Reedsy, Take Two

Okay, thanks to comments by B.E. and Sheri, I might have more info on Reedsy, which is apparently an online service to collaboratively write, edit, typset and export books for self-publication. If their free writing/typset tool exports publication-ready files properly formatted for every type of digital platform, then it's definitely a godsend for indy authors (and me!) I'm not sure that it does yet, however, so I'm hanging onto my reservations.

The money for them evidently comes from hiring one of their freelance editors -- I'm thinking ala Upwork, where Reedsy takes a cut from every transaction. I can't confirm this. I had to watch a video simply to find out the editor thing. There aren't any rates for these editors listed on the website; you have to request a quote. They also limit the number of editors you can contact to five at a time (or possibly five period) for a quote. This is still beyond annoying to me. I also could be wrong about what I just typed, too.

You know what frustrates me most? That it takes me three days and about a thousand clicks to find out information that I'm still not sure is correct. A simple About page with the information printed in text would assure me that I'm not dealing with a bunch of college kids running something out of their dorm room. Bottom line, be careful. Read the fine print, that is, if you can find any.

Freely Sticky

Hott Notes is a "free sticky notes reminder program for your desktop. It´s simple, yet attractive interface makes it intuitive and easy to use. Not only can you post sticky note reminders, you can make checklists, set alarms, draw on your notes, and archive. Other features include a Notebook to organize your notes, a backup system to keep your notes safe, and much more." (OS: Windows 2000/XP/Vista/7)

What I thought was interesting about this freeware is the notebook option -- if you use sticky notes for organizing scenes, characters or what have you with your writing you could turn them into virtual versions with this program and keep them saved in the program's notebook (you can see the notebook window in the center of the screenshot up there.)

Free Trees

Visual Family Tree Maker is a freeware that "simplifies this process of building your family tree. Just fill in the blanks for name, birth, death and other vital information. Individuals are automatically linked with family members. Add an unlimited number of photographs, maps, census forms, birth certificates and other documents. Associate each with only one or with multiple individuals. Make Wall charts, shows the root person and his descendants or ancestors." [PBW notes: this could prove valuable for series writers with complicated dynasties or who are writing historical or family sagas; I'd use it to tree your cast of characters] (OS: Windows XP/Vista/7/8 [32-Bit/64-Bit])

Draftback

Draftback is a Chrome extension that allows you to see what edits and revisions you've made while working in Google Docs. I found it via author Jeff Somer's hilarious post about it here (and personally I agree with everything he said about the idea of recording yourself editing a doc for vanity purposes.)

The reason I'm still posting about it is for the benefit of collaborating writers who work online together. Using this could save tons of time for writing partners who can use it to see what changes have been made by the other partner versus telling them via lengthy e-mails, writing up change notes, etc. I think this might also prove helpful to indie writers who want to work online with their editors. This could also be a pretty decent teaching tool for editing, particularly with students who can follow along and see how the process works.

Another NaNo Ten

Ten Things You Can Have for Free

(The NaNoWriMo edition)

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Need an online story organizer with storage? Hiveword is all that plus 100% free.

Language is a Virus is an amazing site filled with tons of free writing games, prompts, generators, and everything else a scribe might need to inspire some new ideas (or simply blow off some steam.) My favorite time waster is their electronic poetry hub (like a virtual version of Magnetic Poetry.)

To get first and last names for your characters without slogging through a phone book, try this quickie character name generator.

If you need to put together a novel notebook for NaNo, try a virtual freeware version like AM-Notebook or Keynote, or a test dive into a printable guide full of templates and examples with my own Novel Notebook.

Plot a scene out before you write it with my Scene On-Call Worksheet (and for more on how it works, here's the post I wrote about it.)

Scribe is "a free cross-platform note-taking program designed especially with historians in mind. Think of it as the next step in the evolution of traditional 3x5 note cards. Scribe allows you to manage your research notes, quotes, thoughts, contacts, published and archival sources, digital images, outlines, timelines, and glossary entries. You can create, organize, index, search, link, and cross-reference your note and source cards. You can assemble, print, and export bibliographies, copy formatted references to clipboard, and import sources from online catalogs. You can store entire articles, add extended comments on each card in a separate field, and find and highlight a particular word within a note or article. Scribe's uses range from an undergraduate history research seminar to a major archival research project." (OS: Windows, Mac OS X)

If you want a novel plot worksheet that is fast, simple, and only takes 1 page, try my Ten Point Plot Template (and following the template is one I filled out so you can see how it works.)

The End -- Now What? is a free 105 page writing/publishing advice e-book for NaNoWriMo participants from Book Baby, one of the sponsors of NaNoWriMo; download your copy here.

A trick to finding great titles for free: Feed a keyword from your story into the Verse search engine at Bartleby.com, then look through the results to see how poets used your keyword in their work. Often you'll find amazing ideas in the lines of e.e. cummings, Emily Dickinson, John Keats and other passionate versesmiths.

Way of the Cheetah, my how-to writing book, is free for anyone to read, download, print out and share until December 1st.

NaNo To-Do

In October I'll be assembling all that I'll need to write productively during NaNoWriMo, and since I'm rather (okay, very) OCD about planning and organizing my story stuff that means putting together:

Session schedule
Novel notebook
Draft synopsis
Rough Outline (2-3 sentence chapter summaries)
Title Idea Sheet
Cover Art Idea Sheet
Character Name Sheet (an A-Z list I'll update as I write so I don't repeat letters or similar-sounding names)
Wordcount Widget
Personal NaNoWriMo Logo (in case this year's official badge is as lame as 2013)

It sounds like a lot, but it's really just the bare bones for me. Depending on the ideas I have for the novel, I'll probably do something other things like make character art, create story and character palettes, collect pics of body models, setting inspiration and other story-related visuals and keep them in a smash journal, etc.

I can already sense some of your organic writers out there cringing in horror. I'm taking all the fun out of it, right? Not from my POV. For me this is the fun part. Some writers work best making their discoveries about the story as they write, while others like to use the planning stages for that. I'm the latter. In fact I think I'm the Queen of the latter. If any of the above appeals to you, feel free to try the same or similar. Honestly though, you really don't have to do anything for NaNoWriMo but show up and write 50,000 words during the month of November.

Meanwhile, to do my part for NaNoWriMo 2014 as in years past I'm making my how-to writing productivity e-book, Way of the Cheetah, available now for free via Google Docs for anyone to read online, download, print out or share until December 1st (and to go to the e-book, click here.) I'm also interested to know if any of you who are thinking about joining in this year will prepare in any way before November 1st. If you do and you want to share, let us know your plans in comments.

Finished (For Now, Anyway)

After much dithering I decided to edit and finish my Just Write Thursday story, Managed, now retitled Breath of Ice. I also made it into an e-book, which you can get in .pdf format by clicking on the cover art:



I'm not finished Yet -- okay, couldn't resist the pun -- so I'll probably extend this into a novella or novel, or make it the first of a story trilogy (the possibilities need to percolate a bit longer.) In the meantime, I've also uploaded a copy of my story edits here with tracked changes, in case anyone wants to see what I do with a rough draft.

This was a lot of fun; I've had Steph and Yet in the back of my mind for a long time, and it was good to get them out on the page and see what they could do.

Win with Wattpad

I was checking out the NaNoWriMo sponsor offer page for this year and noticed this intriguing addition:

"Wattpad is a free writing and reading app that unlocks a global audience of more than 18 million readers. It is mobile and web-based, meaning that your writing is always with you, wherever and whenever you find inspiration and time to write. In honor of NaNoWriMo, Wattpad will be offering a $2,000 prize to one lucky NaNoWriMo winner who is also a Wattpad user. Check back on November 1st for contest details."