I finally had some breathing room yesterday after spending the last few months on a major redesign of a site I manage. While I did need to write something for this poor neglected blog, I just couldn’t find anything to write about other than what I’ve been doing the last few months. I figured no one really wants to read about content management systems and design work with all the frustration and rewards that come with it, so I decided to add a few links to my writing resource directory. As usual, I found something to write about.
While trying to decide what writing related subject to look for, I discovered that the writing exercises section of my directory, or to be more specific - sites with writing prompts, are very popular. I hadn’t paid too much attention to the hits the sites in my directory were getting. Partly because my directory is still very new and hadn’t been indexed by the major search engines. Apparently that has changed and the directory is getting some good traffic. Since the writing prompt category is so popular, I decided to go in search of more sites offering writing prompts.
Well … I should have paid attention to how my mind works because for some unknown reason I found myself setting up a new category for writing organizations, which includes writers conferences. After finding and adding a few writers conference and association sites, I found myself on a page about writers block. Anyone spending time reading the content on this blog will know that I have struggled with writers block for some time now, more time than I care to admit to. Whenever I run across a site about writers block, I always explore the information. This site is more intriguing then most, simply because of how it is laid out and it has an unusual feature.
Get Into It was created by writer, Lisa R. Cohen. The first thing I saw was a purple site with table like boxes. I wasn’t sure what to look at. Since I spend a lot of time surfing when I’m not designing Web sites, my eyes automatically look for a navigation bar, usually found to the left or right of the content, though sometimes it can be found at the top of the page, which is old-school Web page layout. But this site has no obvious navigation. Lisa chose a more creative way to display her content. Each box surrounding the middle box, which has a definition of block, has a link to specific content. The box links includes titles like, is it really writers block?, why is this happening to me?, things NOT to do, things that might help, advice from the prolific, exercises, resources for blocked writers and finally, the amazing Write-O-Matic.
Basically, the amazing Write-O-Matic is a form that you fill out and then email it to yourself. No one ever sees it except you. It asks the question, “How hard is it to get over writer’s block?” then it gives the prompt: Well, it’s hard… Below the prompt are three fields. The first field asks for one word, the second field asks for a sentence and the last field asks for a whole paragraph. Then you fill in your email address and send it to yourself. Ingenious, simply ingenious! I just love what appears to be a one-dimensional concept that could produce a complexity of shades and textures for its users.
By the time I completed my surfing adventure yesterday, I had come full circle and found a writing prompt, though specific to writers block it’s still a prompt and I fulfilled my original intent. I also found a author driven community site, SFF Net, which is for science fiction, fantasy, horror, romance, mystery, and young adult fiction authors. I may write about this site at a later date but wanted to provide the link to anyone who may be interested. There is some great writing related material on this site, all provided by members and worth exploring even if you are interested in a different genre than those named above. Lisa R. Cohen’s pages are hosted on this site, as are many other authors.
