20 Powerful Resources To Improve Your Writing

It seems everyone has a blog. This can be good or bad, depending on how you look at it. I choose to view blogging as an unlimited opportunity to grow and improve as a writer. Like almost everything else in life, improving your writing requires doing it a lot. The best thing you can do to improve as a writer is to write. Force yourself to sit down each day and put words on the page. Few outlets serve to create a space and opportunity to acquire necessary repetitions to accomplish the goal, like having a blog. 

From time to time, people mention that they enjoy writing and are thinking about starting a blog. That's always exciting. I love to see people jumping into the blogging space and starting to write more! The world needs more voices not fewer. 

There are few things more terrifying than sitting, and starring a white blank page, however. The cursor just blinks at you, as if taunting you. You can hear it laughing in the back of your mind, it's daring you to write something. Fear wells up inside, you start sweating and your mind goes blank. Everyone's been there. 

I know that feeling all too well, and want to help you conquer it. The goal isn't just to turn out pithy sentences and paragraphs, but to impact other people with the words you pen. I've compiled several resources to make your task easier, and more enjoyable. It is my hope that what follows helps you become the very best writer you can. 

Blogs to Help You Create Awesome Content:

1. Michael Hyatt

2. ProBlogger

3. Jerry Jenkins

4. Steven Pressfield

5. Jon Acuff

Despite all advances in technology, ours remains a world of the written word. Here are a few books that'll aide you in honing your skills and becoming the very best writer you can.

Books for Honing Your Skills:

1. On Writing Well by William Zinsser

2. Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. & E.B White

3. On Writing by Stephen King

4. The War of Art by Steven Pressfield 

Good Writing Worth Reading:

1. Walden by Henry David Thoreau

2. Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

3. The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway

4. Charlotte's Web by E.B. White

5. Secrets In The Dark by Frederick Buechner 

Writers may read and readers write, but what if your schedule doesn't allow tons of time for reading? Thanks to the proliferation of the iPhone and a million apps you've still got a shot to fill your mind with what it needs to produce great work. Here are audio options to get your brain jump started and churning out content like a pro.

Audio for While You're On The Go:

1. Home Row: A Podcast with Writers on Writing

2. ProBlogger Podcast: Blog Tips to Help You Make Money Blogging

3. Grammar Girl Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

4. A Way With Words

5. Audible - (great way to consume audio books)

Now that you're in the mood to make a move and kick start your blogging life, here is an extremely helpful blogging challenge to get you started. In this seven day challenge you'll find ideas for not just what to write about but the immensity of directions and approaches to the job.

7 Days to Getting Back Your Blogging Groove