Happy New Year!

I am back with my regularly scheduled posts. Last month, I had a cold and forgot about my post for December. I tend to write my post the month that it’s due, as I try to talk about something that recently happened to me or that I recently discovered.

I am always on the lookout for websites about writing, publishing, social media, books, etc. Here are several sites I found in the last year.

The Rate Your Story contest for picture books, novels, novellas and other kinds of stories runs through February 3. Good luck if you decide to enter!

http://rateyourstory.blogspot.com/p/writing-contest.html

Do you suffer from writer’s block? We probably all do at some point. Can you get out of writer’s block by using this map?

http://nybookeditors.com/book-editing-copy-editing-proofreading-self-publishing-blog/2013/3/12/a-map-to-get-out-of-writers-block#sthash.WW86y3jg.ugP8U2U2.dpbs

If you write for children, this is a new website, full of lots of resources.

http://www.kidlit411.com/

This is a how-to article for authors on shopping at a bookstore.  A fun read!

http://blog.pshares.org/index.php/how-to-shop-at-a-bookstore-an-easy-20-step-guide-for-authors/

This one is also for fun! How well did you do?

http://noblemania.blogspot.com/2013/09/guess-picture-book.html

I hope you enjoy checking out these interesting and helpful websites. If you have any links you would like to share, please post them in the Comments section. Have a great 2014!

Debbie A. Byrne has a B.S. in Mass Communication with a minor in History. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and is working on her first children’s book.