100 sites for fiction writers: #98 - Online Etymology Dictionary

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Online Etymology Dictionary

If you are reading this, my guess is you are a fiction writer, someone who wants to write fiction, or someone at least with some interest in fiction writing. Let's just say, then, that somehow or other you have interests in writing. Which means you also have an interest in words since, after all, we all write using words, regardless of the language.

An interest in words can take many different forms. Some of us are interested in how words are used. Others have an interest in how words are shaped, how they are formed. Still others have interests in the particular history of words. Me, I'm kind of interested in all of the above, and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

Because of my interest in words, I've found the Online Etymology Dictionary quite interesting. As a writer, I've found this site quite useful on occasion.

If you don't know what "etymology" is, don't worry. It's a long word, and not necessarily a common one among everyday speakers of the English language. Basically, etymology is the study of the origin or words.

As this series of articles is about writing, you might be asking yourself, "Well, an etymology dictionary sounds interesting, but how can it help me as a writer?"

Let's say you're writing a historical piece, a short story or novel that takes place hundreds of years ago. You want to use a particular word, but it sounds kind of modern and you are not sure whether this particular word was even around during the time period of which you are writing. How do you find out? You turn to the Online Etymology Dictionary, of course.

This website can be a boon for historical writers, or for those who write in fantasy, a genre often based in historical or pseudo-historical worlds and times. Even thriller writers could stand a little study in etymology, especially if they are writing stories taking place during the gangsters' heyday of the 1930s, or any other time period.

The Online Etymology Dictionary is also easy to use. Go to the site and you'll see a search window right in the middle of the screen. Type in your word, hit "OK," and suddenly you've got an extensive list concerning the history and usage or your particular word. There are even listed historical records of when a word was first used.

If you're like me, you can spend hours upon hours at such a site. It can be fun and helpful, especially to writers.

Books read in 2012: No. 2 - Dreams in Shadow

edited by Scott Fitzgerald Gray

Started: January 3
Finished: January 8

Notes: This is the first collection of short stories and excerpts from Monumental Works Group, an online collective of writers of which I am a member. Within these pages can be found an excerpt from my novel City of Rogues, as well as my short story "Beneath a Persian Sun." Scott Fitzgerald Gray, a fellow Monumental Works Group member, might (or might not) balk at my labeling him the editor of this collection, but it was he who did all the grunt work in getting the rest of us lazy writers to send him our material. It was he who put everything together, and he had some editing suggestions here and there, so I call him "editor." I'm looking forward to reading the other stories from my fellow members

Mini review: I am simply humbled by being a part of this collection of short stories. There are great tales here, and I can't believe some of my own fumblings are among the mix. Not a stinker to be found. My favorite? It would be difficult to pick only one.

100 sites for fiction writers: #97 - Write It Forward

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Write It Forward

Write It Forward is the blog of New York Times bestselling author Bob Mayer. That alone means fiction writers should pay attention to this man and his blog. But he is also a co-founder of the site Who Dares Wins Publishing, a Green Beret, a West Point graduate, a former instructor at Fort Bragg, a keynote speaker, a consultant, and a writing instructor. Are you impressed yet? If not, I can't help you, so just stop reading now.

But Bob Mayer's background should tell you that the men knows what he is talking about, especially when it comes to writing (and the military, of course).

I check out this blog on a fairly regular basis because it always has interesting posts, such as Mayer's take on "Goal Setting for Writers for 2012," or his many tips for NaNoWriMo.

Bob Mayer also offers online writing workshops. If you are interested, you can sign up here.

This is not a blog where you will generally find all kinds of news about publishing, though there is some of that. Mostly what you will discover are blog posts by a professional, someone who has solid advice to offer to beginners and pros alike. If you feel the need for a writing coach, or a workshop, then take a look at Write It Forward.

100 sites for fiction writers: #96 - Novel Spaces

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Novel Spaces

Writers learn from other writers. Unfortunately, sometimes writers only stick to one or two particular genres, their favorites, when studying other writers. While this might seem natural, it can also create situations in which writers do not try something different or something new because ... well, simply because they haven't been exposed to other genres, other types of writing, other ways of telling a tale.

A site like Novel Spaces can come in handy, then, by opening one's eyes to other genres and other writers. At Novel Spaces, more than a dozen fiction writers from a variety of backgrounds and who write in a variety of genres have come together to blog. Here you will find Jewel Amethyst, a poet and romance writer from the Caribbean; Charles Gramelich, a Louisiana professor who pens fantasy, horror and Western tales; Devon Vaughn Archer, an author of urban literature as well as romance and mainstream fiction; and many, many more.

At this blog one regularly finds advice about writing, information about publishing, and sometimes simply matters that are on writers' thoughts. It's a great place for writers to become familiar with other genres, to stretch their boundaries and consider other options, to spread their talent perhaps to limits undreamed.

Novel Spaces also allows for Guest Spots, so if you are a writer who would like to introduce yourself to this blog's audience, you might consider a guest post.

Novel Spaces is also a great place for Giveaways. If you like free books or e-books (and who doesn't?), check the site regularly to find out what is available.

Best of all, for readers, Novel Spaces can help you discover writers and books with which you might be unfamiliar. And we all love discovering new writers.

My secret goal for 2012

I wrote the other day about my goals for 2012, but I intentionally left out one big, specific goal. Why? Because it's a crazy goal, a crazy idea. I'm still going to try for it, but I'm not brave enough yet to talk about that goal with others (except for my wife, who has agreed to help).

This goal is nuts. Truly nuts. But I should know by the end of January if I even have a hope of accomplishing it. It's going to mean a lot of work, and yes, it is related to writing.

So, toward the end of January, one way or another, I'll be blogging about this goal of mine. I'll be letting others know if I think I can accomplish it, or if it's just a crazy dream.

Remind me, please, in case I forget. Because I'm going to be busy.

Writing goals for 2012

Usually toward the end of a year, or at the start of a new year, I do a post about my writing goals for the upcoming year. I also usually look back at the past year, and decide whether or not I reached my goals for that year.

For whatever reason, probably my mood, I did not do such a post last year. But this year I'm going to.

First, did I reach my writing goals for 2011? As I had no specific goals, well, yeah, I must have met them. I completed a novel, a couple of novellas, a novelette, a half dozen or so short stories, etc. And then there was all the blogging and guest blogging I did this year.

So, I'm relatively pleased with 2011.

What about 2012?

I would like my output to be more than 2011. I wrote about 300,000 words of new fiction in 2011, but only 117,000 of that was for a novel, Ghosts of the Asylum. I'd like to have at least three new novels available by the end of 2012, and truth be told, I'd like to have five or six new novels available (but I don't think that's going to happen).

More than anything, I want to work on my total word output. That means putting my nose to the grindstone and writing, writing, writing. Fiction, that is. Seems I'm always writing, but I want to be writing more fiction.

I'll work on it. Not making any promises, but I have a few ideas to make myself more productive, and I hope some of them will work.

Gotta go. There's a new novel that needs some writing work done on it.

100 Sites for Fiction Writers: #95 - Funds for Writers

This is an ongoing series looking at websites that can be of help to fiction writers with their craft and career.

Funds for Writers

Money can be a touchy subject among some writers. If you are a writer hoping to make a living from your writing, there are those who will call you a hack. If you are a writer not interested in money, there are those who will call you an elitist or a hobbyist. To me, personally, it doesn't make much of a difference. If you think you can write for money, go for it; if you prefer to write for any of a thousand other reasons, that's your choice.

But for those who do write for money, or who try to write for money, often it is difficult to find that money. That's when a site such as Funds for Writers can home in handy, because it lists and explores how a writer can make money.

Though it is not easy to make money as a writer, there are many different ways to try and make money. For instance, a writer can apply for Grants. A writer could also take part in Contests, or look to sell his or her work through the Markets.

At the Funds for Writers site, one can also search for funding by reading the site's main Newsletter, or by looking into the Small Markets Newsletter, or the WritingKid Newsletter.  If you want to get truly serious about a funds search, and you can afford $15 per year, you can sign up for the TOTAL FundsforWriters newsletter. One could also check out the site's Resources page to find books and other materials than can help writers.

And who, you might ask, is behind Funds for Writers? Site founder and editor C. Hope Clark, who has been running the site since she created it in 2000.

So don't lose Hope! There are ways to make money, and to make a living, as a writer, and this site can help. Don't forget to spend some time checking out everything Funds for Writers has to offer.