Writerly Wednesday

...a roundup of free resources and excellent articles of interest to writers.

1.  "Finding the Core of Your Story" by Jordan Smith (free sample) I've heard good things about this book, but have not read it myself. What I can say is, the free sample I just read is marvelous. And I expect the rest of the book is the same, and someday I shall read it. "When I get a little money I buy books..." (Erasmus of Rotterdam)
2. FocusWriter (free writing software) Hammy from "Over the Hedge" is the inspiration for the term my family coined for distraction: "Hammy-brained." If you're Hammy-brained, you should scamper over and check out this free software for keeping focused while writing. It completely fills your computer screen so you can't see that you just got a new e-mail, and you can set custom color/font schemes and photo backgrounds to keep you inspired. (And--in case this matters to anyone besides me--it also runs on Ubuntu.)
3. Book Review Contest and Giveaway from J. Grace Pennington If you write reviews for her titles, you'll be entered in a giveaway for four books. I can personally recommend "Red Rain" and "Supervillain of the Day," I've already mentioned my thoughts on "Finding the Core of Your Story," and I expect "Sixteen, So in Love with You" is lovely, as well. Read the details on her blog.

Have a suggestion? Please drop me a line with a link to the resource and I may include it in another Writerly Wednesday!