Are professional writers associations worth the expensive dues?

I don't know for sure but I doubt if they are worth the money. I have subscribed to two free writing sites, one may not be available to you it is greatwriting.co.uk and the other is winning writers.com both are free to join and have useful information and notices of writing competitions.

I've never joined any, but I would be interested to hear what others have to say. I recently did get the deluxe edition of "Writer's Market," which allows you to have access to all the listings of the book on the website, as well as a lot of other interesting material. Normally there is a monthly fee of $3-4, but this is free with the more expensive version of the book, and I definitely think it's been worthwhile.