March 31st, 2008 in Communication, Featured

The Ultimate Writing Productivity Resource

Last week, I launched a new site I’d been working on for several months, dedicated to technology and the writing life. Since I’ve been eating, drinking, breathing, and sleeping "writing" all week, it seemed natural to pull together some of the tools, sites, and Lifehack.org tips I know of that can help make writers more productive, organized, and creative.

Note: Maybe you don’t consider yourself a writer. Chances are, though, that you have to write — papers for school, memos for work, presentations for potential funders, grants for your organization, posts for your blog, and so on. I’m pretty sure you’ll find a lot of useful information below, whether or not you officially call yourself a "writer".

10 9 Free Apps Every Writer Should Consider

q10: A cool, minimalist full-screen text editor that includes a spellchecker and a couple other nice features. (Win Only; Alternatives: DarkRoom, also Win-only; WriteRoom, Mac-only but not free; Writer, online app)
Freemind: Java-based mindmapping software. Great for brainstorming and taking notes. (Runs anywhere Java runs)
EverNote: Capture formatted notes from any application to a single place. The new version (in private beta now) offers online access, too. (A paid version offers niceties like handwriting recognition.)
Zotero: Firefox extension that allows you to capture bibliographic information from web pages, organize citiations and documents, and create bibliographies in Word and OpenOffice. Essential for anyone who does research on the web.
yWriter4: Novel-writing software created by a working writer with writers in mind. Keeps character descriptions, notes, and other essential information at your fingertips as you write. (Win and Linux)
Sonar: Submission tracking software from the same guy who wrote yWriter4. Keep track of markets and submissions easily. (Win and Linux)
Foxit Reader: A super-fast PDF reader. Opens almost every document much more quickly than Adobe Reader. (Win only)
PDF Creator: Open source program to create PDF files from any application that can print. Installs a "virtual printer" under your programs "Print" menu; select it to save as PDF. (Win only)
Enso Words: Provides system-wide spellchecking and word count; simply select text and enter a keystroke combination ("Caps Lock" + s for spellcheck, "Caps Lock" + w for word count, etc.). (Win only)

Update: Sorry, I don’t know what happened to my 10th! I had 10 when I outlined the post, then added a few and dropped a few while I wrote, and… Very mysterious. I could cheat and add Scholar’s Aid 4 Lite, a freeware bibliographic reference manager, but you’d see right through that, wouldn’t you?

10 Online Apps and Services Every Writer Should Check Out

Buzzword: Luscious Flash-based word processor from Adobe. Includes running word count, sharing and collaboration features, and revision history. (Alternatives: Google Docs, Zoho Writer, and ThinkFree)
Luminary Writer’s Database: AN online submission tracker with some social networking features, like sharing markets with other writers (and searching other writer’s shared markets).
WriteWith: An online collaboration environment. Upload documents and assign tasks to different authors.
Wrike: Project management app with an email interface (useful for adding documents and assigning tasks). Useful for information management, too. (Alternative: Basecamp)
Mozy: Automatic online backup of selected folders. Free version allows up to 2GB of storage.
Toodledo: Task management system that integrates well with various services, including Jott, Twitter, and Google Calendar. (Alternatives: RememberTheMilk, TadaList, more)
Google Notebook: Online storage for notes and web snippets, with instant capture via a Firefox extension. Organize into "notebooks" and "sections".
iGoogle: Personal homepage with hundreds of add-on widgets. Create a writing dashboard with notes, calendar, project management info, your todo list, and access to files on Box.net or documents on Google Docs (or most other online word processors). (Alternative: Pageflakes)
Box.net: 5GB free online storage. Offers file sharing and integration with online apps like Zoho Writer.
Jott: Transcribes voice messages to text. Call from your mobile phone to leave reminders, or to send items to over 2 dozen web services including todo lists, blogging platforms, and online calendars.

10 Sites Every Writer Should Bookmark (Besides Lifehack)

Becoming a Writer Seriously: Tom Colvin is a working writer who gives tips and advice on writing, including great in-depth reviews of software and otehr tools for writers.
Freelance Switch: Essential reading for freelancers of any sort, including writers.
How Not to Write: News, tips, and amusements for writers when they’re not writing.
Men with Pens: A great site written by freelance writers. Funny, irreverent, opinionated — and great advice.
PODdyMouth: Everything you could ever want to know about print-on-demand publishing. Writers beware — there are a lot of scams out there, and PODdyMouth works hard to uncover them.
The Renegade Writer Blog: Great advice aimed at freelance writers, from the authors of The Renegade Writer.
Time to Write: Multi-faceted author Jurgen Wolff offers tips and advice on writing, promotion, and creativity.
Write Now is Good: Author and editor Kristin Gorski writes about writing, creativity, inspiration. Write Now is Good is good.
Write to Done: Leo Babauta, ex-Lifehackista and master of Zen Habits, shares the secrets of his success.
Writing Power: Real down-in-the-trenches advice on things like narration, revision, and word usage from English professor Loren Blinde.

30 Lifehack Posts Every Writer Should Read

5 Online Communities Every Writer Should Join

Writing.com: Focused around a forum where writers offer each other support, advice, and critiques, Writing.com also offers an online portfolio, writing.com email, online submission tracking, and otehr services. Some features are paid, but you can also earn points by doing various tasks on the site.
MediaBistro: Membership group for freelance writers with forums, articles, courses, and job postings. Paid members (AvantGuild, $49/yr) also get discounts on research resources like Lexis-Nexis, access to market information, and can even sign up for health insurance, dental insurance, and other niceties often unavailable to freelancers.
Meetup Writing Groups: An online space for arranging off-line events, Meetup has dozens of writing groups in almost every major metropolitan area, and often a couple or more even in smaller towns. Enter your location to narrow the search down to local groups.
My Writers Circle: A forum just for writers, with critique groups, job postings, advice, and general writerly chit-chat.
The Writer’s Cafe: An online community with forums, reviews, and contests.

Anything to add? Let me know in the comments!

WRITER'S BIOGRAPHY

Dustin Wax

Dustin M. Wax is the project manager at Stepcase Lifehack. He is also the creator of The Writer's Technology Companion, a site devoted to the tools of the writing trade. When he's not writing, he teaches anthropology and gender studies in Las Vegas, NV. He is the author of Don't Be Stupid: A Guide to Learning, Studying, and Succeeding at College.

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How Not To Write says on March 31st, 2008 at 11:42 am

Thanks for the link!
Dustin Wax says on March 31st, 2008 at 11:57 am

HNTW: Thank *you* for doing what you do!
Kevin says on March 31st, 2008 at 11:58 am

How “10 Sites Every Writer Should Bookmark” could not include: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/

One of the best writer sites out there.

Kevin
Loren - Writing Power says on March 31st, 2008 at 12:01 pm

Thanks so much for including Writing Power in this wonderful writer’s productivity resource, Dustin. Not only did you make my day with the link, but you also gave me some great tools to try.

Cheers!
Loren
Tashjian - Webshop says on March 31st, 2008 at 12:40 pm

This is exactly what I needed on first thing on Monday morning to get the creative juices flowing. Thank you very much.
Tashjian - Webshop says on March 31st, 2008 at 12:40 pm

This is exactly what I needed first thing on Monday morning to get the creative juices flowing. Thank you very much.
Rogue Echo says on March 31st, 2008 at 1:43 pm

Great selection of links, I’ve posted you up on my blog. And I shall now commence to go to every one of those links and procrastinate all the live-long day.
Craig says on March 31st, 2008 at 1:58 pm

In your first sentence, “stie” should probably be “site.” Thought you should know.
Dustin Wax says on March 31st, 2008 at 2:18 pm

Craig: You’
re right, thanks. I fixed it. The funny thing is, whenever I write about writing I inevitably miss a typo — in fact, I had considered putting one in just for kicks! Turns out, I needn’t have worried…
Dustin Wax says on March 31st, 2008 at 2:19 pm

Craig: You’re right, thanks. I fixed it. The funny thing is, whenever I write about writing I inevitably miss a typo — in fact, I had considered putting one in just for kicks! Turns out, I needn’t have worried…
Jorge Rosa says on March 31st, 2008 at 3:57 pm

If Freemind is in the apps list, I would also add mind42.com, which is the best online mindmap application, or mindmeister.com, which is a close second. Mind42 is completely free (you can even import/export to the Freemind format), but not always easy to navigate if you have a big mindmap; MindMeister is more stable, but doesn’t let you export mindmaps with a free account.
and many many thanks for WriteWith. Between GoogleDocs and Writeboard, but with a twist!
thehealthblogger says on March 31st, 2008 at 6:04 pm

Thank you, especially for the section “30 Lifehack Posts Every Writer Should Read” - very beneficial.
George K says on March 31st, 2008 at 7:06 pm

The Mac-only distraction free minimalist text editor is WriteRoom, not DarkRoom (hog bay software fyi).
Kemosabe Hooligan says on March 31st, 2008 at 8:44 pm

I can’t think of anything to write about except spaghetti. I mashed my hand in a plate of spaghetti and mashed up the noodles and marinara.
Joan says on March 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pm

PLEASE correct “writer’s” here to “writers”. There are laws against the abuse of the apostrophe, and I am crushed that it could happen here.

PODdyMouth: Everything you could ever want to know about print-on-demand publishing. Writer’s beware — there are a lot of scams out there, and PODdyMouth works hard to uncover them.
James Chartrand - Men with Pens says on March 31st, 2008 at 9:22 pm

Hey, this is a great list! We’re honored to have our name listed in the top ten blogs to bookmark, to have been listed on your site, and to be part of such a fantastic resource.

Dare I ask how long it took you to put together?
Hank says on March 31st, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Thanks for some invaluable resources.
Dustin Wax says on March 31st, 2008 at 10:23 pm

George K: Fixed it. Hard to keep straight when they all choose names that purposely sound like all the other ones!

Joan: Fixed that, too. No excuse for it, really — I hate apostrophed plurals as much as the next person. The nice thing, though, about doing a post on writing is you get your proofreading for free!

James: Thanks. Really dig Men with Pens — in fact, I have 13.2 reasons to dig it! This post only took about 3 hours to write but I’ve been collecting apps and sites to review, link to, etc. since December in planning The Writer’s Technology Companion. So it was just a matter of selecting things, visiting sites to refresh my memory, and writing up the descriptions — which, I’ll note, I find incredibly hard to do for websites, to capture the essence of the site *and* what makes it different from other sites in a line or two.

Of course, I also cut corners in the proofreading/factchecking area, which helps…
Amy says on April 1st, 2008 at 1:02 am

I would like to contribute a link to a great podcast that is concerned with all the topics writers are interested in. It is called The Writing Show and hosted by the fabulous Paula B.

I came to love this podcast because it has not only interesting guests and interviews, but provides useful information and insights into the writing world.
Tom Colvin says on April 1st, 2008 at 1:40 am

Dustin, your Technology Companion for Writers is off to a flying start. But then, you’ve already been flying for years, with over 50,000 miles [opps, readers] on your flight log.

You’ll be intrigued to know that on the day of this post, which includes a link to my own blog [thanks!!!], the number of unique visitors to Becoming A Writer Seriously soared from the usual 200-300 to almost 500. Hmmm, I wonder why?
Simon Haynes says on April 1st, 2008 at 10:39 am

Thanks for the links (yWriter and Sonar). Just wanted to mention that they’re windows apps which also happen to work fine under Wine on Linux - they’re not native Linux apps.

You might also like to know about my articles on writing and publishing: http://www.spacejock.com.au/Articles.html

Finally, AbsoluteWrite is a great community site for writers of all kinds. There’s advice, a share your work section and warnings about scam artists. Worth bookmarking.

Cheers
Simon
Craig says on April 1st, 2008 at 1:48 pm

I have found http://www.newbie-writers.com/
to be a useful site.

Perhaps you could think about adding it to your list.
Marketing Webmaster says on April 1st, 2008 at 4:42 pm

http://www.copyblogger.com is a great writer’s resource, too.
Kristin Gorski says on April 2nd, 2008 at 1:07 am

Dustin, thank you so much for including “Write now is good.” in your top 10 of writing sites to be bookmarked. I am truly honored!

Thank you also for this amazing list. I can’t wait to put aside a chunk of time and check out everything here.
Ray-Anne says on April 2nd, 2008 at 7:54 am

‘Time to Write’ is on my personal list of essential daily blogs, so thank you for the other links which I will follow up during the week!
Upwards and Onwards!
Mitchell Levy says on April 3rd, 2008 at 12:57 pm

Love it, great list. I will certainly share it with all of our future authors.

Best regards

Mitchell Levy, CEO, Happy About
ShamanicShift says on April 6th, 2008 at 11:13 am

On the list of free Apps you have Evernote going to writer.bighugelabs.com and that may be the 9/10 confusion source for that list. Thanks for this ultimate list of bests of bests from a trusted best source.
arlene corwin says on April 6th, 2008 at 1:45 pm

All I’ve done is click on you and read the tables of your many contents. I feel as if I’ve improved already. So inspiring!
I write everyday.
Looking forward to either posthumous fame, Nobel prize or somebody out there.
I’ll be reading you.
Urvi says on April 6th, 2008 at 10:02 pm

Thanks for the links!

I’ve been using the writing community (plus e-zine and chat) Forward Motion Writers at http://fmwriters.com for years now, because it covers all the writing bases–from writing games to critiques to classes to publication tips. It started at author Holly Lisle’s website, http://www.HollyLisle.com, which also offers additional articles and advice for writers.
Steve Bannister says on April 7th, 2008 at 12:09 pm

Dustin,

Thanks for putting so many writing resources in oneplace. i am excited about exploring the links in your post.

Cheers!
Steve Bannister says on April 7th, 2008 at 12:10 pm

Dustin,

Thanks for putting so many quality writing links in one post. I am excited about exploring all of the sites and blogs.

Cheers!
Steve
Editor, The SciTech Journal says on April 8th, 2008 at 1:51 pm

GREAT POST. VERY HELPFUL. THANKS FOR SHARING THE INFORMATION. GOOD LUCK Thumbs Up to you
George says on April 16th, 2008 at 4:24 am

Thanks for mentions of link. I will keep it up.
Diana Burrell says on May 1st, 2008 at 12:38 pm

Hey Dustin — thanks for the link. Love your site!!!
Peter Knight says on May 1st, 2008 at 4:38 pm

Thank you. I ‘Stumbled Upon’ this site - and though i’d heard of you elsewhere I’m very glad to have found you: Such a wealth of useful links! I’m subscribing through my RSS feed.

Peter
Jody Ewing says on May 5th, 2008 at 6:19 pm

Under “5 Online Communities Every Writer Should Join,” a must-have link is the Internet Writing Workshop (http://www.internetwritingworkshop.org), the oldest continuous writers’ group on the Internet. The Workshop is open to all styles and genres of writing: literary fiction, genre fiction, poetry, children’s writing, essays, newspaper articles, scripts, you name it. While noted Elm Creek series author Jennifer Chiaverini, novelist Max Barry and publisher Barry Basden are current or past IWW participants, members do not need to be published writers, only to be serious about writing and about wanting to improve.