Some helpful online/electronic resources

As a follow up to my last post, here are some online resources I use. They are obviously not the only ones out there, but they serve me extremely well, and I definitely recommend them:

Dictionary
http://dictionary.reference.com/

Thesaurus
http://thesaurus.reference.com/

WordWeb

This is a one-click English thesaurus and dictionary (and word finder) for Windows that can look up words in almost any program. The great thing about WordWeb is that, it works off-line. There is a free and a premium version. I currently use the free version, which has the following features: Definitions and synonyms, antonyms for some words, related words, audio and pronunciations. This is an absolute must-have.

In the premium version, internet connection allows you to look up words in web references such as the Wikipedia encyclopedia. To learn more or to download, click here.

Google
For everything else (grammar etc) use a word search engine. I swear by Google, although I sometimes use Bing or Yahoo! etc. It's good to get comfortable with more than one search engine.Speaking of comfort, I’ve heard many people complain they can’t find things or they get confused by when they search. I read an article a couple of years back, which basically showed that most of us don’t know how to get the best out of our searches.

E.g. Special characters and operators, like +, –, ~, .., *, OR, and quotation marks, can help you fine-tune your search and increase the accuracy of the results. I found a site, called Google Guide, that takes you through tutorials for Google searches. I'm sure the rule will work for other search engines. To go to the website, click here.

cheers,

Empi

Resuming Lessons: A Quick Recap

Before the Christmas break, I'd started a series of lesson I called 'Getting There', where getting there means getting your work published. As the saying goes, a writer who doesn't get published is one who stops trying. Needless to say, unless the work you're putting out there is up to par, no one will publish your work.


And even if you go the self-publishing route, you won't be able to sell your book after the reviews your first set of readers will give.


After the VERY long break, I think it's time to resume the lessons. I will post the next in a fresh post, but for now, here's a refresher:


Lesson 1: Getting started

     Step 1: Assess where you are as a writer

     Step 2: Decide what you want to achieve with your writing 

     Step 3: Set targets (e.g.: a page a day)

     Step 4: Get your basic resources

            i -   An imagination (you have to have one, and keep feeding it)

            ii -  Dictionary

            iii - Thesaurus

            iv - Grammar book

            v -  Internet

     Some helpful resources:

          1. Dictionary

          2. Thesaurus 

          3. WordWeb

          4. Google (or Yahoo! or Bing, if you prefer those). Learn how to use and maximise search engines.

Lesson 2: Starting your story

1. Plotting
2. Question to ask yourself about your story
3. Your opening line (or hook)

Feel free to add any other resources you've found helpful

Later, 

Empi