Useful Tools

Novel Writing 101: Handy Dandy Tools for Writers

December 10, 2011

Novel Writing 101
The physicalness of writing (did I just coin a term?) is as interesting as the reasons we do it, and the “Words we write” themselves.  Mark Twain wrote a good many of his stories flat on his back in bed.  Ernest Hemingway put his typewriter on a chest-high shelf, and wrote standing up. [...]

Read the full article →

How’d it Get to be December?

December 2, 2011

OK, I know.  It was December yesterday, too, but I was too exhausted yesterday to notice.
I think I promised no more posts about Na… well, you know.  That does not  mean, however, that I won’t say a little about the book I just wrote.
It took some digging, but I found a way to convert the [...]

Read the full article →

How To Make Your Net Work

October 18, 2011

Making your personal network work for you is a problem looking for a solution.
A few days ago I got a very nice email from a man who had spoken at Fremont Area Writers (a branch of the California Writers Club).  He and his partner train people to make pitches for screenplays and novels, and they [...]

Read the full article →

Microsoft Office vs. Open Office

September 29, 2011

Long time readers of Uphill Writing will recall my preference for Sun’s (now, Oracle’s) Open Office over Microsoft Office.
It’s time to come clean about that.  My anti-Microsoft campaign was partially because I don’t care for their monopoly, and partially because the cost of their products and many upgrades was prohibitive.
The problem for me has been compatibility.  [...]

Read the full article →

Mind Games for Writers

August 30, 2011

This is the first “up-close” look at some games I believe are excellent for the thinking writer.  In other words, you.  Watch for more, soon.
 
Perhaps I am alone in this, but as much as I write, and the “much” is up to six hours a day, I cannot keep it up indefinitely.
How about you?  What [...]

Read the full article →

Up the Word Count!

July 13, 2011

I’m a busy guy.  I’m webmaster for 6 commercial websites, I post 5 times a day on Uphill Writing, Monday – Saturday, and once on Sunday, handle all public communications for two Writers Club, and am President of one of them.
Is it any wonder why a novel that won awards in draft is still lying [...]

Read the full article →

Writing for Holidays and Special Occasions

July 4, 2011

He: Today is the Fourth of July, we celebrate our independence.  I wonder if the British have a fourth of July?
She: You really don’t understand how calendars work, do you?
Writing for holidays (the silly joke above notwithstanding) is trickier than you think.
What?  Really?  Hey, it’s Christmas.  Write a Christmas story, right?  Hallowe’en is next [...]

Read the full article →

A Lower-Case bible For Your Characters

February 7, 2011

You’ve been working on your fiction novel for nearly a year.  Both you and your story have grown over that time, and you’ve made adjustments, additions and deletions from your original draft.  Perhaps your main character has had a name or even a sex change.  Perhaps your MC has gone though a variety of  professions [...]

Read the full article →

Write, Type or Speak: Does It Change the Way You Think?

January 22, 2011

My trusty Google alerts picked up a post from Lifehacker yesterday. The author was attempting to make the point that the way we think is directly affected by the way we write; by what we write with. His point was that writing longhand enables us to think thoughts that would be otherwise unavailable to us.
The piece [...]

Read the full article →

Tech Tuesday: The Whole World in Your Hand

January 11, 2011

Welcome to Tech Tuesday.
Each Tuesday we will do what we can to bring you a technical advance or tool that can help you with your writing.  As the weeks unwind we will look at software, hardware, websites and resources of all types.
Today’s offer will help you put your story anywhere in the world, and to [...]

Read the full article →

← Previous Entries