This is a virtual library provided for public use by the New York State Library and is accessable for all residents of New York City. To use the system, you would have to enter a library card number from one of the library systems located in New York City or be a subscriber of institutions or schools that participate in the program. It has a wide collection of library research material and books made available to users virtually.

African American Women Writers of the 19th Century:

This website focuses on African American women who made literary and cultural contribution to the African American society during the 19^th century. Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture has a collection of about 52 different books or literary works that were published in a period where freed African Americans were being introduced into mainstream American literary world. Works include Phillis Wheatly (1773), Ann Plato (1841), Harriet Wilson (1859) and many others.

Literary Encyclopedia: Literature in English Around the World:

The Literary Encyclopedia is a vast database that is only available to subscribers unless your school or library is already a subscriber, then you need to get a access code. It has global literary reference work from over 2000 universities, countless amounts of authoritative authors and over ridiculous amount of books and resources written in English, French, German, Russian, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Greek and every other country, genre or time period you can image. So yes, it is a great resource but you will have to pay $19.99 to use for a whole year.

Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism:

The Internet Public Library or IPL contains vast amounts of criticisms about the lives and works of various authors from multiple nationalities, titles and time periods. Now only does it show you western authors and literature, but it also offers criticisms on Eastern Literature such as Indian authors and books, African and Middle Eastern literary works.

Literary History:

Academic, scholarly, and critical articles on British poets, novelists, playwrights, essayists, and biographers of the twentieth century, nineteenth century, and eighteenth century; and on American poets, novelists, playwrights, and essayists of the twentieth century and nineteenth century. All articles are open access and free.

Literary Resources on the Net:

Maintained by a so-called Jack Lynch of Rutgers, this website offers a wide array of articles and journals as well as biblical, theory and British literature. The site is free for all to access and neatly breaks down all of its resources into categories you can easily navigate through.

Celebration of Women Writers:

This website offers only literary works written by women throughout history and includes all races, time periods and nationalities. The site includes books, poems, letters, religious commentaries, economic and scientific works for the only reason of celebrating women's success in the world of literature.

Glossary of Literary Criticism:

The site offers various terms from A-Z and how various authors defined, used or incorporated those terms into their literary work. The site also keeps a good bibliography of various quotes and sources so if you write the author into your research paper, you can cite the source easily.

Christian Classics:

Known as Christian Classics Ethereal Library or CCEL, the site keeps various literary works by Christian authors and or topics dealing with Christianity. The writings include Protestant denominations, Catholic and Orthodox churches and various other faith based community works or theological discourse about Christianity.

Glossary of Poetic Terms:

The site has thousands upon thousands of terminology and terms used in poems and many literary key words. The site is a nice guide on literary vocabulary and offers links to Poets, poems and their criticisms.

The Literature Network: Virginia Woolf:

Virginia Woolf is an English author from 1882 to 1941 and died by drowning herself in a local river. But during her lifetime, she wrote numerous works that still draw countless fans to celebrate her birthdays, life and works. The site offers over 2800 books, articles and journals written by Woolf or her fans.

Charlotte Perkins Gilman:

The site offers numerous works by Perkins before she died and commentary by scholars and students on her works. This is a good resource for anyone writing any articles on the Yellow Wallpaper or other curious works she had written.

Contemporary Literary Criticism/Contemporary Authors:

You can access Gale Databases through this link and it is a powerful resource used by libraries to go through periodicals, reference materials and primary sources. Most libraries, schools, universities and institutions have access to this database and you can get the login information from with no cost or extra fees.

LITFINDER:

Another resource like the gale database, it has vast resources and databases for literary works and their criticisms. The site also includes a citation generator for various formats like MLA. You would need to contact your institution

It is very hard to stay focus when there are so many distractions such as the ads flashing, your eyes caught a title that sounds interesting, you receive an email alert, your friend is aiming you through the yahoo pager, and you just simple get off track.

I tend to be all over places when I am on the computer. I have to constantly remind myself to stay focus on my priorities. Thus for reading, I like to borrow books from the library to keep me from jumping from pages to pages.

These books are my favorites in memoir writing that I have read.

Memoir Writing Tips by Sol Stein

This book is a complete guide from start to end. The author gives step by step instruction and suggestion on building a memoir book from creating scenes, to build suspense, to use dialogue. It is a must read book if you are planning to write a memoir.

How to Write a Memoir with Characters by Kathleen Finneran

This book is not only good for memoir writing; it is also good for other genres. The author is teaching you in developing the characters for your memoir. The most useful part of this book is working with the three column-lists. This book helps you creating a deep relationship with your characters.

Memoir Tips-Just the Facts by Sandra Scofield

This book focused on facts which the author called "seed crystal". She helps you to identify an incident, an aspect, the emotional impact, or an ambience place that you want to recall in memoir writing. Just as the title said, you are using facts to center your writing.

You Can Write a Memoir by Susan Carol Hauser

In this book, you will practice writing in stages: childhood, adolescence, and adult life, as well revising, editing, interviews and research. The author also gives great advices on how to deal with facing a blank piece of paper.

Writing about Your Life by William Zinsser

This book covers a broad spectrum of your life, from school, to places and people that you have crossed. The author discusses the uses of memory, recovering the past, and writing as a ministry.

Having a book on hand to read when you are waiting at the doctor's office or soccer practice is great. You will feel as though you are accomplishing two tasks at once. I am constantly checking out books from the library to read for such occasion. Have fun reading and happy writing!

First, let's get some general guidelines out of the way. I'm assuming you have a workspace, a word-processor, or, much better, a computer with manuscript tracking software. If not, go to your local library. You can get everything you need there, and it's mostly free. Set aside a realistic amount of time. Read, and write, and research, and write. A realistic 5 hours per week is better than 30 or 40 hours that you can't manage.

Choose your Science Fiction Flavor

In the second-century BC, Lucian of Samasota described voyages to the sun and the moon, and in the early 1960s, science fiction was still talking seriously about little green men from Mars. Now, we're all living in a Science Fiction age, and the boundaries of the genre have exploded outwards. You will probably settle into one or two of the sub-genres of Science Fiction writing. If you are not sure what direction to take, read as many different types of SF as possible.

• Alternate history. - Read some of the works of Harry Turtledove
• Blend - SF/Fantasy, SF/Romance, SF/Mystery, SF/Western (as in the Brisco County TV series)
• Cyberpunk - think Matrix, or William Gibson
• End-of-the-World
• Hard SF
• Humorous SF
• Space Opera
• Near Future
• Alternate Universe
• Sociological - read Ayn Rand for a conservative point of view
• Something sublime. Try Ray Bradbury
• Weird stuff. Read J. G. Ballard.

Read as much as possible, then settle into what you do best. Good Space-Opera is better than preachy apocalyptic stories, or implausible "hard" science-fiction. And currently, if you can write hypertext fiction, you have a whole new world of writing at your feet. The point is, do what you're comfortable with. (However, take heed when an editor offers you a suggestion. He is the person who will publish your masterpiece.)

Conjuring up different worlds - some pointers

Here are a few ideas to play with. They should help you to come up with at least an outline for a story, or a novel.

• A science fiction story has to be about people, even if the "person" is an alien, a robot, a computer program, or a sentient cloud of roving, intergalactic gas. Take a look at any episode of any of the "Star Trek" series and you'll see what I mean.
• Try to visualize (depending on your age), what you would have imagined the year 2004 to be 10, 20, 50 years ago. Would you have imagined a world without the USSR, robots on Mars, faster than light travel, cloning, nanobiology, a world of computers. They all exist today. - Faster than light travel?? Take a look at some of the latest research into quantum mechanics.
• Now try to remember how you thought then, and how you think now
• Do you have any idea what your grandfather thought, how he saw the world? Your world is as different from his as yours will be to the cyberpunk kids of 2025. Of course, the same applies to women, only more so.

Here are a few more things to consider: -

• Don't try to force a message or a plot, unless your editor suggests it, and even then, think carefully about it
• Do listen to the advice of your editors
• Don't worry about criticism
• Do consider it. Constructive criticism is important
• Draw on the world around you
• Keep your mind in a "what if" mode
• Watch people, and tuck away weird facts
• Write, write, read, and write

Practicalities

Everyone writes differently, but you can still learn from other writers. A classic "how to" book is Orson Scott Card's "How to write Science Fiction and Fantasy" It's comprehensive, examining "speculative fiction" from several perspectives. It talks about creating worlds with logic and internal consistency. It looks at story and character construction, viewpoint, and language. Finally, it focuses on markets, agents, classes, and finances.

Markets, Agents, Classes, and Finances.

Connecting these is the very important subject of research. Please, if you have a computer, or have access to one - use it.

Research the markets for likely online and hard copy publishers. Go to a search engine such as Google, type in "Writers Guidelines", and you will get 112,000 entries (as of today). Search within results for "Science Fiction" and you will get 4,650 results. How on earth can you handle this avalanche of information? Think about your own areas of expertise. Say you're a history buff, hardly a subject for science fiction, you might think. Search for "history" within the 4,650 results, and you'll get close to 1000. It's tough to have a world of information at your fingertips. Let's say you find the perfect market(s). Now you can look up the American Civil War, Quantum Mechanics, and all the different ways a gunshot wound of knife bleed.. You can also join an email discussion group or a newsgroup.

Agents are listed in the Writers and Artists Yearbook, and Google will dig them up for you by the hundreds. Then you can narrow your search. There are also specialty search engines that on the areas you require. Where do you find these? Do a search on "Specialty Search Engines." You'll get about 11,600 hits.

If you want to take writing classes, look them up on the Internet, and compare prices. Or, go to your trusty newsgroups or discussion lists. Another option is to visit writing websites, many of which have writers' forums. One of the best I've found is a website designed by Francis Coppola, which has forums for all kinds of writing, including SF.

As you can see, research will also be very helpful in controlling your finances. With a vast amount of information on the web, you can choose between deluxe and free classes, research forums, manuscript and writing software, and anything else your science-fiction heart desires. Free content is often as good, or better than, an expensive product.

Over the Top

As in trenches. It's a big effort to launch yourself into the unknown, face the minefields of rejection and writers block. You must keep running, despite all obstacles. Eventually, you will make your first sale, and all the effort will be justified. Then you will make your next sale, and your fiftieth, and with each sale, all the effort will be justified again.