Best of the Web for Writers: Tom’s mid-December Discoveries

December 14, 2007 by Tom Colvin
Filed under: 3-Miscellaneous Topics 

The internet has been full of important news and information for writers   over the past couple of weeks, with my routine review of over 130 blogs and websites turning up lots of items.

Zoho and Microsoft Office 2007 Among Top Ten Apps:  The folks at LifeHacker single out two software programs for writers to include in its list of Top 10 New and Approved Apps of 2007.  After initial disenchantment with the new Office, LifeHacker has adjusted to the new interface and gives it a thumbs up.  Webware Zoho Suite  has overtaken Google Docs & Spreadsheets with its steady stream of upgrades and enhancements.

Guidelines for Article Submission:  A couple weeks ago, I posted a couple of items about Article Directories, an alternative route to building an online identity as a writer.  The Home Business Archive has just posted some detailed and  useful guidelines for submissions to such directories.  Another posting there explains why article directories are so useful.

VersionShelf:  Here’s an internet startup that will certainly intrigue our reader Jeremy Osborne.  He mentioned in a comment here a couple days ago that he is exploring the open source program subversioning, a system to keep track of evolving versions of, say, one’s novel.  VersionShelf will take subversioning files and store them offline.  Maybe Jeremy will check this out for us and report about its usefulness.

Online Portfolio:  Freelance Switch offers a full exploration of setting up a Killer Online Portfolio.  This post is certainly worth reading by freelance writers.

Painless Time Management:  AppScout provides a helpful review of a new time management facility that has just entered “public beta.”  Web-based but supported by a downloaded component, Rescue Time keeps an eye on which online and desktop computer programs you are actually working in — Word, for instance, or Gmail, or Facebook — and gives you a report at the end of the day.  Kinda frightening!  For now, it’s free.  I may give it a try myself.

OpenOffice in Your Browser?:  Web startup Ulteo is still in its early days of development, lifting its veil only slightly to the public.  This facility promises to take the OpenOffice suite online, competing head-on with Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Zoho and Thinkfree.  This may be a killer application, a free writer-friendly office suite with both desktop and online options.  Read about it at Lifehacker.  Read the comments too, which indicate some geeky anxiety about how this application will work.  Read another review at Download Squad.

READ MORE of the best for writers at Tom’s Shared Google Reader Items.  There’s a lot more to discover.

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