What to Buy for a Writer

If someone you love is a serious writer, it can be hard to think of gift ideas that relate to his profession. Ask yourself what you can do make it easier for him to get his work done and to get it published.

A good place to start is the Writer's Market, a huge book of resources for all kinds of writers. If your loved one is a writer, he can find a huge listing of places to send his work when it's finished. The editors do a great job communicating with the magazines, finding out exactly how they prefer to receive the writer's work. This is one of the best gifts you can give a writer, because it can focus his efforts and show him that there are people out there who may actually buy his work.

Aside from Writer's Market, many other books focus on how to build a successful career as a freelance writer. Some of these books include Writer's Digest Handbook of Making Money Freelance Writing, The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing, and Secrets of a Freelance Writer: How to Make $85,000 a Year. While that last book has an ambitious title, your loved one will be thrilled if he makes a fraction of that amount after you get him the book.

Another great gift is a laptop computer. Your writer may have an old laptop or desktop computer that could be several years old. He may be writing on the family computer that is needed for other purposes. If you can get him a laptop that is just for his writing, it will be a huge boost to his productivity. He will never again have to wait to get to work.

That's what my wife did for me, and now we can both work at the same time. I can write in front of the TV or during our daughter's ballet class. She got me a Dell Inspiron B130 for about $230. It's not the fastest computer in the world; but that's okay because I only need it for writing. If you want a really swanky laptop, I would recommend a Sony VAIO, which costs between $1,800 and $2,500. It's super-fast and handles all of your home, work and gaming needs with ease.

Another gift that goes hand in hand with a laptop is a wireless Internet router. My wife was thoughtful enough to get this for me, too. Now when I'm not plugged into the wall, I still have the Internet up to help me research my stories. I'm not sure how I got along without it.

You may not know this, but there are a ton of websites devoted to freelance writing. They include tips on how to improve your work and how to get it published. Some of these websites include FreelanceWriting.com, About.com's Freelance Writing section (freelancewrite.about.com) and Allinfoabout.com's Freelance Writing section (freelancewriting.allinfoabout.com).

Another way you can improve your writer's working life is by getting him cable or satellite TV. This will help him become more of an expert in his field, whether he's into golf, NASCAR, cooking, gardening or science.

Actually, anything you can do to improve your writer's knowledge base would be helpful. If the writer is into gardening, you can get him a membership to a garden club or tickets to special gardening events in town.

Also, you can encourage him to attend workshops and seminars for writers. A voucher to attend one of these events will help improve his writing, as well as expanding his contacts in the publishing world. You can find discussion forums for writers in your area on craigslist.com.