Recently I shared a couple favorite internet resources with a friend. When I mentioned to her that I’d been meaning to get a blog post up with them, she told me to get to it! So thank you, Carmen Nodar, for the prompting and for sharing sites you find, too.
WRITING RESOURCES
Scrivener at Literature and Latte
This site has downloadable software for writers of one cool writing program called Scrivener. Already available for sale for Macs, Scrivener is in process for windows, so a beta version. I was introduced to it by Jenn Bailey, Kate Blaisdell, Heather Trent Beers, and the afore mentioned Carmen. Thank you, wonderful ladies! I’m lovin’ it.
Edit Minion
The awesome Lisha Cauthen found this one and shared it on Kansas SCBWI’s Sunflower Scoop (a weekly email). It’s in beta and Dr. Wicked plans to add features, but it’s so cool. You paste in a piece of your writing and you can have it check for adverbs, weak words, “said” replacements, passive voice, ending a sentence with a preposition and often misspelled words. A bonus I like is you get a different writing quote each time you click on “Edit!.”
Institute for Children’s Literature Blog
This resource is searchable. I come here when I want info on something or am looking for a resource to share with someone else.
Downloadable Grammar Tutorials
Having trouble with a specific grammatical issue? Go here and learn how to handle it on the Yale website.
IMAGE RESOURCES
If you have your own blog or website, or are creating presentations, you need images. And most of us want free images. Resources updated 2025.
Pixabay
This is my favorite. Free images. Searchable. You can look for photos or illustrations. It tells you which are AI, which I do not use, nor recommend using.
Pexels
If I don’t find what I want on Pixabay, I go here.
morgueFile
Photos on this site are free for use (read the licensing info). People take pictures and upload them into this searchable database. If the photographer includes contact info, I send a thank you email telling which image and when and where I used it. (Each picture shows who uploaded the image–click on their name or username and look for email.) The image at the beginning of this post is from morgueFile. However, I don’t use this site anymore.
WEBSITES I SUBSCRIBE TO
DearEditor.com
I met DearEditor aka Deborah Halverson at the 2010 SCBWI LA conference. A former editor, Deborah answers writers’ questions. You can subscribe and get links emailed to you when there’s a post or search the site. Deborah’s recently launched her book: Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies. Tonight she’s doing a free webinar. You can also follow her on BlueSky.
School Visit Experts
Founded by author and SCBWI Regional Advisor Alexis O’Neill, this blog site is again subscribable. This site has very practical info about speaking in schools, arranging visits, etc.
Those are current favorites, though I know as soon as I hit “publish,” I’ll think of others. I’d love to hear yours. Simply enter them in the comments.