The Best Gifts are Year Round

Five more days till Christmas and I’m in the mood to say thank you to a bunch of amazing social media people.  These writers, however, don’t just give at Christmas.  They share all year round and if you’re like me, a writer with lots to learn, you’ll appreciate their knowledge, too.  Their sites are full of how-to articles on everything you ever need to know about writing, publishing and editing.  This list is my gift to you.

Amy Schmittauer has several sites but here is her Savy Sexy Social webpage. She posts regularly and even gave me a free half hour web interview to go over my social media presence.

Judy Cullins’ media imprint is huge but most importantly, she never gives up giving free ideas, books and pamphlets.  She has collected an amazing amount of helpful material which she willingly shares.

Gayle Z. Martin I met in Vancouver in April.  I appreciate that she is not in my face every day but regularly sends her newsletter with excellent tips.  Still waiting for her to book into a session in Toronto!

Jeff Goins uses an old typewriter for his picture, reminding me of the Remington I first sat at some years ago.  No, it wasn’t electric.  They weren’t invented yet.  But I digress.  Jeff tells his writing story succinctly and in a relevant manner.  Check out his site.

Word Serve Water Cooler seems to be an umbrella for a number of writers to write blog posts.  I subscribe to this newsletter partly for the variety of points of view in that format.  These writers all have something interesting to other writers.

Mary DeMuth is a traditionally published writer who wrote about why she chose to self publish one of her books.  I thought she shared a unique perspective on the whole publisher/self-publish thing without getting bogged down in one point of view. And she wrote a step-by-step manual of how to self publish.  Excellent.

Chuck Sambuchino, author of 2012 Guide to Literary Agents and blogger for Writers Digest make an ongoing contribution to writers.  Google him to see all that he puts out in the writing world.

Jeff Bullas wrote an insightful and interesting article on Twitter and how it might best be used. The article is called How to be Contagious on Twitter.  I can’t say I’m contagious yet, but it’s coming.

Rachelle Gardner is a literary agent who publishes short, useful posts that span the wide topic of writing. Her posts are always on point and usually something I have been wondering about.  I subscribe to her feed at this website.

Joan Swan is a name some of my writer friends mention often.  She has a very active website here.

Sue Healy posts often to her site about the writing world.  I appreciate her how-to articles.

Michael Neff I met through an Algonkian writers conference. He has his own style of presentation but his whole focus is to try to help writers become published authors.  He went way above the call to make sure everyone got time with him in Niagara Falls this fall. Pitching became a whole lot easier after struggling through his workshops.

Barbara Kyle is another whose workshops are very useful.  She has a logical and concise method of presenting the nuts and bolts of novel construction.  And her books are great, too!

So there you have them.  These links are my gift to my readers for this Christmas season.  Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, enjoy checking out these people for superlative writing help.

Name one of your favorite how-to blogs or writers in the comments below.  Consider also leaving a comment as your Christmas gift to me.  Merry Christmas!