Free software tools, WD review, brainstorming with MaxThink, cypberjournalism and more

Posted by Tom Colvin

July 30, 2008

Free Download A Day is another website that seeks out and offers up free software. It’s name is not entirely accurate. Some of thw software offered remains on the site for days for free. Currently it lists several tools that might interest writers. We’ve mentioned EverNote before — many people swear by it as an free-form organizer. Ever wanted a photocopy machine, but didn’t want to pay for it? Another useful little program — iCopy — will tie your scanner and printer together to churn out photocopies in a snap. There’s even a workhorse project manager there — Open Workbench. It’s too powerful for most writers, but useful for freelance writers with multiple projects involving lots of people may find it useful.

A few days back I wrote about the Writer’s Digest annual review of software for writers. The article has just been posted at the WD website.

What are you thinking about? MaxThink might just help you snag and shape your thoughts into your next blockbuster book. This is an outliner on steriods, while remaining rather easy to use. This was one of my favorite programs back in DOS days, but I lost sight of it when I switched over to Microsoft Windows. It has matured a lot over the years. The program’s website offers up a number of useful demo flash videos to explain what it does and how it works. If any of you tries this out, please write a comment below about your impressions of the software. For a spirited discussion of the program by informed users, check out this discussion thread at Outliner Software, a fascinating forum for anyone interested in how outlining can impact on one’s productivity. This forum is, by the way, one of my favorite — I drop in at least once or twice a month.

Cyber Journalist is an extremely information website for writers with a reportorial bent. General writers might learn a thing or two here as well, particularly about the future trends for writers.

I’ve uncovered even more stuff of interest on the web. You can access it at Tom’s Shared Items, hosted by Google Reader. After a long lapse, I’m back to updating this list occasionally. I monitor over 150 blogs to pick out the very best information for writers — it’s like my very own resource file that I’m sharing with all of you.

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11-Keeping Up with Software, 3-Collecting Ideas, 3-Miscellaneous Topics

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