I’m a little late posting this, but Writer’s Digest recently published their 2009 list of 101 Best Websites for Writers.

Many of the sites WD recommends are geared toward creative writers, rather than business writers. Nonetheless, the sections on Jobs and Markets and General Resources contain valuable information for anyone involved in independent writing and editing.

One of my favorite sites is not included in WD’s list — Daphne Gray-Grant’s Publication Coach. Daphne’s tips on writing well and writing quickly are highly relevent to business writers, and you can sign up to receive them in a weekly email newsletter.

Scott’s Vocab is another good destination not included in the list. It’s a blog by Ben Schott, author of Schott’s Original Miscellany, exploring odd and novel uses of vocabulary in the news. For feature story writers in particular, it can be fun to pick up one of the terms Schott discovers and use it in just the right instance in a story.

My mom recently found this essay I wrote back in 1977, apparently just for fun. Typos, odd spellings, etc., left intact.

“Summer of ‘77″

After school was out (june i0) I had decided to go to day camp. It was not like I expected it to be. The first day it sprinkled, so we could not go swiming. THen we sat around telling stories. We soon eat lunch.

The next day looked for craw dads. The next, went canoeing. Finally the last day we had a cook out. After camp was over, we (my sister and me) went to swiming lessens at precious blood, but the Y.M.C.A. was holding it. Then while my mother went to tennis lessons we went to summer recreation with a friend of ours, lois. Then it was my birthday!

On the Satuday before it I went to shawnee hills for the weekned to celeberate. Shawnee hills is a place where my granny and grandad have a cottage by shawnee lake. For my birthday I got a tennis racket. Soon after that we went to fanisy farm. There me, my sister & my dad went on many rides. We then went to the lake and I asked my grandad if I could learn to ski (on water of course) and he said yes, so now I am going to try to ski. I hope I will learn fast so that I can go often. Way back when I was taking swiming lessons I learned to dive, and swim under water. I can’t swim verry long because I can’t hold my breath too long.

This is as far as I have gone this summer so I guess this is the end.

THE END

The budding talent of a writer in the making? Or just the scrawlings of a girl enamored with a typewriter? You decide.

Correspondent M.C. sends this quote he ran across today:

Writing the last page of the first draft is the most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of the most enjoyable moments in life, period.
– Nicholas Sparks, author (1965-)

M.C. notes that “this may be true for Mr. Sparks, but just getting that first sentence onto paper is one heck of a delight to me!”

M.C., I can only say that you are a braver person than me. Rather than delight, I am usually filled with abject fear and horror when I begin a writing project, which abates only when I’m done.

Preliminary conversations with a potential new client can be nerve-wracking for many freelancers. If you’re nodding your head in agreement, check out this article from JCM Enterprises about their experience approaching blog designer Brian Gardner about a new project, and his interaction/negotiations with them.

JCM reminds us that you don’t have to have some sort of stellar sales pitch when you’re talking to a client, nor do you have to have an overly formal presentation. Instead, it’s better to just be yourself, speak frankly about your costs and availability, and freely give information rather than pushing a hard sell. Anyway, don’t bother reading my paraphrase — just check out their comments yourself.

Good post from Deborah Ng at Freelance Writing Jobs on what it really takes to be a freelance writer. Chaps like Peter Bowerman sometimes try to tell us that it takes hardly any skill to be a freelance writer — just the right marketing pitch. Deborah begs to differ.