Writers only need a pen, a piece of paper, and an idea. But, at least in my house, by the time you’ve found the pen and the paper, the idea has fled for warmer climes.  So here’s a look at a few somewhat-essential tools for the writer.

This list has two ideas behind it: 1.) Money is tight, so the tools should be free whenever possible, and 2.) the tools should be tailored to writers. 

Software for writers

1. Dark Room - word processor

Sure, Microsoft Word has lots of bells and whistles, and OpenOffice does a good job of being a free alternative, but they’ve both got lots and lots of buttons. Dark Room fixes that, and how! It is also designed to be run full-screen, so no new e-mails, instant messages, or tweets can distract you.  

2. Sonar — Submission tracker

Want to know how long your story’s been sitting on Tales of Extreme Awesomeness’s slushpile? Need to know how many of your stories weren’t extremely awesome enough? Enter Sonar, the submission tracking tool. 

3. Evernote — Notes

Your muse is a cold, heartless shrew. Tame her by keeping copious notes with Evernote. You’re not limited to text: Pictures, web pages, and audio files are all fair game.  It also syncs across multiple devices.  So the next time you’re in the shower and have your next great idea, you can whip out your iPhone to capture it and get back to lathering. (Please don’t use your phone in the shower —ed)

4. Freemind — mind mapping

I’ve already written about mind mapping with Freemind. Go read that and come back. I’ll wait.

Services for writers

5. Imagination Prompt Generator — Writing prompts

The Imagination Prompt Generator has writing prompts. If you don’t like the one it gives you, you can press the button and get a new one. 

6. Wordpress.com or Blogger — online publishing

I’m torn between Wordpress’s hosted option and Blogger. Wordpress is nearly the de facto standard, but has lots of whizmos and doodads to distract. Blogger has a much simpler interface, but its commenting system is atrocious, so it may cost you interaction. Either way, both are free ways to get your otherwise-unpublished work in front of readers, so take your pick and roll with it.

7. Lulu or CreateSpace — Self-publishing

I couldn’t possibly help you choose between the two. CreateSpace gets you on to Amazon with no upfront fees (save for buying a copy to proof) while Lulu can get you into more outlets for a price. But these seem to be the two heavy hitters in the print-on-demand arena. Ultimately, the decision between the two comes down to your needs.

So, which of your favorite tools did I leave off? Leave a comment and let me know.

This article was written by John Roach http://prowritingtips.com John is a writer and copy editor. You can follow him on twitter at @johnwroachiii. To see more posts click here

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