If you ask me, one of the best parts about living in these modern times is the wealth of knowledge at our fingertips. From spreadsheets to worksheets to this very blog, writers of every stripe have been generous enough to provide quality writing resources for others to use to better their works in progress. You’ve probably got a few URLs memorized that take you to your favorites, and others you know exactly what keywords to type into Google to make them pop up first in the search results.
But do you have a home for all those resources you’ve hunted and gathered over the years? If you were to stumble upon something you didn’t want to lose, do you know where you’d store it and how to retrieve it?
Why You Should Have a Place to Keep Your Writing Resources
If you don’t naturally possess a desire to organize those links and files, it might feel like a waste of precious writing time to sit there and catalog everything you’ve ever found useful while writing. However, like so many things in life, the minutes you invest up front will ultimately save you hours. Consider that organizing your writing resources can:
- Provide you with a single link you can access on any device that acts as a digital memory bank
- Ensure you don’t lose resources in the chaos of your Google Drive, inbox, or downloads folder
- Make it easy to send a collaborator or a new writer your go-to resources
- Encourage you to reference those resources more often because you’ve removed the hassle of having to look things up
If any or all of the above sound good to you, I’ve compiled a brief list of potential resource repositories below. All of these were chosen based on the extreme flexibility offered, and I’ve provided brief descriptions of the writer who’d mesh well with each platform, so pick your favorite and get ready to make your life easier!
Where to Keep Your Writing Resources
Option One: Pinterest
For the Writer Who’s All About the Visuals
I’ll kick things off with the one just about everyone’s heard of! You may have created your free account back in the 2010s, but if you haven’t been on it lately, they’ve added functionalities that really improve the usability, like getting to add sections to your boards for grouping similar pins together.
If you already have a writing board or two on Pinterest, this might be the easiest place for you to get serious about corralling resources. Alternatively, you could start a fresh account solely dedicated to your writing life. Either way, don’t forget to follow us!
Option Two: Listography
For the Writer Who Has Hundreds of Tabs Open
This is a much lesser-known site, but anyone who’s ever created a wall of sticky notes will feel right at home! When you make a free Listography account, you can create—surprise, surprise—lists! They can include text, links, and images. If you’ve collected PDFs and slide decks from writing workshops, you can upload them to your favorite cloud storage service, grab the link, and add that to your lists.
Listography also allows for customized colors to make your list collection more your own, and like Pinterest, you can also make your lists public or private. If you’re having a hard time visualizing, check out my Listography!
Option Three: Notion
For the Writer Who Isn’t Afraid of a Learning Curve
This just might be the most powerful, flexible tool in this list. It’s hard to describe Notion exactly because it can do so much, and its calm blank canvas can handle anything you throw at it. I highly, highly recommend reading Notion’s self-description and taking a scroll through some of the thousands of templates you can build your writing resource repository on top of.
If Notion piques your interest, you might also be interested in Obsidian or OneNote. There are pluses and minuses to each platform, so make sure to do your own research before you jump in with both feet.
Option Four: Google Sites
For the Writer Who Wants the Most User Friendly Solution
You’ve seen us recommend using Google Sites for creating a bio link page, your author website, and more, but it’s also perfect for creating your own writing resource wiki! Google Sites is free, drag-and-drop, and dead simple to use. If you’re already a heavy Google user, using Google Sites is a no-brainer, especially since it allows you to embed Docs, Sheets, YouTube videos, and more with just a couple clicks.
Below, I’m including our bio link page tutorial, which gives you just enough hints at what else Google Sites can do.
