Resources
Resource page for the Western Colorado Writers’ Forum. Click on the links below for more information.
Western Slope
- Lithic Bookstore & Gallery
- Out West Books
- Mesa County Libraries
- Talking Gourds Poetry Program
- Confluence Studios: Bringing Art and Community Together
- Grand Junction Commission on Arts & Culture
- The Art Center of Western Colorado
Colorado
- Poetry Society of Colorado
- Colorado Poets Center
- Denver Woman’s Press Club
- Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers
- Lighthouse Writers
- Northern Colorado Writers
- Pikes Peak Writers
- Castle Rock Writers
- Women Writing the West (based in Durango)
- Author YOU: Your Guide to Book Publishing
- The Book Shepherd: Creating Successful Authors with Practical Publishing Guidance
- NZ Graphics: Where Outstanding Design meets Affordable Pricing
- Colorado Virtual Library
- History Colorado
National
- SATW (Formerly Society of American Travel Writers)
- Western Writers of America
- Society of Professional Journalists
- National Association of Hispanc Journalists
- NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists
- National Writers Union
- Writer’s Market
Writer’s Links
General Reference
These writing tips cover the basics and the most important aspects of writing.
- Do it. Write.
- Read as much and as often as you can. Remember, every writer is a reader first.
- Keep a journal or notebook handy at all times so you can jot down all of your brilliant ideas. If you’ve got a smartphone, make sure it’s loaded with a note-taking app. A voice-recording app also comes in handy for recording notes and ideas.
- Make sure you have a dictionary and thesaurus available whenever you are writing.
- Be observant. The people and activities that surround you will provide you with great inspiration for characters, plots, and themes.
- Invest in a few useful resources starting with The Chicago Manual of Style and The Elements of Style.
- Grammar: learn the rules and then learn how to break them effectively.
- Stop procrastinating. Turn off the TV, disconnect from the Internet, tune out the rest of the world, sit down, and write.
- Read works by successful authors to learn what earns a loyal readership.
- Read works by the canonical authors so you understand what constitutes a respectable literary achievement.
- Join a writers’ group so you can gain support from the writing community and enjoy camaraderie in your craft.
- Create a space in your home especially for writing.
- Proofread everything at least three times before submitting your work for publication.
- Write every single day.
- Start a blog. Use it to talk about your own writing process, share your ideas and experiences, or publish your work to a reading audience.
- Subscribe to writing blogs on the Internet. Read them, participate, learn, share, and enjoy!
- Use writing exercises to improve your skills, strengthen your talent, and explore different genres, styles, and techniques.
- Let go of your inner editor. When you sit down to write a draft, refrain from proofreading until that draft is complete.
- Allow yourself to write poorly, to write a weak, uninteresting story or a boring, grammatically incorrect poem. You’ll never succeed if you don’t allow yourself a few failures along the way.
- Make it your business to understand grammar and language. Do you know a noun from a verb, a predicate from a preposition? Do you understand tense and verb agreement? You should.
- You are a writer so own it and say it out loud: “I am a writer.” Whether it’s a hobby or your profession, if you write, then you have the right to this title.
- Write, write, write, and then write some more. Forget everything else and just write.