3 Highly Recommended Free Writing Resources for You

When it comes to writing resources, I think of the basics that I don’t want to be without. For me, it’s a panicked feeling when kitchen staples like garlic, lemons, tofu, and cayenne pepper are on ‘E’ and I can’t get to the store. Sure there are tons of other ingredients but these deficiencies give that stomach sinking feeling. Anything I try to cook is DOOMED! In the writing world, it’s the same. I just got to have me some:-

#1. Dictionary.com

Word of the day sent to your inbox replete with phonetic variations and pronunciation breakdown, word etymology, word history, plus a demonstration of correct usage. There are options for creating online flashcards of said words with a favorite’s folder right at your fingertips. This site also delivers a word quiz (many are themed) to keep functional vocabulary sharp for your daily writing tasks. Saved words plus the entire dictionary waiting to test you? A power combination!

Got words you already know? Skip ahead or behind. There’s a calendar.

Keep current with new words added while you weren’t looking.

Make use of the onsite thesaurus.

Did I mention they have a slang, emoji, gender & sexuality dictionary, extensive writing prompts, writing tips, and acronyms listings?

Check out the learning section to find helpful articles on everything from common grammatical conundrums to consulting style manuals or even something along the lines of “9 Annoying Phrases and What to Say Instead.”

A grammar coach is under the “writing” tab (with a formal tone) for your editing needs. And when you need a breather from all the technicalities, play something on the game tab (geared towards logophiles) for continued buzz highs on crosswords and word puzzles, with the scrabble word finder available for perusal should mastery of the classics be on your to-do list.

Dictionary.com gets mega cool points for the trending words filing past at the top of the page reading like a stock exchange and becoming indispensable tool#1.

#2. Grammarly

There are plenty of online coaches out there for editing needs, but this is one of the most thorough and user-friendly I’ve used. It goes beyond grammar, spelling, and punctuation to assist with the tone, engagement, clarity, delivery, readability levels, and more. The color-coding makes it a cinch to understand what edit changes are required and content can be saved to work on later.

There’s a lot more expansion for tone here. Before each assessment of your writing, decide on selection settings for audience type, formality level (I use the heck outta ‘neutral’), domain (casual through to academic are premium features), and intent, so the reasons why you are writing get the correct assessment mode.

Paid subscriptions offer premium and business versions for $12 and $12.50 respectively. These added features include assessments such as word choice, plagiarism detection, and/or style guides, and an analytics dashboard. The premium membership includes everything in the free subscription plus extras and the business membership includes everything in the premium membership plus extras.

It is a win-win to get an overall performance score with a metrics breakdown of everything from the word count, inclusive of reading and speaking time, readability (with a Flesch-Kincaid index score), and vocabulary ratings. When the assessment is finished, you will know where you stand in terms of written standards, with all the corrections served on a silver platter which can be pdf downloaded.

When I first began using Grammarly, I would inwardly groan with the number of corrections that flagged up.

However, I found that the more I used this resource, the better I became at self-correcting issues, to the extent that I could edit even many advanced suggestions before submitting work for assessment. The corrective lines throughout your assessed written piece disappear when errors are resolved.

That being said, there is one annoying quirk. Infrequently, an editing suggestion is made, which when taken, reverts back to the pre-edited phase e.g. Remove comma. *Removes comma* Add comma. *Adds comma* Remove comma. Perhaps an indecisive section of algorithm. After evaluating, I either disregard it or consult a style guide if perturbed.

Other than that, all Grammarly YAY!

#3. Reedsy

If you like a wealth of resources in one place at your fingertips and haven’t been to Reedsy.com at least once, you might be missing out. This site is the writing all-you-can-eat smorgasbord.

Whether you’re a complete newbie or ready to publish a book and require the services of a professional editor, Reedsy covers both and everything in between.

In Reedsy book editor, a free professional typesetting tool is available to prepare your manuscript and there are tons of professionals to support you anywhere along the publishing process, which I will be ready for as soon as I'm ready to write a book (which I am not.) I tend to linger in Reedsy learning using the variety of online courses that can be delivered straight to my inbox each day. I appreciate bite-sized content that doesn’t take forever to digest. For this Reedsy gets five stars.

As a result of online influence, I continue writing fiction pieces, which is no small feat because of how much I drag my heels. I’m a fiction fraidy cat. It’s not my primary writing classification; I’m extending myself. The wealth of courses and tools on offer sucked me in.

Have a ball with the name generator for story characters who are Hindi, Arabic, Turkish, Korean, or Welsh-speaking for starters. Let your imagination run wild with medieval or fantasy name generators. Find a book title or pen name generator, then head over to Reedsy prompts where themed short story contests run weekly with a $250 prize to be won ($5 entry fee submission.) Or you can submit and publish at no cost sans contest. Yes, that’s every week in an open forum where writers the world over comment and commune.

The numerous times I came that close to waving the white flag on my fiction writing battles and just couldn’t because of Reedsy. It’s gentle encouragement on my most frustrating 3-act story structure days.

There are templates galore!

I check out Reedsy blog when I want to understand concepts and gain knowledge regarding the writing craft. So, I may not have considered publishing an indie comic book before, but now that there’s a blog post about it, I might keep that idea on the possibility shelf. Reedsy blog provided a fundamental understanding of literary fiction and why publishers (like Vocal Media) have a preference for it. I’m an incurable explorer and there are directions in abundance here.

If rubbing shoulders with industry professionals is up your alley then Reedsy live is sure to have someone to engage you. The last session I attended is a regular event and favorite: Reedsy live First Line Frenzy. A noted editor will review and evaluate, in real time, a random sampling first line of selected stories that have been submitted beforehand. Subscribe and get a personal invitation to all upcoming webinars and never miss a session.

Three supports make for a stable base, and the confidence in my writing to develop and progress, I owe much to these resources. Of course, there are a multitude of other great tools that I use often, but these are writing arsenal staples. An effective litmus test to determine a quality resource is its scope to support wide-ranging stages of development. If a one-size-fits-all writing resource designation exists, without question, I would nominate all three.

And while you're still reading, check out this engaging Vocal Media self-help piece for aspiring writers by Mike Singleton - MikeyDred. You'll be glad you did!

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