Writing links

RWA National
The National organization for romance writers, made up of over 9000 aspiring and published writers.
 
Publisher's Marketplace
THE place to get the daily dish on the deals that have gone down in the publishing world.  Best of all, Daily Lunch is free, yes, FREE.
 
Agent Query
Very cool site for playing "In Search Of…" for your dream agent.  Gives you options to narrow down by genre, which is very helpful.
 
Bartleby
Pretty much every reference book known to mankind in one handy place. Everything from Bartlett's Quotations to the King James Bible to any number of dictionaries, thesauri, and encyclopedias.
 
Babel Fish Translator
Offered with a word of caution: it's a great tool for getting simple words and phrases, but if you're looking for something more colloquial, I suggest you seek out a native speaker of whatever language it is you're translating to.  Trust me on this one.
 
The Compuserve Literary Forum
Even though it historically hates my computer, I still find it a pretty valuable resource when I'm able to log on, especially the Research and Craft subforum.  You have a question about how long it would take a person receiving a gunshot wound to the lower back to bleed out or how many licks it takes to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop?  You'll likely find the answer here.  If you have an AOL Instant Messenger handle, you'll be able to log on.

Fellow Writers, Partners in Crime & Icons I Admire

Diana Gabaldon
Author of the spectacular OUTLANDER series and LORD JOHN mysteries. Even though my writing style is absolutely nothing like hers, I hold her up as one of the gold standards for writing.  Why?  Because she's created a rich, vibrant world and magnetic characters and did it without bending to any of the so-called rules which so often cripple us as writers.  Mostly because she had no idea there were any rules.  There's a lesson in there.
 
Jennifer Crusie
Author of BET ME and a gajillion other wonderful books, Jenny is another one of those authors whom I admire and love more than my luggage.  Her dedication to craft and her generosity to other writers is without parallel.  Even if she has a thing about dead antagonists.  Wanna go hang with Jenny?  You can find her, when she's not in the midst of deadline hell, over at the Jennifer Crusie Fans Yahoo Group.
 
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez
She who brought Latina chick lit to the forefront of the mainstream publishing community with her groundbreaking book, THE DIRTY GIRLS SOCIAL CLUB.  Because of this remarkable novel, many young (and not-so-young) Latinas are getting in touch with their inner "Sucia."
 
Barbara Samuel
One of the most grounded yet fanciful women I have ever met, this Rita-award winning author (My personal fave: THE GODDESSES OF KITCHEN AVENUE) writes beautiful books about women who are both ordinary and extraordinary. To say I wanna be like her when I grow up would be understating it.
 
The Literary Chicks
The joint site of an extraordinary trio of wonderful, wacky chick lit writers, all of whom I'm privileged to call friend. They've banded together in this one fun location to offer up their, shall we say, unique take on everything from being a recovering attorney, to becoming acknowledged as a "real" person in The Netherlands, to the utter weirdness of Dr. Ruth Westheimer sex therapist extraordinaire, being reincarnated as Dr. Ruth Wordheimer and teaching our pre-schoolers words with the soft "u" sound.  Apparently, the latter was rather disturbing to Lani.  If you want to find out why, check out the blog. And to start off the New Year with a bang, the Chicks added three more to their merry band, authors Whitney Gaskell, Beth Kendrick, and Eileen Rendahl. So much gorgeousness and talent in one place ought to be outlawed.
 
Megan Crane
Fantastic chick lit author (ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE) who shares my weakness for Cute Shoes and is as sadly addicted to Anthropologie as I am.  She and I are also compatriots in the neverending quest for Hot Bodies. Transforming our own, that is, not finding HBs of the male persuasion to fondle—although I'm not entirely certain we'd object to that either.
 
And last, but certainly not least:
 
Selah March
My critique partner, best friend, and ultimate partner in crime.  Without fail, she proofs, ferrets out any plot holes and lashes me with a wet noodle when I'm being a weenie.  And somehow, still manages to find the time to write very sexy, funny, smart stories herself. She's Wonder Woman, I tell you.

 
 
Fun Links to Various & Sundry Things

Abriendo Puertas
If all you want to do is read it, well, you can do that here at the site.  However, if you want to leave a comment, or check out my Friends page, that's the place to do it. I also have several other links to writing-related sites there as well.
 
Apple
It's no secret.  I'm a Mac geek, I will always be a Mac geek, so for me not to include a link would be… well, wrong.  And in that vein…
 
iPod & iTunes Music Store
Just to complete the Geek Factor, the direct link to the iTunes music store, or as I like to call it, "iCrack."  This is my single greatest source for inspiration when I'm writing.  I'm what's known as a "soundtracker," creating music mixes for scenes, characters, and manuscripts as a whole.  I wouldn't be able to do it without this program—no lie.  And my iPod lets me take the inspiration along for the ride.  So yeah, the weirdo sitting in the corner with the white ear buds, scribbling madly in a notebook or typing in her TiBook?  Probably me.
 
Anthropologie
The aforementioned addiction for Megan and myself.  Very Cute Clothes and Shoes.
 
Bluefly
Designer duds- discounted cost.  Works for me.
 
Jessica's Biscuit
Cookbooks from all over the world at discounted prices.  (Are you sensing a theme here?)
 
Williams Sonoma
Oh, to have scads of disposable income.
 
Restoration Hardware
Oh, to have scads of disposable income, take two.
 
Levenger
Fun gifts for readers and writers.

 
And because I'm a writer and a reader and books are sort of my thing:

Amazon.com
 
Barnes & Noble