Writerly Wednesday

Hey guys, I know most of you are aware I've been checking into this whole publishing fiasco lately, and... (notice I'm using abusing all sorts of nifty text formatting? This is how you know I am BLOGGING AFTER MIDNIGHT. Just a helpful hint for the future. Anyway.)

And... I have noticed in the comments that one or two of you have expressed interest in following along or learning more as I totally schlep my way through this nightmare prance merrily toward the day of my first book signing party. (I notice things, yo.)

So today I'm going to share a few happy little slices from around the weboblogosphere (I just made that up. Not. Even. Kidding.)

Because guys... we are not the only one or two or three people out there that like to write.

No. Really! So, here you have it. Today's Top 5 (Uh, I know it's normally Top 10, but it's like nearly 2am. Lateness makes the Heart Grow Foggy! You get 5.)

1. The Insecure Writer's Support Group What? A support group for people that are insecure about their work? Sign me up. Every first Wednesday, you post about your writerly life and link back to their page. Pretty nifty! There are all sorts of people in this group, including published authors and editors. You should be the next to join! Besides, it'll give you a reason to keep blogging after #slice2012.
2. In High Spirits Okay, so this chick does something really cool. The first three posts each month are dedicated to something she calls First Impressions. There's an email link on the sidebar where you can submit the first page of your manuscript and she and Marcy Hatch will critique it for you AND post it on her blog for other writers to comment! Dude. That's a seriously awesome opportunity. Check it out.
3. Ruth Ayres Writes I almost didn't include this because I hope you're already following Ruth. You can look at peeks of her writer's notebook (and even if you're not an aspiring published author, what a great resource for your classroom!), follow along on her own writing journey, and just sink into the fabulousness that is Ruth Ayres. I mean, c'mon, you probably wouldn't even be doing #slice2012 if you hadn't already known about her, right?
4. Rachelle Gardner Rachelle is an agent over at Books & Such Literary Agency, and she posts frequently about the wide world of publishing. Tons of helpful tidbits for the author-to-be.
5. The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment (mad props to ME for getting that all typed out correctly!) This dude (Matthew MacNish) is going to hook you up with some fab query knowledge, plus a little literary miscellany to boot. He posts queries that are sent in, readers follow the blogger whose query is posted, and the advice begins! There's a lot more than query questioning going on over there, and it's definitely worth your time.

Well, there it is folks, five of the most interesting writerly things I've perused this week. Okay, I cheated with Ruth's blog, but it had to be mentioned. It basically tore my heart out not to tell you to check out Neil Gaiman's website, but I held true to my five site rule. You are very welcome.

Obviously, there are more sites than this blogging gal can currently juggle, but those are the ones on my mind tonight.

Now I'm wondering... what writerly website do you often visit, and why?