Category: Tools for Writers

Free Help With Graphic Design

Tools for Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’m design-challenged. & happiness (1)

I learned this early.  My father was a teacher and when I was in elementary school, one of my father’s friends (also a teacher) knew I was very creative and asked me to create a back-to-school bulletin board for her students.

I loved the huge box of art supplies that she brought over.  Tissue paper, construction paper, markers, stickers, stencils.  I loved it.  But I didn’t know what to do with it.  I ended up making a tissue paper flower that was about 6 inches in size.  I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to make an entire bulletin board and fill up all that space.  The teacher had to scrap the idea.Continue reading

Resources for Writers—Microsoft Word

Tools for Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigblog1

Microsoft Word is an incredibly useful tool for writers—and one that I think is easy to overlook because we use it all the time.

Features that I use on a regular basis:

Highlighter.  I highlight problem areas that really don’t require explanation as I write my first draft.  This may be the fact that one of my characters doesn’t have a last name, or that a scene has gotten awkward or bogged down.  Maybe I don’t really even know what the problem is, but I want to highlight the area to figure out later.

Find/Replace:  This is very handy when I change character names in the middle of a manuscript. Continue reading

Resources for Writers—WKB and Ebook Services Professionals

Tools for Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig

I’ve gotten several emails from writers lately, pinging me for resources…which makes me think maybe I could do a better job spotlighting various resources on my blog.  So, as a summer series, I’ll be focusing on different sites that I use as a resource, myself.

Today will be slightly different—I’ll be focusing on two writer resources that I have a hand in.  I know I mention the Writer’s Knowledge Base here on Sundays…but if you’re a blog reader who doesn’t ordinarily read posts on weekends, then I’m not sure you’d be familiar with it.Continue reading

A Free Tool for Writers—Vook’s Author Control

Tools for Writers

By Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigVook

I mentioned briefly in last Sunday’s Twitterific that I was a beta tester for a new tool for writers.  Vook’s Author Control launched over a week ago.  I wasn’t paid for my testing, but asked to give feedback and a fair review or endorsement if I liked the service.

I’ve blogged before that I’ve been frustrated with some of the business/financial aspects of publishing.  For one, it’s time-consuming to track of income.  That meant that I wasn’t doing a wonderful job keeping track of income, which meant that I had an unfortunate tax bill when I went to my CPA in February.  I’ve made some changes since then.  For one, I have a separate bank account that writing-related income is directly deposited to, so that it doesn’t mix in with our general household funds (a recommendation the CPA had made last year but that I was slow to follow up on). Continue reading

Backing Up Our Work

Tools for Writers, Writing Tips

by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraigfile7371249345763

And now for a very brief public service announcement.  Please back up your work.

What way is easiest for you?  There are so many options.

The best way is to have a digital copy backed up—on a USB/thumb drive, as an email attachment in an email sent to yourself.  In Dropbox.  On Google Drive or Skydrive (these are free options for cloud backup).  On a server in your home.  Or just print the thing if you don’t mind retyping it if you lose a digital version. Continue reading

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