Hello again, dear readers:
Here we are at the beginning of a brand new year with endless possibilities. By now you should have sharpened your year’s supply of pencils as you get ready to write your new magnum opus. Or perhaps you have arranged your erasers within easy reach as you get ready to edit your most recent draft or your Nanowrimo novel. But what if you're not working from a hard copy?
Hopefully many of us have joined the 21st century, although it may have been after some kicking and screaming. What kinds of technological help is out there for us writers?
Never in the course of human writing have there been so many possibilities to use technology in all of its forms to aid in the creating and editing our literary works. “Technology: A Blessing for Writers and Editors?” gives us great advice on how to utilize technology. And blogs about the usefulness of technology, such as the Creative Pen, can give you a techno pep talk and help avoid the dreaded writer's block! Horrors!
You might want to use word-processing software. There are many to choose from, and here's a great review of eight different word processing programs (including that important factor- their comparative costs!). Or, you could go for software specifically designed for authors. One is Scrivener, which used to be available only for Mac users, but they now have a version for those of us on PC's as well. Storymind has a variety of software for screen writing, novel writing, or even creating CDs. Some of you have read the books on the Marshall Plan for writing a book, but did you know they have software, too? And My Writing Spot offers free software. Maybe I'll give one of these a try next time I start a new project. Luckily I found a review of several of them to help guide my choice.
To save your precious words and avoid losing them to a computer crash, you could use one of the cloud storage options, including iCloud or Google Drive or Dropbox. They can offer you a wide range of editing and portability resources. The blog Cloud HQ discusses the various resources offered on the cloud for those of us who think of clouds only as the means of imparting gentle rain to our gardens.
Software such as Talking Desktop or one of the Dragon NaturallySpeaking programs lets you skip the keyboard altogether. You just speak into the computer and let the software type your words for you. A friend told me that one of these turned out to be a lifesaver for him several years ago. He signed up for an online writing class, but ended up having carpal tunnel surgery. Without the voice-recognition software, he would never have been able to keep up with his assignments while his wrist healed.
Speaking of online classes, there are so many of them out there, I couldn't possibly list them all. But, I'll tell you that while there are lots of writing courses on ed2go.com, don't necessarily sign up on the ed2go website. Check your local community college website. You might be able to take the same class through them, but pay less for it! Such a deal!
Finally, as I was doing research for this month’s column, I came across a cute topic that gave me a smile. While it really has nothing to do with technology (unless you count that I found out about it online) I thought I would share it with you.
Did you know that punctuation really does save lives? No? Then consider these two sentences:
Let’s eat Grandma!
Let’s eat, Grandma!
My mom says she prefers the latter.
Happy New Year, happy writing, and happy computing everyone!
Betty Wryte-Goode
Betty Wryte-Goode is a writer, mother, and wife who lives in the Lehigh Valley. Her passions include writing, reading, shopping, gardening, and exploring the internet. Betty is always looking for writing tips, so if you have any you would like to share, please send them to her through our Submissions/Contacts page.
Mixed Up Words of the Month:
Principle
vs.
Principal
PRINCIPLE is a noun that means an important or fundamental standard, especially for behavior. Your rules to live by are your principles.
PRINCIPAL, while sounding the same, has a variety of meanings. One is as an adjective, meaning the most important, like the pricipal reason I like January is that I can look forward to my seed catalogs coming in the near future.
Principal can also be used as a noun in financial circles to refer to the amount of a loan or amount of money invested as opposed to interest owed or earned. You'll sometimes hear people talk about retired people living on the interest of their investments, and leaving the principal intact for emergencies--or their grandchildren!
It has many other meanings, including the head of a school (remember "the principal is your pal"?) or to indictate a lead role in a play.