Times are hard. We all know about credit crunches, spending cuts and tax raises.
So I've looked around for some free useful Writer tools for you.

1. Google Docs - a simple online word processor, with the ability to share and collaborate, as well as chat.
2. Open Office – a Microsoft Office alternative that's completely free. It has a few glitches, but it does the job rather nicely.
3. Lotus Symphony  – another free Office contender, with a variety of plugins.
4. Evernote – a free note taking application like Microsoft's OneNote. I highly recommend it.
5. WordWeb – free one-click English thesaurus and dictionary for Windows, Application independent.
6. Merriam-Webster Visual Dictionary – free (online only)
7. One-Look Reverse Dictionary – free (online only)
8. RoughDraft - a free wordprocessor providing special modes for screenplays, novels, short stories etc. (Development discontinued, but don't let that stop you from trying it.)
9. Sonar 3 – Free submission tracking tool
10. FreeMind – Free Mindmapping software, which can be great for brainstorming.

Well, there you have it. That's just 10 of all the ones out there. I tried to be a little diverse and I hope you enjoy (and possibly benefit from) these tools.

Happy writing!

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Do you like Vampires? Demons? Werewolves?
I do. Well, I like the stories, not the monsters. I don't think I'd want to ever encounter a real vampire, or get bitten by a werewolf.
Kinda not my thing, the whole blood and pain deal.
Writing about it? Sure.
There is plenty of blood and gore in my books, my heroes get stabbed, shot, tortured… even killed. (Yes, I have been known to kill off the hero about 1/4 into the story…)
But it isn't always a bad guy doing the stabbing and shooting, it's not always a monster doing it, either. Sometimes it's an average Joe, who feels threatened enough to defend himself by any means possible.
When we speak of monsters, we inevitably picture Nosferatu, Frankenstein, or something like Predator. We never think of the man next door, who may be perfectly nice when we meet him in the street — but who secretly buries people alive in his back yard.
Sometimes human monsters are worse than supernatural ones.
Take Elizabeth Bathory for example.
Born in 1560 in Hungary, she managed to kill over six hundred girls in about thirty years. No one stopped her, until she made the mistake of killing noblewomen, rather than peasants.
People knew about this, but because the girls were peasants, no one did anything.
It wouldn't surprise me if those (of her own standing) who met her saw a very different woman to the murderous monster the peasant girls got to meet.
The human race definitely has its own monsters, and sometimes they are scarier than anything we can make up.
So next time you find yourself stuck for something to write, and reach for the werewolf or the vampire — consider turning that innocent looking elderly man next door into a monster.
Then ask yourself… What if?
 

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I've travelled through the US recently, and I always carry a small moleskine notebook. (Yep, same type ole Hemingway used.)
If I see something interesting, I make a note of it.
Like that there is a 50% off coupon to the VIP lounge in Dallas, if you ask at the Duty Free Shop. How to get there, what floor the lounges are on. What you see from the lounge.
Below is a scan of the actual entry, just so you know I wasn't kidding.

(I'll paraphrase: It's in D Terminal, near gate 23, take the lift to the 3rd Floor, the reception is there. There are several lounges and the normal cost is $35. Smoking room is to the left as you stand in front of the reception desk. It has a TV in it, seats and small tables, as well as a bookcase type thing which acts as a sort of screen for the back of the room. There is tea, coffee, some fruit and snacks on a self-service basis in the regular lounge, which overlooks airside. Plugs available for laptops etc on small tables, not on the ones at the windows. Wifi available (not free), as well as a secluded area with computers. There is temporary storage for handluggage opposite the lounge reception desk, toilets and showers on the right as you walk in, also opposite the reception desk.) Click the image if you want a larger view.

So.
It's that kind of detail. I make a note, because I never know when I might want to use some of it.
I showed my critter friends my moleskine, and at least one of them went out and got herself one after seeing what I do with mine.
Plot snippets, scenes, dialogue, "What if's", descriptions, notes of areas, dates, weather, phone numbers, names, songs I heard… you name it, it's in there.
It's not a diary as such, but it's very much a working writing journal.

I recommend carting one of those little notebooks around with you. They fit in an inside pocket of a jacket, a handbag, or the back pocket of your jeans. Just… use it.
You never know when it comes in handy.
 

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I have to bitch a little, on behalf of my significant other.
He stubbornly insists I should open a library, because everywhere he goes, there are books.

He’s right, you know.

However, I have my own pet peeve.

The publishers of reference books for writers are missing a trick.
I would probably buy far more of them… if they were in digital format. Searchable.

You know what I mean. It’s all very well to have a huge list of something in a book — if you end up sitting there, flicking through pages, looking for something specific.
One of my all time favorites is the Reverse Dictionary. It’s great. I recommend getting one. (Random House, Word Menu)

BUT!

It would be even greater if I could type in a keyword and it flags up everything with that keyword.
The same goes for writing books. I would prefer those in digital format.
Writer’s Yearbook? Give it to me as an ebook, seriously.
Name books? Same thing.
I bet I’m not alone with this, either.

Aside from not having 20 different reference works sitting on my desk, I could have them on the computer, I could take them with me on a laptop. I could cut down the time I take looking something up to almost negligible. Time I could spend writing.

So here is the thing:

Offer an electronic edition. Please.

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