Resource is an appropriate word to use on this day, electoral college day, and here’s why.

The use of resource goes back to the early 17th century, when the now-obsolete French ressourse (meaning “to rise again, to recover”) was still in use.

(Quick reminder about past participles: nouns formed from verbs by adding “ed.”) Verb: to recover. Noun-slash-past-participle: “The recovered disk file was in bad shape.”

Resource is used as a verb often enough use to merit its entry as such in the Oxford English Dictionary. Example: “We resourced the students with plenty of textbooks.” It’s cringeworthy, in many cases, but not a federal crime. As a verb, to resource in the sense of to recover is something we need to do now that this rugged year is almost over.

The writers among us will want to recover with plenty of diving into our craft. A non-writing writer may recover best with a load of page time, and here are some resources to use as we do.

(Note: this list is updated from a similar post at the end-of-year 2015. Correspondent Tabitha Frankel suggested that I add the SuperSummary Poetry Writing and Analysis Guide, which you can find here. Thank you, Tabitha, for the suggestion–it looks like an excellent resource.)

The Resources

1. Finding an agent: AgentQuery
2. Keeping up on craft and trade: Poets&Writers
3. Meeting kindred spirits: Association of Writers & Writing Programs
4. Applying to writing fellowships: The Write Life
5. Looking into writer’s conferences: Shaw Guides
6. Finding resources in your hometown: American Library Association
7. Finishing your book in a month: NaNoWriMo
8. Writing retreats around the world (be sure to read the comments for additions to the list): The Write Life
9. Tracking deals & daily news: Publisher’s Marketplace
and ~ last but never least ~
10. Browsing your local bookstore: Indiebound

Recover! We shall rise again.