Category: Writers’ Tools of the Trade

Writers' Tools of the Trade

Product Review – SmartEdit

APRIL 2013 UPDATE: A new version has been released. I hope to test it by month’s end when I finish my current work in progress. Please note the following review is for a past version, not the most recent. Some of you may remember my Tools of My Trade blog series. I did it in July of 2011 and again in July of 2012. One of the featured tools I wrote up, which I use for every manuscript to clean it up before I submit to my editor, is SMARTEDIT. Imagine my surprise when the developer of SmartEdit contacted me asking if I’d like to try out the new version they just released. Being a technology geek, I of course agreed. I downloaded the new version and used it to go through the 82,000 word romance novel due to my editor at Kensington on January 1st. By the time I was done, the program had identified, and I had cut hundreds of unnecessary words out of the manuscript, making it stronger and cleaner. Here are my initial thoughts while they are fresh in my head. To save time and effort, I have pulled some of the feedback I emailed to […]

Writers' Tools of the Trade

Tools of My Trade – Word Count Meter

Yes, I’m supposed to be writing… shh! I know. Anyway, on to the reason for this post… I’m goal oriented. Extremely so. I love nothing more than a list, simply because I love checking things off of it. That’s why it is particularly hard for me when I have a long project, such as these three 80,000 word novels I contracted to write for Kensington. 300 or so pages is a lot to write before I can have the ultimate satisfaction of typing the words, The End. And for someone whose eye is on the finish line, it’s a long way off. I know I should enjoy the journey, blah, blah, blah. I know all that, but I need to have some sense of accomplishment. Setting a daily word count goal helps, when I reach it. When I don’t then I just feel worse. Then there is this little tool I discovered online on another author’s site actually. It’s a  Word Count Meter  and I love it. I find myself writing just so I can plug in the new numbers and watch the little bubble fill in. More importantly, just when I feel as if I’m getting nowhere, I look at […]

Writers' Tools of the Trade

Tools of My Trade – Bonus Day! Pic Collage

It’s not because I’m procrastinating and this newest work in progress (WiP) is kicking my ass…much. It’s mostly because I discovered something new last night I love, love, LOVE! I wanted to throw together a quick header for my FB page because I was jealous of some of my fellow authors’ headers. I put away the MAC and booted up the 6 year old, slow as a slug PC (because my only copy of Photoshop lives on the PC). I watched the PC install updates to Windows XP for a solid hour or more, then didn’t have the energy left at 9PM to open Photoshop on it and create a header. And besides, Bunheads was on ABCFamily channel. So during the commercials of the show, I picked up the iPad and starting scrolling through the App Store, and lo and behold, look what I found!!! Pic Collage is fun, free and freaking amazing! I did the below header during a commercial break, I swear! It’s kind of like photoshop for first graders. You’re limited in the bells and whistles, but the basic functionality is there. I see myself using this to create digital vacation photo albums. Just set a fun […]