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5 of the Best Free Writing Software and Tools for Aspiring Novelists

5 of the Best Free Writing Software and Tools for Aspiring Novelists
EmailEmail Whether you’re the next Jack Karouac or the next NaNoWriMo dropout, any novelist who takes the craft seriously is going to need the right tools to write. And let’s face it: Microsoft Office can spit out a decent business letter, but the thought of launching a full-blown office suite to do some creative work is a little… depressing. Most ordinary word processors are also priced out of reach of the starving artist crowd. 1. The best thing a writer can do is write. Best of all, Notational Velocity can automatically sync in the cloud with the free Simplenote service. 2. As with any large project, the hardest thing about writing a novel is getting started. This unit of work and a break is called a œPomodoro, and every four Pomodoros calls for a longer break of about twenty-five minutes. 3. Skim was originally devised as a way for scientists in academia to read and annotate PDF’s of scientific papers. 4. Distraction is the bane of any writer’s existence. 5. Google+

Point of View in Creative Nonfiction | AndiLit.com I read a lot of novels, and poetry, and even the occasional screenplay/drama. I enjoy them; I learn from them; I find them delicate, and robust, and powerful, and skillful and all the things that make good writing. BUT when I want to really understand something, when I want to feel it in the center of my chest, when I want my cheeks to be rasped with the reality of life, I turn to creative nonfiction. I’ve been trying to articulate the difference in connection I feel between fiction and nonfiction ever since my friend @karriehiggins were talking about it on Twitter the other night. For me, creative nonfiction makes me more readily willing to identify with the narrator. Perhaps that’s why when people like James Frey misrepresent their work as nonfiction when really much of it is fiction, I feel offended and disappointed and a little angry – because they have betrayed me. What do you think? *That’s not to say writers in other genres aren’t profoundly honest and risky and vulnerable.

How to Use Social Media For Better Customer Acquisition The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, Mass., that makes a full platform of marketing software, including social media management tools. A user's clickstream — the trail of clicks she leaves behind while surfing the web — has to end somewhere, so why not on a place where that surfer can become a customer? That's the thinking behind web-based customer acquisition. Until fairly recently, that was a relatively straightforward proposition: Just run some banner ads and search ads and then continue the conversation through email. Social media adds some complexity. Not everyone has successfully navigated this new terrain. With more variables comes more opportunities, though. However, Brian Solis, the principal analyst at Altimeter Group, says the modus operandi for most marketers is still twofold: Build the size of the community.Hope that at some point that translates into customer acquisitions. 1. 2. It builds trust. 3. 4.

Dorrance Publishing Online Bookstore Getting NaNoWriMo Done: How to Write a Novel in 30 Days With November 1st almost upon us, NaNoWriMo is set to begin. There are plenty of tools to help budding novelists achieve the goal of 50,000 words in 30 days, but what about the reasons behind committing to such a daunting task in the first place? Surely, many of those taking on the challenge have other priorities that they have to deal with – myself included – so adding on the pressure of pushing through those commitments and the occasional bout of writer’s block is going to take herculean effort, right? Well, yes…and no. Just as there are many people who have yet to give NaNoWriMo a try, there are many who have – and have met the challenge while maintaining a modicum of their regular lives (and sanity) in the process. There are those who have taken on the challenge and have fell by the wayside again, myself included), but there are things you can do to keep you on track to finally typing “The End” at the end of your rapidly-created opus. Set Up Rituals While Writing Wash my face. Keep.

The Best Time Investments You Can Make | Living Frugally | Psychology Of Money We all agree that time is more valuable than money. At least, that’s what we say. Then we turn around and spend hours watching bad TV we’re not even that interested in. Or 45 minutes on the phone with customer service fighting a $5 charge. Or years in a relationship or friendship we stopped feeling fulfilled by long ago. But I’m convinced it’s not for a lack of good intent that we often end up treating time as our most fungible asset. I’ve been thinking about time as a tangible asset not unlike money in many ways, and about ways to invest our time to yield higher returns—better memories, more hours well spent, even minutes that nourish us instead of fly by. 1. Investing time in caring for your health is an obvious one that will certainly yield you more time, literally—in days, months, if not years tacked on to your life. 2. There’s a little saying that goes, “A stitch in time saves nine.” 3. 4. Where Do You Get the Best Return? 5. 6. 7.

Best Places to Get Free Books – The Ultimate Guide When we were reviewing 10 of the best online resources for free books, we had a LOT of readers chime in with their own favorites as well. Thank you for all your helpful contributions! In fact, we had so many suggestions, we have enough to compile a huge list from them, so here they are in no particular order: ManyBooks – Free eBooks for your PDA, iPod, or eBook reader – Thanks Tony Bryan & abben BookCrossing – Where real books are released into the wild to be found by others – Thanks EngtechLibraryElf – The perfect companion to a public library system – Thanks EngtechScribd – Open library to publish and discover documents online – Thanks CincauHangus Word Public Library – 400,000 PDF ebooks for download – Thanks EllenFree Tech Books – Free computer science and engineering books (+ lecture notes) – Thanks EllenBookins – Swap real books with other readers – Thanks Jimbob WellToldTales – Free short story podcasts (like audiobooks, but shorter) – Thanks Kevin C. Google+

Wordiness, Wordiness, Wordiness List absolutely essential = essential aforementioned = DELETE a bigger/greater/higher/larger degree of = more a considerable amount of = DELETE OR BE SPECIFIC a decreased number of = fewer a distance of 28 kilometers = 28 kilometers a lesser/smaller degree of = less/fewer He noticed a lesser degree of errors = He noticed fewer errors. a lot of = many, much a majority of = most, much of, many a person who is xxx = a xxx person A person who is dedicated will succeed = A dedicated person will succeed. a total of seven xxxs = seven xxxs added bonus = bonus advance notice/reservations = notice/reservations advance warning = warning advance planning = planning after all is/was said and done = DELETE After all was said and done, the trip to the well was a disaster. all across = across all of = all all of a sudden = suddenly all of these = these all-time record = record almost never = seldom along the lines of = like any and all = all are/is such that = DELETE Jack and Jill are such that they are doomed to perish.

13 Tips for Increasing Your Company's Google Rank Scott Gerber is the founder of the Young Entrepreneur Council, a nonprofit organization that promotes youth entrepreneurship as a solution to unemployment and underemployment. The YEC provides young entrepreneurs with access to tools, mentorship, and resources that support each stage of a business's development and growth. It goes without saying that entrepreneurs know the importance of search engine optimization, and how to boost their Google search rankings. Right? Or is SEO a foreign language that you haven't quite mastered? Google rank is critical to a business’s success in this digital age. Instead of letting your Google rank get you down, apply these tips and techniques from a group of successful, young entrepreneurs in order to boost your company's SEO results. 1. You'll want your content to take the top slots for your name and various keywords and phrases, so you'll want to have high-quality, authoritative content. - Colin Wright, Exile Lifestyle. 2. - Logan Lenz, Endagon. 3. 4. 5.

Share Book Recommendations With Your Friends, Join Book Clubs, Answer Trivia A new tip for productivity | A Writer's Journey As a homeschooling mom, I do all my planning for the week on Sundays. I use a spreadsheet that lays out the full week, organizes by topic, and lets me see in one page what needs to be done, and even how to do it. So it occurred to me the other day- Why don’t I use the same technique for writing? Writing Planner- I created a table with 7 columns for each day of the week, and the rows are broken up on labels such as; Appointments- to list important meetings I must attend (and I add the time). Writing- This is writing specific to stories and things I will publish. Blogging- With keeping a blogging schedule, I find its faster to post and even brainstorm ideas by knowing when I need to update a new post. Marketing- This includes things I do for my web sites, blogs, and my business (learnthepc.net). Other includes specific projects I’m working on. Exercise- This was recently added to remind me that I need to exercise regularly. Feel free to use my idea, and let me know if it work out for you.

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