Some of these things are obvious and many people use them. I’m a completist, though, and as I was putting this list together, I wanted to paint a complete picture of things I use to help me get my story from “Once upon a time” to “Happily ever after”. Every one of the items on this list has been essential in my writing process, though I’ve been finding I don’t use some of them as well as I should.
Does making a checklist of tools and using them effectively guarantee me success? Of course not, but it’s a helpful for me to have a list that reminds me of the items I have at my disposal. Others may find a similar list helpful, too.
Idea File: Stored on the laptop and hard drives. Full of dozens of ideas for plots, characters, quotes, story names, words, creatures, and places. The perfect cure for writer’s’ block. Sometimes.
Notebooks – Endless notebooks. I’ve got notes going back to high school, some written in a three-ring, others on old dot matrix printer paper. I have a notebook or two in my luggage bag. Another waits in my work bag. I have a stack of them in the spare room. Some of the information has been entered into the computer, but much hasn’t. That’s a problem. Update: My desk at work has a notebook that is steadily filling with ideas.
Moleskine notebook – I was given a pocket edition by my wife. I wanted to save it for really important notes–after all, it is a world-famous item and should be used appropriately. It sat empty for months. I have now used one page.
Android Galaxy S – My honorary appendage. Use it for email and writing and research and Facebook and Twitter and WordPress and Pandora and note-taking and setting reminders. I hear it can be used as a phone, too. Replaced my Blackberry 2+ years ago, which I think I used more due to the physical keyboard.
On Writing by Stephen King – This was a nice change from other books, in which the author tells you how to do things. Mr. King just tells you what worked for him. Some things I can relate to, and others I can’t. I’ve read this more than any of his other works!
Mother Tongue English & How it Got That Way by Bill Bryson. If you like to challenge the rules of grammar or try new things in your writing, this book has some great context.
Elements of Style by Strunk and White – Everyone says every writer needs this. Every writer needs this (Er, I need to replace my copy).
The Wall Chart of World History from Barnes & Noble – I love the timelines this book shows. They allow me to see what else was going on in the world during important events in world history.
Fellowship of the Ring soundtrack – Perfect for writing fantasy and folklore.
Braveheart soundtrack – My first writing soundtrack. Really puts me in the mood for folklore.
Facebook – I set up a page to display exerpts of stories for friends. When they find a story they like, I send them the entire manuscript. My aim is to get feedback from many points-of-view, which helps me determine whether key story elements are landing with different kinds of readers. Feedback varies from “loved it” to “you used this particular word too much”. Any feedback is great. It’s an OK success thus far.
Twitter – Use it to talk about my writing and to connect with other writers. I also ramble on about grammar sometimes. Update: Been using it more for gaming updates lately…
Dictionary.com and Thesaurus.com – I used to carry Oxford’s combined dictionary/thesaurus everywhere before this app was available on my BlackBerry and Android (only my wife thought that was a good idea, but she loves English, too).
Evernote – It’s great to have online space to save notes and ideas, but I’m finding that once I save to Evernote, I’m never going back. Out of sight, out of mind, I guess.
Laptop – I want to write everywhere–on the couch, in bed, on the deck–not just in the spare bedroom where we used to house the desktop computer. One nice thing about being sequestered in that room, however, it had a door and fewer distractions.
External hard drive – As someone who has lost several documents and had no back-up (including the final paper for my History major), I highly recommend an external hard drive. I have two. In separate rooms. I back-up everything on both drives at least once a month and after I’ve gone on a serious writing bender. I’ve considered using an online storage service, but I’m not ready to put my faith in a company that might not exist in five years. Grabbing one of the drives is my top priority if we have to evacuate for a fire or zombie attack (“top” meaning after the wife, kids, dogs and pajama bottoms). Update: I’ve started using Google Docs a bit.
Microsoft Word – I’ve been writing with Word for more than 10 years now. Still learning new things.
WordPress – Still starting. We’ll see how much this helps, though I expect it will help a lot. Update: I’ve been using WordPress a lot, though mostly for other blogging activities. Like my writing, this particular blog has been neglected of late.
Google Earth – very convenient on the go, despite my love of a good atlas.
**Updated 11/15/11
.
I recommend going with cloud-based backup in addition to the physical backup. I use Dropbox for file storage and sharing. The free version offers 3gb of storage, which should be plenty for text files.
LikeLike