Friday Fives: Five Favorite Writing Communities

Welcome to Friday! What a long week it's been, that's for sure! Probably because I took all of last week off on vacation...so this week decided to really sock it to me!

Anyhow, it's Friday (yeah!) and today's Paper Hanger Friday Fives topic?

What are your Five Favorite Writing Communities?

Here are mine:

1. WriteBrained Network: A great friend of mine, Bridgid Gallagher (she's the awesomeness that designed my website!) introduced me to this great on-line group of writerly pals, last year. Amazing writers, great community, and wonderful information. And, I head up the YA subgroup for the site - YAwesome Writers (catchy, I know!). Love this group of people - you should really jump on over there and join!

2. NaNoWriMo: I attempted this for the first time, last year - and won (I actually wrote well over the 50k word goal)! I'd been suffering a GINORMOUS case of writer's block for several months leading up to November, and wouldn't you know, NaNo and all the great people I met there, brought my muse out from hiding and gave a hefty kick to that crappy writer's block. Who knew a little competition and one small deadline were all I needed? Me thinks this bodes well if I ever do get published!

3. GoodReads: Okay, not sure if this is technically a writing community - but since a ton of writers hang out there, I think it counts. Love this site. Have met some fab-u-lous writers through GoodReads - not to mention, found some a-mazing reads!

4. Twitter: I never, ever, ever, thought I'd succumb to the madness that is Twitter. And the ONLY reason I did, was because of the huge writer / agent / editor community that takes part on it, every day. I've met so many wonderful people through Twitter. Even found really cool writerly contests. And besides, what better way to stalk, um I mean follow, agents you're interested in? 

5. QueryTracker.net: Another fab community of writers, all trudging through slush pile hell together! Patrick (he's basically the Wizard of Oz behind QT) is completely anal (yeah, I just said that out loud. On my blog. You're jealous. :) ) about keeping all of the content regarding agents & editors up to date. He's fab. And the site is one of my absolute favorites without a doubt. Although, it's basically put my excel spreadsheet on querying, out to pasture - and those who know me, know how I love me my excel spreadsheets, not to mention my lists!!! So that's got to say something.

Okay, so those are my five! Can't wait to hear everyone else's favorite writing communities - I'm always looking for more!

Friday Fives: What Are Your Five Fav Research Tools?

Happy Friday, everyone!

Today's Friday Fives topic? What are your five favorite research tools or resources? Here are mine - what did I miss?

1. Google. Pretty sure I don't need to elaborate on that one.

2. Seventh Sanctum - I've mentioned this one before, but this is where I find all of my character names. 

3. Wikipedia - Okay, so I know it's not supposed to be the most trusted source...so take from it what you will!

4. Urban Dictionary - again, a previous mention of mine...but where else can you dig deep into the slang of teens these days, without stalking them in person? 

5. Thesarus.com - I'd gladly pay a monthly service for this site - that's how much I use it!

Friday Fives: What Gets YOUR Creative Juices Flowing?

Happy Friday, everyone! Oh, I'm so glad it's almost the weekend, let me tell you...it's been one doozy of a week! But what better way to cap it all off, then by participating in today's Friday Fives! 

Today's topic: FIVE things that get your creativity juices flowing.

Here are mine - what are yours?

1. Springtime, Prom and Graduation...oh my! I realized over the past couple of years, I do my absolute best writing during this time of the year (April - July). The vibe teenager's give off, when they're wrapping up a school year, heading to prom, and walking the final walk of graduation...it's a feeling that's almost tangible! And definitely my #1 source of inspiration for writing YA, hands down.

2. Music. I'm sure this will be a common choice amongst many of us, but music is one of the best sources to get those creative juices flowin'!

3. The Internet. Websites, pictures, emails, Twitter, blogs, Wikipedia, Google - you name it, it's all the goodness that is the internet. And what better place than that, to turn the creative cogs of your mind?

4. A Good Book. It's amazing how much you can learn about the art of writing, just by reading. Did that book not take the turn you were hoping for? Well see if it inspires a new story of your own! It's almost like "choose your own adventure" - cause that's the great thing about being a writer. We get to make things up. And when we're published, we'll be paid for that. 

5. A Long Drive. Not sure what it is about being in the car, but for some reason I tend to do my best brainstorming while behind the wheel. Maybe it's because I have an hour long commute (each way) and often need to find something better to think about, then the bumper bumbling along in front of me.