Resources for writers come in many forms. It takes a lot of sorting to find the information you’re looking for on the internet, as it contains more information in one “place” than has ever been collected before. I’m going to break down a few of my favorite sources for you.

For Writers

The website forwriters.com is a collection of all sorts of resources. They link to a broad range of writer groups, associations, conventions and forums that you can join, and even have their own writer forum. They also link to various sites that help with the process of writing. My favorite part of this site is the links to sites that provide real information on things a writer would write about, like space or crime or science. If you want to research medical treatments, they link to that. If you want to research warp drive, they link to that. It’s great for learning more about your subject matter.

Smashing Magazine

Smashing Magazine has an article with 50 Free Resources That Will Improve Your Writing Skills, and there are some gems in it. It includes links on grammar and punctuation, as well as general writing tips. It puts out some blogs on copywriting and editing. It links to a few articles on writing practices and tips from the pros. There are even a few applications that are mentioned to help with a writer’s workflow.

Open Education Database

This article is another great source for all types of links. 150 Resources to Help You Write Better, Faster, and More Persuasively will take you from grammar and style to helpful blogs, to writing tools, to organizations. They’re all listed in helpful categories, so scroll down through the list to find out what interests you.

These are, of course, just a few of the places you can go to find resources. There are thousands of places online to find help, and browsing them all could turn into a full time job. Just remember not to let the research stop you from writing!

So what is it?

A supercomma is the bastard child of the comma and the period. It’s the Long Pause. There are essentially two ways to use it.

The first, is to join two clumps of a sentence that could really stand as separate sentences in their own right. To check if you’re using this correctly, try replacing the supercomma with a period and see if it still looks grammatically correct… Then decide if you really need to use a supercomma, or if you can just leave the period there.

Used in this way, the supercomma helps to link the sentences together, but still provides that deep pause that a period would bring. It’s most commonly used when linking contrasting statements, showing a jump in thought within a sentence: “I really hate winter; my sister seems to love it.”

Be wary, however, of stringing sentences along in a giant conga-line of words. Periods give the reader time to gather their thoughts. Dragging out a sentence can result in the reader being unable to process the entire thing in one go, and makes reading a chore.

The second use of a supercomma is… well… as a super comma. You probably already know that when you list things out in a sentence, you put commas between them. Well, when you have to list things out that contain commas, it only confuses people to use more commas to space them out. That’s where the supercomma comes in.

You can use it for a list of things like cities: “I’ve lived in Backwards, FU; Nowhere, BO; and Cheeseburger, IC.” Or, if you’re being descriptive, for lists needing internal grammar: “I had dinner with my aunt, Maynard; my landlady, the one with the mole on her cheek; and a used car salesman, Stephanie.”

If you keep these examples in mind, and remember that the semicolon is just a supercomma, you should be much better able to decide when to use it in your writing. Good luck, and may the muse be with you.