Welcome to the Writing Resources page

This page is for those folks who teach writing, or who want to be or are writers. I've written a few things over the years and have found the resources on this page to be very helpful.

First a plug for my two eBooks

My eBooks for Sale

I have two eBooks now on sale. My most recent book is for teachers wanting to move into teaching positions overseas. The second book is for expats who are considering a move to the beautiful island of Bali. Below you will find brief descriptions of both books. Follow the links for more information on each book.

Sale, Sale, Sale for June, July and August

Summer Sale for my two eBooks. Get 40% off on each book if you purchase them during these three months. Just click on the links below to find out more about these two books.

The International Teacher: A Guide to Teaching Overseas

My new eBook on teaching overseas is now available for purchase. Please click on the link to learn more about this book if you are an international teacher looking for a new position, or if you are new to the profession and want to sample the lifestyle of the international teacher. For free sample chapters, click here and here.

$10.00 $6.00

The Practicalities of Moving to Bali: A Primer for Life in the Tropics

My eBook on expat life in Bali is now available for purchase. Please click on the link to learn more about this book that you'll want to read if you plan on moving to Bali. Here's what a reader has said about this book:

"Bruce Pohlman's e-book has already been a godsend to my wife Elsha and me. He writes in an inviting and colorful way. He covers the GENERAL: culture shock, the wonders and risks of living overseas, to the SPECIFIC - costs of living, housing, medical issues, visas, employment. He even includes much PERSONAL info: what expats are like, why he left a job in San Francisco and ended up in Bali, personal and family relationships. And much more; anything you might want to know is in his e-book, with links to helpful websites throughout. We've used it to guide us countless times; it's like having a trusted uncle who's an expert. This book should become a classic about Bali."

book cove

$15.00 $9.00

Writer Resources

101+ Web Resources for Students , is a great list of resources for students (and any other) writers. You can find almanacs, biographies, dictionaries and more. A must list for the writer.

40 Places for College Students to Find Free Unabridged Books Online , is a great site to find books that you might need for reference material. I've started downloading books because it is just too expensive for me to buy them now that I'm retired.

Bookslut, is a cool site for readers and writers. You can find reviews and interviews of some of the best of writing. Take a look.

Brainy Quote, has famous quotes by a wide variety of people. The list is alphabetized and very easy to use. If you're looking for a quote from one of your favorite people, this is a good resource.

Cliches and Expressions Origins, has famous quotes by a wide variety of people. The list is alphabetized and very easy to use. If you're looking for a quote from one of your favorite people, this is a good resource.

Confusing Words, is a site that explains the meanings and the origins of some common expressions like, "bring home the bacon." Cool site for those ESL students who want to understand slang, students of language who just find stuff like this fascinating, and writers who are looking for obscure information.

Digital Librarian , is a librarian's choice of the best of the web. Take a look at her picks and see what you think.

Fairy Tales Collection, is a website with a variety of fairy tales and myths and legends available. Great as a resource.

FindQuotes.com - Famous Quotes, has over 40,000 quotes organized by author or topic. Just finding an interesting quote is a great way to come up with a topic to write about should you be suffering writer's block. Here's one that I like: "It is no measure of health to be well adjusted to a profoundly sick society." Tell me who that is from.

The Free Library , has been around since 2003. It's a great research tool as it offers the writer free access to classic literary works, quotations, articles and images.

Hubpages, is an online site for writers who are looking to publish as a hobby, or who are aspiring freelancers. I've just started using the site.

Internet-Resources.com, has a great list of resources for the writer focusing on the technical issues that we face in terms of grammar, etc.

MLA Formatting and Style Guide , will help you with the mechanics of writing.

Online Etymology Dictionary, is a neat little site that gives looks at words and what they mean and how they sound hundreds or thousands of years ago. Very cool stuff if you are a writer or a student of language. Read the about page - very idiosyncratic. I love it.

Quoteland.com , says that it has quotations by very author, on every topic, and in every fashion possible. Great resource for the writer.

Quotiki , is another quotes site where you can work with others to add, rate and tag quotes.

Serendipity , is the home of a random generator. What is that? Well it just generates what you ask. So, for instance, on this one you can get the names of French girls or boys, the name of places, plot lines for fantasy writing. Very weird, but definitely something worth looking into.

Visuwords , is an online graphical dictionary. You put in a word and you can find the meaning, related concepts, and other associations and words. This is really cool. I'm going to use it all the time.

Wikipedia, is the open source encyclopedia that anyone can work on. It's an exciting concept and the information level is quite good. I use it regularly with my classes.

Online Publications

21st Century Adventures Travel 'Ezine, has been online since 1995. Their magazine aims for the folks who like adventure travel or exotic locations. They are looking for content and not length. They take photos along with your article, and both can be submitted by email. If you get published here, you will be paid $15 for your article plus another five if you send along some photographs that they use.

3 AM Magazine, is an offbeat, cutting edge literary magazine that publishes fiction, political pieces, reviews and travel articles. This magazine is definitely not the place for mundane writing. Writers are not paid, but receive "spiritual" rewards. Article length should be under 3,000 words.

EscapeArtist.com, is an online resource for people that want to get away and move to another country. They don't pay, but they do publish, and they get a lot of traffic. After I published my first article with them, I received a load of traffic telling me how much they enjoyed my article and how they too had left America, or how much they want to leave. It's nice to get the feedback and know that someone reads what you write. Articles published here run from quite well written to very elementary "this is my vacation stuff." This is what they have to say about themselves:

What we're looking for are ideas, not Pulitzer Prize writers. Ideas are what fuel our magazine and our website. You don't have to be a professional writer to submit an article that provides important information - - information that you yourself have learned by having been there and done it. That is exactly what our readers are seeking, facts about living overseas from people who've done it, facts about sailing down the Danube, what it takes to migrate to Argentina, how to open a business in Prague, buy an island in Belize, get a job in Paris, start a farm in Mozambique, run an internet business out of the Dominican Republic, bank in Mauritius.

What we are seeking is rich content, style takes second place.

Family Life Abroad, is a web site for families who have become expats. It features articles about expat life usually viewed from a humorous perspective as the title of one article, "American Observations on New Zealand ~beer, boobs & samurai swords" suggests. There are also quite a few articles with hints for new expats on how to adjust to life overseas. Reader submissions are welcomed.

GoNOMAD.com, is another travelzine that calls itself the "alternative way to travel". They publish four different types of feature articles: journeys (500-1000 words), destination guides (1200-1700 words), go local(500-1000 words), and destinations (800-1200 words). They pay $25 for feature articles. This is what they have tosay about their guidelines:

GoNOMAD prides itself on providing excellent, entertaining, informative and unique travel articles and research about destinations, activities and experiences. No glossy magazine fluff, no standard guidebook descriptions, no promotional hype; just honest, accurate, well-written and detailed articles and destination guides that speak to an educated, curious and well-traveled audience. TIP! Read the stories we have up on the site, and format your story the same way. We like short paragraphs, subheads between every few paragraphs, and photos with detailed captions.

Hackwriters.com , publishes a variety of writing including travel writing, fiction, and reviews. As with EscapeArtist, the level of writing varies greatly. I published a short story here in the April issue. This is what they have to say about themselves:

We welcome intelligent and observant travel artifcles from around the world and review pieces (film, literature, and other arts). We have a policy of rejecting defamatory material or work that would offend. There are other places for that material. Hacks exists to aide writers experimenting with their craft and share their experiences with others. We do like people to read the current issue and be aware that other people may also be writing about the topic you have chosen to write about. Submitted material should be written in Word and between 1000-2000 words, spell-checked and where possible be factually correct. (If submitting travel journeys it is useful to state airlines, hotels and useful contacts at the end of the piece.) If writing fiction, do check our section in Dreamscapes to see what we consider suitable material. It is widely varied but we do reject horror or excessive foul language and/or explict sexual content which is adequately catered for elsewhere on the www.

Hackwriters will accept all submissions on any and every topic, within our remit of travel writing, fiction, lifestyles and comment as long as they are analytical or questioning in nature. We will not publish any work that demonstrates discrimination, sexism, racism, or any other -ism you can think of. We are interested in writing of the highest quality, and ask only that it be thought-provoking without being offensive. Please send them either as a Microsoft Word attachment or within the body of your email. (Word Limit guide 1000-2000 preferred) Note when using word please keep in mind we do not like narrow columns and write as if for a US Letter or A4 sized page with natural wordwrapping. If you wish to include a picture or a graphic with the article, please send it to us as a small JPEG attachment scanned at 72dpi.

Inside Indonesia, is a magazine about Indonesia. It covers the cultural, political, and economic issues and developments in the country. It is looking for writers. They accept articles from travelers, students, academics, and others who have an interest in Indonesia. The magazine does not pay.

InsideOut Travel Magazine, is a "bimonthly online publication for independent travelers, from first-time backpackers to those who have made traveling a lifestyle—anyone who values the experience of traveling and learning about other cultures more than importing the luxuries of everyday life to a new location." InsideOut will pay $10-20 per feature article, but note that they often expect signficant rewriting. In terms of what they are looking for in their feature articles:

"Each issue will include two destination articles. These articles may be from 1,000 to 1,500 words and will each have a specific angle.The destination does not make the story. We’re interested in pieces with a unique slant so please don’t just send a list of places you’ve visited. Share an experience that is out of the ordinary, one you could only have away from home, and use that angle to write about the destination."

Just Markets, is a daily markets email for writers. I haven't had time to check it out so I'll fill this in more once I get a chance to visit it.

Literary Traveler , is about travel and literature. They note that they "...hope to bring you inspiring, informative articles about writers, creative artists, and the places that they lived and traveled. " The Literary Traveler is looking for professional writing. They note that "subject matter can be anything artistic or creative. Each one of our articles in some way, is about someone who creates. Some of our articles are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers, or artists. Please read some of our articles to see if your article is right for us." Literary Traveler pays $25 for an accepted submission.

nthposition, is a webzine that publishes a variety of writing genres: poetry, people, places, opinion, politics, fiction, and reviews. It was started in 2002 and was shortlisted for the European Online Journalism Awards. You can subscribe to be notified when new writing appears. They do not pay for articles.

Oriental Tales, is an online travelzine. They are looking for articles on the "Orient." They prefer writing in the first person that transcends the usual guidebook writing. They do not pay for articles.

Plenty, is a green magazine that takes freelance articles. They pay quite well - usually a $1 a word. They are looking for articles on food, travel, lifestyle and more as it relates to protecting the environment.

short stories at east of the web, is a site just for short stories. They publish a wide range of stories including classic stories and new writing in nine categories - fiction, humour, children's, science fiction and fantasy, crime, non-fiction, romance, horror and hyperfiction. This is definitely an interesting site for short story writers.

The Smart Set , is an online magazine that covers just about everything. This includes culture and literature, food and travel, science and politics. They accept submissions for Columns and Features; columns should be under 1,500 words and Features run from 2,500 to 6,000 words. Take a look at their writer's guidelines for more specfic information and read some of the publication, of course, to see what it is that they publish.

Tales from a Small Planet, is another online travel magazine. They publish poetry, sections from novels, book reviews, short stories, trip reports, and more.

Tales of Asia, is an interesting web site focusing on Cambodia. It's run by an American who owns a guesthouse. He publishes travel accounts, opinions, trip reports and other things by readers. There is no pay here, but this web site seems to have a steady flow of traffic, and your writing will receive exposure.

Traveling Stories Magazine, is an online travelzine. They are looking for interesting stories about your travel experiences. They do not pay for articles, but do have a contest running right now (oct. 2007) with a $125 prize.

Travelmag, is an online magazine of people's reports on their travel adventures. This magazine isn't as flashy as some of the other travelzines around, but some of the reports are interesting and useful if you are planning a trip in that region of the world. Preferences for travel pieces are 2,000 words, but will publish shorter or longer quality pieces. Articles should be sent as attached files. Travelmag doesn't pay contributors.>

World Hum: Travel Dispatches from a Shrinking Planet, wants to publish travel articles that get past the usual been there, done that format. They are looking for "first-person stories and essays that reveal the beating heart of a travel experience."

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