Various web sites that have been useful to me and may be for others.

Basic advice on building a novel: Novelist Liz Engstrom is also a great teacher. Many of her class materials are available on her web site. I find myself going back to her advice on strategic plotting all the time.

Seeking an agent: Few activities are as energy-sapping as the search for someone to represent your writing. And few things are as soul-crushing as getting rejections. But Query Tracker streamlines the searching process and helps you track who you’ve submitted to. Query Tracker won’t keep your energy from being sapped or your soul from being crushed by rejection, but it will help you stay organized and focused.

Perfecting the query letter: Agent Janet Reid has a super blog about query letters, and her Query Shark blog is an open edit of brave writers willing to let Reid edit their queries in the public sphere. It’s a great learning tool and also fun to see what others are writing about.