As a writer myself, I’m always up for any new tips or resources that can help me manage this most abstract and difficult of arts. Being a writer or blogger can be quite a lonely business, but don’t despair – there’s a community of scriveners out there who are willing to share their knowledge, help and resources with you. Like what I’m going to do in this small post.
I’ve been blogging for about five years now, and in that time, I’ve picked up some great websites and tools that make writing more fun than it already is. Below is a list of websites and software that can help you on your writing journey, whether it’s as small as minimalist blogging, or as grand as a novel.
- Scrivener (App). This is a superb application for writing anything from a short story to an epic novel. It adapts to the way you work, and I swear by it whenever I need to write anything longer than a short story – sometimes, I even use it to write short stories. It has a brilliant fullscreen, distraction-free mode, and it helps you prepare your manuscript for publishers by providing the necessary formatting options upon export. It allows you to arrange complex works such as novels in scenes and chapters, so that you have everything organized, and can choose which part of your novel to work on at any time. The statistics tools are also quite cool, and you can set both project and session targets to keep yourself focused. A billion times better than old Mircosoft Word, Scrivener is the writing tool that was designed for writers, by writers. Price: R386,46 for Mac OS X (Windows version R343,52).
- WriteRoom is a simple text editor for Mac OS X, with focus on distraction-free writing. It costs $9,99 but is quite nifty when it comes to writing in style and being efficient. Check it out.
- WriteToDone is a great website with tips on writing. Visit them and subscribe to their RSS feed for inspiring and informative posts and guest posts on the various aspects of being a writer.
- Writer’s Digest is the writer’s counterpart to the famous Reader’s Digest. It offers a plethora of advice for everything to do with writing, and it has some interesting and fun activities for strengthening your writing prowess.
- Story Engineering by Larry Brooks is a great book for aspiring fiction writers. Larry introduces the concept of the “6 Core Competencies of Successful Writing”, breaking down the concept of the “story” into six areas, and informing you on how to approach these sectors, and make then work together to create a seamless whole – the novel. I’m currently reading it, and will post my thoughts on it soon, here on Life in Pixels.
- ProBlogger.net is run by Darren Rowse, a legendary blogger who managed to quit his day job as his blog became so successful and was able to generate a significant cashflow. Over at ProBlogger.net, Darren and his guest writers post invaluable tips and insights on the world of blogging. A must for anyone looking to make it as a blogger.
This list is by no means comprehensive, and if you know of something that will help fellow writers, please feel free to share them in the comments below. I hope this list can be of some assistance to you. Happy writing!
Life in Pixels 