software
Word processing, on a diet
Sometimes, using Word or OpenOffice.org Writer is overkill. Actually, it’s overkill for a lot of writing tasks. As I discuss in this article, you can do much of your work in a lightweight word processor — either on the desktop or on the Web.
What is your writing weapon of choice? Feel free to leave a [...]
Using a wiki for a simple writing project
While wiki guru Stewart Mader wrote a book using a wiki, in my experiments with a wiki as a writing tool I’ve started off small. No books (at least for now); instead, I’ve been writing articles using DokuWiki.
TextRoom: a full-screen editor with a twist
As you’ve probably read in this space, I enjoy using full-screen editors. They enable me to write without any distractions — I can focus on writing and not have my attention pulled away by email, RSS feeds, or anything else.
My favourite application in this category is JDarkRoom. But I’ve found a new one that’s giving [...]
Tracking your submissions
Dustin Wax at The Writer’s Technology Companion has written a four-part series on software to track your submissions. He looks at a number of interesting desktop and Web-based too, along with the good, old-fashioned spreadsheet.
I’ve tried a number of the tools that Dustin mentions, and (of course) there are a couple that I’ve never touched. [...]
Useful blog on writers and technology
Interested in the technology that can help you as a writer? Then you’ll definitely want to check out The Writer’s Technology Companion. From the blog’s About page:
The world we live and write in demands the use and understanding of increasingly high-tech tools. The Writer’s Technology Companion is a guide through the world of [...]
Q10: another distraction-free editor
As I wrote in a previous entry, I often use JDarkRoom to write articles and the like. The full-screen editing feature lets me write without distractions. I’ve also started playing with a similar editor called PyRoom, which although is bare bones at the moment shows quite a bit of promise.
Gordon McLean has written about another [...]
Do you really need Word to write?
Writing shouldn’t be about software or tools. It should be about putting words on a page (or on screen). But, of course, software invariably comes into play when you have to submit your work to an editor. The preferred format is Microsoft Word.
To be honest, I haven’t used Word to write articles in a long, [...]
Electronic writing: one reporter’s reminiscence
These days, we take word processors for granted. But it wasn’t too long ago that most writers banged out their work on a typewriter. My first encounter with a word processor was Speedscript, for the Commodore VIC-20 home computer. In journalism school, I got my first taste of Microsoft Word on a Mac. Then, in [...]
Using a wiki to write a book
This May, I’ll be heading to Vancouver, British Columbia to attend the DocTrain West 2008 conference (I’ll also be participating in a panel on blogging there).
Sometimes simple is better
I don’t know about you, but I find most word processors to be overkill for many writing tasks. There are times when I just need to get words into a file, as quickly and efficiently as possible. And neither Microsoft Word or OpenOffice.org Writer (a tool I really, really like) are up to that. The [...]