Angela Booth's Writing Blog

Mac Users: write more with MacSpeech Dictate voice recognition

I've been using MacSpeech Dictate for around a year; the program has increased my productivity immensely.

If you're on a Mac, and are wondering whether this program is for you, visit my new lens MacSpeech Dictate Review: Superb Voice Recognition for the Mac and watch some video demos.

Tweet, tweet... are you using Twitter?

Are you using Twitter yet? You should be; it's an easy way to get writing jobs. When you do join Twitter, it can be confusing. Who should you follow? Where are they? Here's a good method of finding people to follow.

Ten People All Twitter Beginners Should be Following recommends:

"When you start using Twitter for the first time it can feel a bit overwhelming, almost like entering a really crowded train station during rush hour on a Friday afternoon. There are lots of conversations and commotion going on everywhere, but you are in the station by yourself, an outsider, and certainly not a participant."

BTW, you can follow me. :-)

Write your way to a million-dollar income

Write And Sell Your Writing: The Power-Write Report -- 2009

The Web has made it possible for ANY writer, no matter how new or inexperienced, to turn writing into a fabulous career. If you're stuck in a soul-destroying, or just boring job, writing is your way out.

Fab Freelance Ezine helps you to understand the fast-changing world of the freelance writer, and sets you well on the way to making the income that you want to make, and that many writers are already making.

Subscribe today, and receive "Write And Sell Your Writing: The Power-Write Report -- 2009" just for subscribing.

Amazon's ebook reader: here we go again

Wired News reports "Amazon Kindle Coming Early Next Week":

Amazon's ugly-as-hell prototype e-Book reader will make landfall—in sleeker form, one hopes—on Monday or Tuesday next week.

Will this reader launch ebooks into the mainstream? I'd love to think so, but after a decade of ebook readers, it's hard to believe that this one could be the killer machine.

Twittering: uses for Twitter in your writing process

Twitter is an unusual application: it's a cross between instant messaging and blogging.

My first reaction to Twitter was that it was completely useless for any writing purpose. But...

It's addictive. You've got 140 characters, around 25 words, to say whatever you want to say in your "tweets".

So after trying Twitter, I've come up with these uses for Twitter in your writing processes:

* A mini-blog. You've got 25 words to make your point - just right if you're blogging in the odd five minutes here and there. You don't actually set up a blog - you just tweet whenever you have something to say;

You can "blog" with Twitter using your mobile phone, Instant Messenger, via the Web site, or via a desktop application like Twitterific;

* A link blog - post any URLs you find useful to Twitter, and you can find them again quickly, as well as share them with friends;

* As a writing journal. Each time you complete a page of your novel, or an article, post to Twitter. This gives you an idea of how much you're writing - or not writing, if you're procrastinating;

* As a collaborative tool. If you're working on a project, you can send a tweet to let others know what you're working on. If you're using a Web application like Google Docs, post the URL so that others can update it.

How do you use Twitter? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

Writer's Mac 2007: Best Mac programs for writers continued

Judging by the popularity of last year's post "Writers' Mac: Best Mac programs for writers", lots of people are switching to the Mac.

Good for you - I hope your Mac enhances your creativity, as it does mine; I'm sure it will.

Now I'm an old Mac hand, with two years on the Mac - if you don't count my Apple IIe in the 1980s - I thought I'd revisit that post and update it with great new Mac writers' applications I've found in 2007.

BTW, I still LOVE all those apps in this post, and still use each and every one. :-)

Best Mac programs for writers found in 2007

* Skitch - image heaven

It's cute, uber-useful and I use it every single day. It makes creating tutorials and articles FUN. A gem. Still in invitation-only beta as of this writing, but will doubtless be out of beta soon.

* Scrivener - writing environment

Scrivener is a continuing delight. It allows the creative process to be appropriately chaotic, then helps you to put all the pieces together. I adore it.

* EagleFiler - press F1 and it's saved

Fantastically useful, especially since it saves all Web pages, PDFs etc in on your hard drive, not in a proprietary format. I use it to keep track of Comments I make on blogs and forums, and email messages I write to my writing students.

[Update]

* Tinderbox - brainstorming and information management for writers

Tinderbox bills itself as "the tool for notes", but it's much, much more. It's unique. I've been using it for a couple of years, and still feel as if I haven't scratched the surface of what it can do.

Love the Mac. :-)

Technorati Tags: Mac, Mac Tiger

Comments on this blog: authentication now required, sorry

As if there weren't enough blog spam already, a Web site has started selling blog spam packages.

The site hires people to leave spam comments on blogs. As you might imagine, this is a royal pain in the you-know-what for the blog owners, like me, who have to manually delete all the garbage.

Authentication via TypeKey is now required

I'm always pleased when a reader comments on this blog, and I sincerely hope that you'll continue to do so. I love comments. But unfortunately with so many spam comments now infesting this site I've made TypeKey authentication mandatory, and I apologize. I do hope that you'll comment anyway - you only have to sign up with TypeKey once.

And for the spammers and those who hire them...

Thinking of hiring someone to spam blogs? You're wasting your money

If you own a site and you imagine that you can hire people to spam others and that it will work for you - it won't. The "for hire" spam comments are easy to pick, and the comments just get deleted. You're wasting your money and everyone's time.

Got two computers and want to share a clipboard?

This is incredibly nifty:

Copy and paste between computers in three easy steps

I'm always Bluetoothing notes and documents from my Mac to Windows and vice-versa - this is a great time-saver.

Try it - you'll like it.

Build blog buzz with ReviewMe

ReviewMe is a brand new service created to bring advertisers and bloggers together. Advertisers who want to create buzz for a product or service can choose from blogs which are signed up for the service, and get a review. This is great for both advertisers and bloggers.

ReviewMe for advertisers
ReviewMe works seamlessly. You just sign up for the service, define the product you want reviewed, and click a tag cloud to check out the blogs available in your category, and buy some reviews. No need to spend hours hunting through the search engines to find blogs in your category, and then sit down and and write email messages asking for reviews - you know that the bloggers who have signed on with ReviewMe are happy to do reviews.

A ReviewMe review gets you backlinks, and an unbiased review. Prospective buyers can check out someone else's opinion on your product. I do a lot of software reviews on this blog, and the reviews (all of them unpaid to date), are some of the most-visited pages on this site.

ReviewMe for bloggers
If you're a blogger, you'll be relieved that ReviewMe is so easy to use. The signup process is painless and fast.

Once you've signed up your blog(s), you just sit back and wait for review requests. If a product appeals to you, you can choose to review it, and post the review on your blog. That's it - you're done.

Disclosure: the above is a paid review.

Technorati Tags: blog tools, advertising

Real literary life moves into Second Life

Click to enlarge

Have you explored Second Life yet? This virtual world is now three years old. Writers and publishers are taking notice.

The Gardian's "Braving a new world" discusses the literary world of Second Life:

Recreating the legendary Parisian bookshop within a virtual world may seem like a bizarre idea but, somehow, it works perfectly. I walk through the doors and into a room lined with bookshelves filled with brightly coloured spines, armchairs and stools tucked into cosy nooks and crannies. The Shakespare and Co motto - "Be not inhospitable to strangers / lest they be angels in disguise" - is in pride of place above a doorway. It is arguably a little more tidy than the original, but then most things in Second Life are. It is also a bookshop with a sense of atmosphere, the kind where you feel that maybe you'd like to sit down, kick back and browse for a while. It conveys both warmth and purpose - features that many virtual world buildings lack.

Technorati Tags: books, publishing, virtual reality, second life

Searching for writing information? Search all my sites

If you're a regular reader of this blog, you know that I have several writing-related Web sites.

Finding information on any of those sites just got easier. I've created a Google Custom Search Engine just for my sites.

Check out Angela Booth Writing And Copywriting if you're looking for info on copywriting, freelance writing, writing in general, and blogging.

Technorati Tags: copywriting, fiction, freelance writing, how to blog, make money writing, search engines

Blog housekeeping notes: comments and feeds

On a housekeeping note:

* Comments - thank you for your comments, they're ALWAYS appreciated, as are trackbacks. However, because of the prevalence of spam, comments are still moderated, that is, they don't go live until I read them. Spam has slowed down, but there's too much of it, so it means that comments need to be moderated or the blog would turn into a pharma-advertising wasteland;

* The RSS feeds are now set to excerpts only, because of content theft.

I know that comment-moderation and trimmed RSS feeds make reading this blog harder than it should be, and I'm sorry for that. I hope you'll bear with the hassles until karma catches up with spammers and scammers. Of course, this may not be in this lifetime. :-)

Technorati Tags: blogs, scams, spam, Web-spam

Content theft - it's widespread

Whether you have a Web site or a blog, or both, you'll soon find yourself up against content theft. This occurs in various ways. Someone can republish ALL your content as their own, or "scrape" the content, usually via an RSS feed.

Although some writers don't mind their content being scraped, I completely agree with Amy Gahran at Contentious:

In a nutshell, someone who republishes your content without authorization is stealing from you. Don’t fall into the fallacy of, “It’s publicity, so it’s good for me.” If it’s a splog or otherwise unsavory site, and if they don’t even credit you or link back to you, then they’re getting all the benefit from content you’ve worked to create. With nothing for you. Plus, they’re probably damaging your reputation.

The reputation-management aspect is what concerns me. I don't want my name and content to be associated with sleazy sites.

What can you do about scrapers? Not much, unfortunately. It's up to Google and the other search engines to manage splogs (spam blogs) but since they're gaining revenue from them, the incentive isn't there.

Technorati Tags: brand management, spam, Web publishing, Web-spam

Writing research gets easier with Google News Archive Search

I've been exploring the new Google News Archive Search.

Google says:

News archive search provides an easy way to search and explore historical archives. Users can search for events, people, ideas and see how they have been described over time. In addition to searching for the most relevant articles for their query, users can get an historical overview of the results by browsing an automatically created timeline. Search results include both content that is accessible to all users and content that requires a fee. Articles related to a single story within a given time period are grouped together to allow users to see a broad perspective on the events.

I did a couple of searches, and most of the info I was interested in (from 70 years ago) is locked - it needs a subscription to access it. However, I think this will change as newspapers begin to see the possibilities in monetizing their archives.

Google News Archive Search should cut down on the research time required for many projects.

Technorati Tags: be more productive, Google, information work, research

Watch what you write online: it won't go away

I've often been bemused (and yes, shocked - but then I'm easily shocked) by the blase way in which writers spill their thoughts online. I'm not advocating self-censorship, or any other kind of censorship, but the Internet is forever. As BL Ochman points out:

Even if something is removed from a site or blog, it can be found in the 55 billion pages archived on The Wayback Machine archives...the bottom line is, and always has been, if you don't want the whole world to see it, don't put it on the Internet.

My very first Web site, circa 1997, is still drifting unanchored through cyberspace. I stopped paying for the hosting for that site many years ago, but it's still on various servers and comes up regularly for searches.

Please watch your words online. If you're trying to sell a novel, for example, don't complain about the numbers of rejections you've had - or about a specific editor or publishing house. Don't get into flame wars or arguments with other writers in discussion groups: editors read these groups too. Don't post anything on your blog or on a social networking site that you wouldn't want to read on the front page of a newspaper.

Expect that anything that you write online will be read by people forever. And that includes (supposedly private) email.

Technorati Tags: branding, email, how to blog, Web publishing, Web writing, Writer's Web site

Writer's Web site, writer's blog, or writer's wiki?

Which will you choose, a writer's Web site, a blog, or a wiki?

Decisions, decisions. If you're still grappling with the idea of setting up your own writing Web site, and wondering whether you should start a blog instead, here's another format to consider for your site -- a wiki.

The NYT article: "New Web Sites Seeking Profit in Wiki Model" describes startups which are basing their business plans on the wiki model, however companies have used wikis for their internal Web sites for years. The benefit of a wiki is that it provides an easy structure for a site which will be used by many people.

More info on wikis

* From Wikipedia - the ultimate group wiki project

* How to use a wiki

I've got a PBWiki, which I use to keep information and notes for new projects; it's a private wiki. (You don't have to share wikis, or make them public, if you don't want to.) I recommend PBWiki highly (I've got no connection to the company) and recommend them -- a PBWiki is fun and easy to use. Whether you make your wiki public or not is up to you. :-)

Technorati Tags: be more productive, Web publishing, Web software, wikis, YOUR writer's Web site