Posts from ‘October, 2008’

Tia Nevitt of Tia’s Writing Blog has put together some great information to help writers get the most out of Microsoft Word.  The principles she’s outlined can easily be extended to other word processing tools as well, though you’ll need one that supports outlining features to make full use of her suggestions.
This information’s great for [...]

With the free Zoho Creator, setting up a database is as easy as Click & Drag.  It literally will take you moments to get up and running.
If you’ve already got data in Excel spreadsheets, etc., Zoho Creator’s easy import functionality will let you add it in seconds.
It’s really designed for ease-of-use.  Seriously, anybody can do it.
If you [...]

You might want to take a look at a new tool called Tabbery if any of the following describes you:

you hate having to constantly move desktop windows out of the way to see other ones;
you sometimes wish you could save your current set-up of files, webpages, etc. for easy access;
you ever want to share your current [...]

KallOut lets you search the web from any web page, Microsoft Office (Word, Excel or Powerpoint) document or Adobe PDF.  It’s easy to use and extremely helpful. It’s free, too!
Basically, when you highlight a word or set of words, KallOut adds a little icon above the highlighting.  You click on that and it gives you [...]

Authors sometimes find it really tempting to use song lyrics in a novel or story. The words of the song are just so powerful and so right that… well, they need to be there.
If you’re considering using song lyrics in your work of fiction, you may want to come up with a back-up plan. Here [...]

For the last few months, I’ve participated in the beta testing of a site called TWINE.  As of today, it’s open to the public.  If you get a chance, check it out.
TWINE’s a great way to pull together research material from various sources.  It’s both a social networking and a web content bookmarking capability.  Even better, [...]

In addition to doing full edits on my works now and then, I periodically make a pass through all my works, focusing primarily on the first three chapters.  I try to read them as if I’ve never seen them before.
They get a little better each time I revisit them because I know more about writing [...]

Why join a critique group?
Joining a critique group can be a great thing for a writer.  A good critique group can:

help you develop your skills as a writer;
help you fine-tune works in progress;
provide a support network of other writers; and
expand your network of contacts within the publishing industry.

Joining the wrong critique group, though, can waste your time and possibly [...]

What’s in a name?
As a writer, your name is among your most precious resources. 
Once you’ve made the decision to become a writer, it’s important to claim your name early and to begin building a reputation with that name.
Remember always that what happens on the web stays on the web–potentially forever.  It also might spill over [...]

Over the last few years, I’ve compiled a huge collection of information on both the craft and business of writing. 
I collected some of this to make my own life easier.  I wanted quick access to important information.  I wanted to avoid having to rediscover things I’d already learned.
I compiled additional parts of this catalogue of information [...]