1001 Sites To Distract Or Help You

I must admit that sometimes I spend too much time looking for who knows what on the internet. Hours later, I wonder where the time went. It’s fun but it is a distraction from actually writing. I thought I save you some time and share some sites with you. Okay, there aren’t 1001 sites. But, it may take you at least 1001 minutes to look at all of them.

SITE FOR READERS AND AUTHORS
http://www.wattpad.com/ site to read free ebooks and place to hang your hat to gain a following
http://thebookbreeze.com/Home_Page.php site for readers and authors

WRITERS BLOCK/PERFECTIONISM/PROCRASTINATION
http://hillaryrettig.com/books/overcome-procrastination/ Free ebook about procrastination, perfectionism and writers blocks
http://joanswan.blogspot.com/2011/07/writing-exercises-to-remove-writers.html

BUSINESS
http://www.leilimckinley.com/ social media
http://vipauthors.com/

VIDEOS ON WRITING
http://www.youtube.com/user/marthaalderson#p/u/19/ESfT2Lh1cWo videos on plotting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcmiqQ9NpPE Dan Wells on Story Structure
http://wordplay-kmweiland.blogspot.com/ Videos on writing character and plot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BfHGeZqJvE Elizabeth Lyon, [author of Manuscript Makeover] on style and voice

SIZING UP YOUR CHARACTERS
http://charactertherapist.blogspot.com/search/label/Psychological%20Theories%20for%20Writers
An online therapy service for fictional characters.
http://www.cvisual.com/film-techniques/writer-character-trait-list.asp List of character traits
http://www.personalitypage.com/html/INTP.html myers-briggs personality
http://www.enneagraminstitute.com/ 9 personality types
http://www.psyweb.com/ psychology web site
http://www.jnforensics.com/ Decoding human behavior

BLOGS ON WRITING
http://writerunboxed.com/
http://hollylisle.com/
http://seekerville.blogspot.com/2008/09/portable-plotting-board.html Portable-plotting board
http://www.magicalwords.net/stuart-jaffe/writing-theory-the-monomyth-part-1/ Writing theory – monomyth 4 parts
http://www.magicalwords.net/free-writing-downloads/ Free downloads
http://udleditions.cast.org/craft_intro.html Narrative Elements/Literary devices
http://www.lisagardner.com/tricks/synopsis.htm Synopsis
http://www.guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/Word+Count+For+Novels+And+Childrens+Books+The+Definitive+Post.aspx Word count for novels
http://writingright-martin.blogspot.com/search/label/Creating%20Emotions Conflict=Tension=Emotions

FORENCIS
http://www.dplylemd.com/
http://writersforensicsblog.wordpress.com/

GRAMMAR
http://www.spunkandbite.com/

WRITING TOOLS
http://editminion.com/ A paste-in and check editor for adverbs, weak words, "said" replacements, passive voice and ending with prepositions.
http://www.writersdiet.ac.nz/wasteline.php Another paste-in and check editor. This one checks "be" verbs, abstract nouns, etc.
http://textalyser.net/
Another paste-in and check text tool. This one gives you stats on readability, sentence length, etc. You can also analyze a website by pasting in the URL.
http://www.wordcounter.com/
Another paste-in and check tool. This one counts the number of repeated words and gives you a most frequently used hit list.
http://bookblog.net/gender/genie.php Paste and check editor. This one uses key words typically used by males and females and tells you whether you write like a guy or a gal.
http://visual.merriam-webster.com/
http://www.onelook.com/index.php?e=1 One look dictionary
http://thebookshelfmuse.blogspot.com/2008/01/introducing-thesaurus-thursdays.html for emotions
http://moods85.wordpress.com/mood-list/ mood list
http://www.scriblink.com/index.jsp?act=phome&roomid=9974&KEY=BCEBF3D83B398F5E0FDC36B9D58960D9 drawing tool online
http://www.online-stopwatch.com/large-stopwatch/ Online stopwatch
http://www.proginosko.com/leechblock.html For Firefox: a tool to block the sites that stop you from writing
http://macfreedom.com/ Another tool to block out distractions

FOR THE SPIRIT
http://www.livingdeeply.org/
http://www.jamesallenlibrary.com/james-allen/divine-companion James Allen
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTic21Z0gZo Writer’s meditation
http://www.markdavidgerson.com/index.html “Rules” for Living and Writing
http://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_gilbert_on_genius.html Elizabeth Gilbert on Genius
http://harvardmagazine.com/2008/06/the-fringe-benefits-failure-the-importance-imagination JKR benefits of failure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c9-XaA2f00 Buddhist chanting
http://greatday.com/motivate/index.html

Do you collect links too? What’s your favorite?

Till next time,
Elizabeth

When All Else Fails

Writer's block is hell. Every writer enters that hell at some point or another during their life. At times I come across a block in world building. Nothing I write down is a good idea. I always return back to the beginning and work my way down the options. Again, it isn't what I want so I research more. The cycle continues, I give up and work on a new idea. One time I decided to use the white board I wrote on during my early days as a writer and suddenly the block was no longer there.

The freedom of writing on the board helps to break through. The board is a bigger space for my ideas. In some ways, it expands my mind to fit the space available for me to write on. No matter how much I erase and start over again, the wall is broken down sooner rather than later. I draw out diagrams and when I'm satisfied I copy it down on paper. Creating names and places are easy on the board. I even brought easel pads to write on because they have lines to keep my notes neat.

I resist the urge to write on the walls in my room because getting rid of my rambling may not be so easy. Plus I may be kicked out of the house if I ever did that. My dream is to have my wall covered with a white board so I can write on it as I world build. It would be a beautiful sight, and I can leave information on the wall until I'm ready to write it down and erase it.

My question to you, is there a method you use to break through a block of any kind?