Writing Tools

I was listening to the Reader/Writer podcast on my way into work this morning. The topic was “One Question: Writing Tools”. The question, “what is your most important tool for writing?”, elicited some great repsonses, including not just software and hardware, but tactics. It got me to thinking about mine. It’s hard to list just one, so I’ll list three.

1) Write Or Die – This website and app is dead simple. You an find it at writeordie.com. The purpose is to just make you write. You set a time or word goal and it gives you a blank page. If you don’t start writing, or if you pause, it starts changing colors and playing noises. If you set the level of difficulty high enough it starts deleting words. The app is nice because it lets you save your text to a file, rather than the copy/paste of the web app. There’s also an app for the iPad/iPod. That app will let you export to Dropbox, email, the cipboard, or a text file. The thing I love most is that it’s helped me to turn off my internal editor. The words don’t always flow, but I don’t have the luxury of hemming and hawing over every sentence.

2) Google Docs/Drive – This is nothing new. Authors all over the world use it. I love the fact that I can keep my stuff in the cloud and have it all in one place. I have folders for my different works in progress. I can keep my spreadsheet for outlines in the same folder. When I’m done it makes it easy to share with my beta readers. I also use the app on my tablet.

3) My Commute – This isn’t an app or a strategy really. I’ve often thought about using the commute for verbal storytelling into an electronic recorder, but there you run into turning that into typed prose. What I use my commute for is two-fold. I listen to podcasts and I muse. The podcasts, a mix of writing and fiction, are often inspirational. The musings can result in getting my out of corners I’ve painted myself into. It can mean thinking about characters and motivations. It can mean new story ideas. This time is relatively distraction free and is invaluable.

What are yours?

3 thoughts on “Writing Tools”

  1. My commute is definitely one of my most creative times, at least for getting new ideas. But I also use my lunch break a lot for actually getting writing done. Coupled with write or die it can usually crank out anywhere from 500-1500 words in an hour.

    I also like Evernote. It is lighter weight than google docs, which makes it nice for mobile devices, and does not require an active connection while you are working. All you have to do is make sure that you are synced before you leave a wifi zone. I still always use G-docs as a backup location because one wrong sync from a device can ruin your day.

    History and science podcasts. Like you I like listening to podcasts. While I love story podcasts I get most of my ideas and creative stuff from history and science podcasts. They are the fuel that keeps my creative fire going. There is always that nugget of wisdom that you can gain from them.

      1. Yeah, makes it easy to just start typing anywhere, or even just take some notes if you have any idea, while you are out away from your computer.

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