As far as I’m concerned, it’s important for writers to become acquainted with other aspects of their craft, and to explore areas that are not immediately perceived to be “relevant”.
Read MoreA printing press at the British Library
Technology
Girl in black leather jacket. Photo from Pexels. Licence: CC0
10 note-taking apps for writers
in How to, Reviews, Technology, Reference
How can you remember all those ideas you have or snippets of conversation you hear while out and about? These ten note-taking approaches should help.
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Screenshot of the British Library website, by Terry Freedman
Will literature as we know it exist in the future?
in Events, Technology, News & views
It’s all very well being able to write, but what about how we write, that is the tools we use? There is a fascinating exhibition coming in London in April 2019 that explores this.
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With apologies to Edvard Munch
5 Ways to guard against losing your work UPDATED
What could be worse than losing all of your carefully crafted work? Here are 5 ways to protect yourself against that happening.
Read MoreA universal URL for your Amazon books
Booklinker is a brilliant url shortener for your Amazon books and Amazon author page.
Read More7 useful features of a Kindle
I love my Kindle, and there are 7 features of it that I find exceedingly useful. Here they are.
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Writing on a netbook
Can writers benefit from using technology that is old, and without much functionality?
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But will he dictate even more of what you see?
Immersive journalism
How will Virtual Reality reportage affect our experience of the news? What are the ethical issues involved?
Read MoreAn experiment in creating a news feed on the Writers' Know-how website
Read all about it: my experiment is setting up a separate news feed.
Read MoreA laptop charging tip
An obvious sort of tip that may be beneficial nevertheless.
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The format makes a difference Photo from www.pexels.com
E-reading vs p-reading: your brain knows the difference
Whether you read books on an ebook reader or read the paper versions instead makes a more profound difference than you might imagine.
Read More7 ways to manage technical support for writers
Most writers use a computer of some sort these days, and the thing about computers is that they go wrong. It’s not an ‘if’, but a ‘when’. In my experience, it happens when you have a deadline for the same day or when you were just about to dash out of the door to start your holiday. Unless you’re working for a company or some sort of co-operative, chances are you are your own technician. So what can you do to minimise the pain?Reflections on writing and technology
Many of my articles on this blog are reflections on writing and technology. Although there are some writers who eschew the idea of technology, I believe that if you define “technology” widely enough, it becomes obvious that all writers use technology.
Even those who are fortunate enough to have an assistant to whom they can dictate their thoughts, and who will then type them up, are using technology – albeit at one remove
How to display your word count
in How to, Technology
I am not sure if displaying one’s word count is a good idea or not. On the one hand, you are publicly committing yourself to writing, because if your word count remain static then it appears to everyone that you are not doing anything. On the other hand, appearing not to be doing any writing could be quite embarrassing.5 reasons that writers should use spreadsheets
Many people have the impression that spreadsheets are complicated, used for number-crunching, and hold little of interest to the writer. However, as an organisational and time-saving tool, a simple spreadsheet is hard to beat. Here is how I use them in my writing.
Read MoreVictorian Humour
Victorian humour? A contradiction in terms, surely? Not according to Bob Nicholson, a lecturer in history who is on a mission to make Victorian jokes funny again (which presupposes they were funny in the first place, of course, but one assumes they were!).
Now, you may think this has nothing to do with writing, but it has. Bob is using a computing technique known as “text mining” to trawl through loads of Victorian publications held by the British Library, and extract jokes.
Further thoughts on using Word for Desktop Publishing: Text Boxes
in Handy hints, Technology, Word
Back in April 2014 I penned a few lines on using Word as a desktop publishing tool. On the whole it works, but, as I noted then, it does have serious limitations.
I mentioned in that article that it was impossible to use automated cross-referencing between text boxes. Since then I have discovered something even worse.
Using Scrivener for blogging
A short while ago I published an article called 5 reasons for using Scrivener for writing books.
I wondered: could Scrivener be used to write blog articles?
Using Word for desktop publishing
in How to, Technology, Word
Can Word be used for desktop publishing? The answer is yes — but only as a last resort. Here’s a summary of my recent experience.
Read MoreLet's think about ebook cover design
I’m involved in a great 5 week course (free!) for teachers called "Crafting your own ebook". I’ll be leading a session soon on the subject of designing a book cover, and although I’ve found some great resources, I thought I’d turn to the community to find out what tips and/or websites others might suggest.
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