These sites offer a smorgasbord (love that word) of writing tips, advice and inspiration. So grab your dinner plate and dig in!

Handbook of Rhetorical Devices

Creative Writing Prompts

Writing Time

40+ Tips to Improve Your Grammar and Punctuation

In a dark and gloomy pit, deep in the bowels of the earth, a large and strongly muscled man rolls a heavy boulder up a steep hill. The task takes him the entire day. But when he gets to the top, ooophhhh, the stone escapes his grasp and rolls right back down to the bottom. So the next day he must begin all over again.

If you received a classical education, or if you simply enjoy mythology, you will recognize this story as the myth of Sisyphus from the Greeks. Poor Sisyphus never catches a break. The same damn stone rolls down the same hill every night and he must push it right back up again the next day. For eternity. So, my question to writers: Why are you behaving like Sisyphus?

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Absolute Write bills itself as the "one-stop web home for professional and beginning writers. From newsletters to forums to columns to courses, it's got what word jockeys need! Check it out here.

As every high school senior -- and parent of said senior -- knows all too well, now is crunch time for college applications. In her latest column, teacher Shannon Reed wrote an excellent guide to choosing the right college. Now we want to zero in on the big, hairy challenge to getting into that school: The personal essay. What should you write about? What should you not write about? To get the inside scoop, we called Richard Ries, AP English teacher and College Counseling Office essay advisor at Ben Lipson Hillel Community High School in North Miami Beach, FL. Here's our conversation:  Continue reading...

Every marketing writer knows the importance of focusing on the benefits. Your product or service may have a whole smorgasbord of amazing features -- but, unless you explain how those features benefit the prospect, your marketing piece is doomed.  Continue reading...

Why toil away at your masterpiece alone? Reach out to other writers for help, advice and inspiration on these online forums:

The Water Cooler

The Writer Magazine

Poem Zone

Able2Know