Were the truth to be known, even though I treasure my Mont Blanc pen (past tense – recently lost!), and regularly invest in copious notes and diagrams on paper, these are usually temporal at best for at least two reasons.
First, I misplace everything I write on paper. Everything. Sooner or later.
Second, even if I were to not lose it, I’d misfile it–which is the same as lost, I guess.
But for some inexplicable reason, I seem to be able to locate everything I’ve ever written if it’s in a computer file somewhere. Even migrating through computers like chewing gum, the good stuff prevails!
So writing software seemed a certainty in my milieu. After some trial and tribulation, I ultimately gravitated to a program called WriteWayPro. A nice program that is one-stop-shopping for the aspiring author: a decent word processing program, future ideas and research folders, good import and conversion capability, word count capability and productivity charting tools, character and plot slots, storyboards and note cards to keep track of cool stuff, and more. All packaged in a customizable multiple-window format with a pragmatic and flexible user interface. Well now, listen to me – I sound like Billy Mays selling soap on TV! Anyway, free download to demo, and not too spendy to register. It’s at www.writewaypro.com.
Plus there is a veritable cornucopia of terrific resources for writers on the web to sort through, research, contrast, learn from and compare to. They range from noblesse oblige to knarly, and everything in between.
Here are a few of my favorite haunts, especially after the clock strikes midnight or before two bells (5am):
- www.writing.com/authors/gjurrens (my partial portfolio of recent essays – in progress)
- www.writersdigest.com (good basic stuff)
- www.writersonlineworkshops.com (one of the countless writing workshop sites)
- https://www.authorsguild.org/ (influential advocates for the American author)
- http://writersalmanac.publicradio.org/ (Garrison Keillor)
- http://www.darkecho.com/darkecho/workshop/index.html (horror genre ain’t my thang, but great advice for writers)
- http://www.writersblock.com/ (funky across music, art, writing… forums, neat stuff, neat folks)
- http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/index.htm (a Canadian site with some good basic writing tips)
‘Nuf for now…
With pen in hand,
Gene
