Research & Writing
Research
When it’s time to dive into research, where do you start? Here are some of my favorite resources for conducting research. I hope you find them valuable for your own research projects as well!
- Smithsonian Learning Lab (and here’s a writer’s blog article describing this resource)
- Library of Congress
- National Archives
- Washington State Digital Archives
Biographies
- The Biography Clearinghouse – interesting site for educators dissecting specific biographies for use with students
Sites for archival footage and pictures:
- Library of Congress Newspaper Navigator (more than a million free historical newspaper images for download)
- Critical Past
- British Pathe
- Foto Search
- Flikr Creative – Includes Getty Images, U.S. Government Works and images from Flikr users made available with no or some restrictions
Writing
Are you a writer, too? Do you want to learn more about what it takes to get published or how to send a query to a literary agent? Or maybe you want to dig deeper into the process of developing a story. If any of these apply to you, here are some resources you might enjoy!
Web Resources About Writing and Story Development:
- Need some story inspiration? How about a list of 500 things that kids like?
- Need more story inspiration? How about a list of things kids don’t like?
- 7 Tips for Writing About Places You’ve Never Been
- Using a Revision Grid to Break Down a Story
- List of 350 Character Traits
- Web tool to generate random character motives for story inspiration
- Random Word Generator site to spark ideas (has multiple cool types of generators)
- NY Times Picture Prompts for writing and literacy
- Using the SCAMPER technique to improve writing
- Worksheets for Writers (multiple tools collected by author Jamie Gold)
Web Articles About Being a Writer and Publishing:
- 3 Things You Need to Become an Author
- Author Rick Riordan blog challenging the perception authors need connections
- Picture book author/illustrator Arree Chung shares his failure resume
- Pub Rants blog by Nelson Literary Agency
- Some writers swear by time blocking as a method to stay productive. What do you think?
- Children’s authors reading bad reviews of their books
Resources in Western Washington:
- Bellingham Writers Group
- Epic Group Writers, Edmonds
- Hugo House
- Pacific Northwest Writers Association
- Red Wheelbarrow Writers, Bellingham
- Shack Art Center (includes writing classes in its roster)
- Skagit Valley Writers League
- Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, Western Washington Chapter
Handouts
Here are a few resources I’ve created for you!
Join my (occasional) newsletter to get alerts about new blog and Substack posts along with updates about my books and techniques/resources to help with your own writing and creative inspiration. I'll also send you my Finding Time guide (with fillable worksheet) to help with incorporating writing or other creative adventures into your life!
