingers on the keyboard. Here is one of my favorite ways that works for me.

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Colorful, Catchy Narrative II

Radio Noir

In 2017 I posted one of my favorite articles on the gumshoe/street punk/police detective interactions on serial radio programs in the 1940s (read it). Not everyone owned a television set yet and home radio entertainment was a family event. Everything from sci-fi, comedy, horror, family, and mystery shows flowed into the ears of eager listeners.

I have Sirius radio in my car and listen to Radio Classics as I drive. I get a kick out of how the world was viewed then. And I admire the great writing of the programs I hear.

If you want to know how to give images to your work, to give your reader visuals of your story, listen to old radio broadcasts.

Following are great samples from one such program.

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Alan Bradley Books

Books for Readers and Writers

By Annette Rey

I know it’s not possible to know everything, but I think it’s a shame a lifetime can go by and a person can miss so much. I only just came across this author who has been writing for decades. And I wouldn’t have found him except for a fluke (see my post Writers, Go to Your Library).

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Writer’s Resource – Purdue OWL

Online Writing Lab

By Annette Rey

One of my reasons for writing this blog is to help writers understand that learning correct language usage should never stop. If we love to write, we should love the vehicle that takes our readers to places we want to transport them.

I especially sympathize with aspiring writers whose first language is not English. They need additional help navigating the complexities of the language.

The following site offers free access to instruction that will improve all of our efforts to polish our writing projects.

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