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Article Excerpt
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So you want to be a writer, eh?
Let me tell you a little story. My neighbor, let's call him Ed, is a retired federal fisheries guy who lived a life of high-seas adventure. He planned to become a writer when he retired. He'd not only had adventures, but traveled copiously, and knew that travel writing was a great niche market. After all, he had traveled to exotic places like Papua New Guinea, Borneo, and up the Amazon. So a future as a writer was the plan. Well, I wish I could report that he was selling his stories like hotcakes to Conde Nast, but that's not the case. He's actually substituting in schools as an aide to problem students. That is not an easy job, but it turned out that writing was just a bit tougher.
When asked how to write by a young expatriate in Paris, Hemingway is reputed to have answered, "Put pen to paper." Whether the source is true or not, the statement certainly is. There is probably no other endeavor that entertains such idealistic and fantastical preconceptions as writing. Tell someone at a party or dinner that you're a writer and you have conversation for the evening, whether you want it or not. Almost everyone is intrigued by the mystique of being a writer. Only those who actual do it know what a bitch it can be. Putting pen to paper is much more difficult than just dreaming up grand plots and ideas. It requires enormous self-discipline.
Lately, I have been venturing into fiction and investigating websites that assist aspiring fiction writers. But, for now, I have framed an article more general than fiction, an article to assist beginning (and advanced) writers in their pursuits, whether publishing, obtaining grant money, or honing their craft. I knew there had to be resources on the web for all this, and there certainly were--a plethora of them.
Getting Started
As with anything on the internet, it's often tough to know where to begin. Google searches often yield a dazzling array of disparate content, and even if you get lucky and find a few useful connections/sites, you'll often miss others. This article will try to winnow and categorize these nearly endless resources. I apologize upfront for all the worthy sites I'll leave out and emphasize that this represents a beginning: the tip of a mammoth iceberg.
First, let's explore some of the online writing programs and tutorials available, with the caveat that most of these programs cost money.
Online Training
The well-known online universities, such as University of Phoenix [http://www.phoenix.edu] and Walden [http://www. waldenu.edu], are geared to degree programs but do not offer degrees in writing per se, although writing classes of various types are provided for their students, typically in conjunction with their majors. This is generally no different than more traditional universities, although some do offer creative writing degrees. Checking local and in-state community colleges and universities for their online offerings is worthwhile for those pursuing a more traditional writing program.
Writing programs are typically called creative writing and many universities offer undergraduate and graduate (including Ph.D.) degrees in this area. Creative writing emphasizes fiction, poetry, and more recently what is called creative nonfiction. Creative nonfiction can range from creative journalism to essays, personal and otherwise. Many of these programs also offer technical writing classes, grammar, composition, and so forth. You can find a comprehensive list of creative writing programs at The Association of Writers and Writing Program's website [http:// guide.awpwriter.org].
WritingClasses.com/Gotham Writer's Workshop [http://www. writingclasses.com] is the largest and most prestigious online writing program in the country. It began as an offshoot of the Gotham Writer's Workshop in 1997 and has continued to expand. While its primary mission was, and still is, creative writing, its offerings have expanded to include classes in nonfiction, memoir writing, food writing, article writing, humor writing, etc. Furthermore, you can take many classes and workshops a la carte, meaning you need not be enrolled in a degree program. Gotham also offers classes and workshops for marketing work. Many offerings are exclusively online. Faculty are professional, award-winning writers and teachers. A typical course structure involves a 10-week term limited to 14 students. Classes normally meet online for 3 hours a week. Work is shared and work-shopped with the instructor and fellow classmates. The syllabus, lectures, notes, and resources are posted online. Students can use virtual lounges to socialize, share information, or comment on each other's work.
Another type of online writing program, largely falling in the creative writing category, is termed a "low residency" program. The bulk of...
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