I’m sharing here just the very best of the best for writers concerned about building their careers — blogs and websites that I recommend that you visit on a regular basis.

THE CREATIVE PENN — productivity and more

Joanna Penn and I tread down similar pathways with our blogs.  The difference?  She does it so much better than i do!  Every time I come up with a new idea to introduce into my blogging life, I discover that Joanna’s already doing it.  E-books, podcasts, screencasts, Aweber mailing list management, harnessing of the social media and more.  And Joanna also writes blog posts on many of the topics that I cover.  Visit her site — and be sure to click on the Author 2.0 free download, a virtual road map to building your professional career.  Insider tip:  follow Joanna on Twitter.  She scours the internet for the best posts of the day and shares her findings via tweets, rather than in her blog.

SOCIAL MEDIA EXAMINER — building your platform

The brain-child of Michael Stelzner, whose blog White Papers has long been popular with copywriters, the Social Media Examiner promises to guide you through “the social media jungle.”  Stelzner has attracted a group of experts to share their knowledge on how best to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media.  While many blogs cover this area, none is as comprehensive or as helpful as this one.

THE BOOK DESIGNER — how your writing “looks” matters

Writers often don’t pay much attention to how their work “looks.”  Many just shove that responsibility off on a publisher or simply follow the easiest route to self-publication, which too many times takes the form of a drab Microsoft Office document turned into a PDF.  Blogger and graphic designer Joel Friedlander aims to help writers do better with his new blog The Book Designer. His subject matter, in fact, stretches way beyond just book design and is becoming indispensible for writers serious about their career.

SELF-PUBLISHING REVIEW — tips about the right way to self-publish

Self-Publishing Review is an online magazine which should be on every author’s frequent reading list.  But it is more than just a collection of news stories.  It is developing into an engaging community of writers and readers.  Here’s the way it describes itself:

“Self-Publishing Review is a central site devoted to self-publishing news and reviews. It is also a social network where writers, readers, and everyone can join and connect, so please register. The aim of the site is to improve the attitude toward self-publishing and help authors find readers.”

THE BOOK PROMOTION BLOG — how to sell yourself and your books

While there are a number of fine blogs and websites about promoting and selling one’s books, in my view John Kremer’s blog and his related sites are the very best.  One can subscribe to receive this blog via email. John will not inundate you with posts, but they will come frequently enough to remind writers to continually think about book promotion.  Be sure also to check out John website, which contains a lot of useful resource material.  John is also the main force behind The Bookmarketing Network, an invaluable forum for writers.

MEDIA BISTRO — joining the community

Writing is, of course, a solitary craft.  But writers should not spend all their time in the garret.  In fact, it’s important to feel like one is part of the bigger community of writers.  Media Bistro and its constellation of activities offers just that kind of community.  No matter where you live, Media Bistro will bring you into the fold.  It’s Daily Morning Briefing email newsletter is one of the first I read every day.  I’ve joined its affiliated membership group AvantGuild.  I’ve taken some of its online courses and have even arranged my travel schedule to attend a couple of its events.  Even though I live in far-off Manila, I still feel like I’m part of the thriving community of writers in the US.

READ WRITE WEB — my Sunday morning read

Read Write Web has grown beyond its original purpose of covering topics of interest to professionals who find themselves writing on the web.  It now covers the web more generally, with lots of articles about social media, new software applications, cloud computing and so forth.  I make it a habit to review the site every Sunday, when it publishes a list of its top stories of the week.  I, as a writer, almost always find something worth a full read.

A BONUS SITE:  LIFEHACKER — not just for writers

Lifehacker is the grand-daddy of the personal productivity websites.  It covers a broad sweep of topics — but they all boil down to how to get things done better, faster, cheaper.  The blog has many contributors and its audience is huge.

CONCLUSION

In our busy world, who can possibly keep up with 101 websites?  For me these seven will suffice.

But what about Becoming A Writer — Seriously,  you ask?  [You did ask, didn't you?]  Well, I view this site more like a reference book handy on one’s work table.  I try to catch important information for writers as soon as I can.  But all that gets shoved into one of the “chapters” listed on the right sidebar, where it’s always available for reference.  Three to four thousand unique visitors come to this blog from search engines each month, all searching out some particular piece of information.  I’m pleased to see that many stick on the site for awhile, digging around for other material.

So do keep us in mind.  Still, bookmark the sites above for a weekly visit — those are the ones that can make a real difference to you and your career.

QUESTION:  WHAT SITES WOULD YOU ADD TO THIS LIST?

Do you have a website or blog that you yourself consider indispensable to you as a writer?  Share it with us — and explain why it is so important to you.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Leverage Your Blog Posts to Drive More Traffic Back to Your Blog (buildabetterblog.com)
• 9 Tips to Increase Traffic to Your Blog (socialmediatoday.com)
• Launching a Blog Successfully in 15 Days (sixrevisions.com)

IPHONE & IPAD:  EXTENDING THE REACH OF EBOOKS

While most of the attention at last week’s announcement of the new iPhone OS 4.0 focused on application multi-tasking, writers will be most interested to learn that iBooks will be supported on the iPhone.  In other words, one will be able to read many of the books in the iBook store on their iPhone, as well as on their iPad.

TWITTER CHEAT SHEET

If you are still unsure about how to use Twitter, take a look at the Twitter Cheat Sheet post at Web Worker Daily.  This is the best short summary of Twitter inner-workings I’ve come across, so useful that I’ve saved a copy into my How-To file in EverNote for easy reference.

GOOGLE DOCS MAJOR UPDATE

Google has upped the ante in its competition with Microsoft Word, with a major upgrade of its Google Apps announced today.  Mashable reports the changes in a particularly detailed post.  A particular focus of the upgrade is in the online application’s collaboration features, where it moves to the head of the class.

The MICROSOFT PERSPECTIVE

The Telegraph UK reported some time back that Microsoft has released a beta of its own online Office tools via Windows Live, taking on Google Docs and Zoho on their own turf.  As you’ve probably heard, the forthcoming Microsoft Office 2010 intends to integrate its desktop application with online capabilities.  Included will be free online storage of documents via Sky Drive.  Hmmm, I wonder who will win this particular war?  I’m betting on Microsoft.  What do you think?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Microsoft’s New Office Faces the Web (technologyreview.com)
• Seesmic’s Web App Now Does Threaded Twitter Conversations (Barb Dybwad/Mashable!) (techmeme.com)
• Paper.li Turns Your Twitter Stream Into A Daily Newspaper (thenextweb.com)
• Handy Social Media Cheat Sheet by CMO (shoutmeloud.com)

WHAT AN EXTRAORDINARY TIME it is for “the book.”  Just what it “is” keeps getting redefined, as new technological innovation keeps coming up with different interpretations.  The latest I’ve come across is Text 2.0, which introduces rather remarkable physical interaction between book and reader.

What if, for example, the physical book might somehow know exactly what words one is reading at any given moment?  And what if the book could somehow respond, offering new content, translations, word pronunciation and more?  It’s a bizarre concept, difficult to comprehend.

Well, there are people working on such a thing.  Words don’t do the concept justice, so take a look at this video.

As a writer, do you see any utility for this kind of innovation?  To understand what the tech world is making of it all, read the articles linked below, all of them published online today.

Related articles by Zemanta

• “Text 2.0″ Eye-Tracking Reading Companion: Crazy Or Crazy Awesome? (techcrunch.com)
• “Text 2.0″ eye-tracking reading companion: crazy or crazy awesome? (crunchgear.com)
• Eye-Tracking Tablets And The Promise of Text 2.0 (wired.com)

This comic strip came along at an appropriate time for me.  Just a few days ago here in Manila, we had a major awards night for Philippine graphic novels.  Bet you didn’t know that graphic novels — book length comic strips, more or less — have been popular in the Philippines for quite awhile, and some of the best anonymous illustrators now in the US are Filipino.

I find it an interesting branch of writing, more to it than immediately strikes the eye.  I bet this genre will be hugely popular on tablet e-readers.  A good thing, as comic strips are beginning to disappear from daily newspapers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• More Comics on Your Mobile (prathambooks.org)
• No Jokes: Newspapers Cutting Comic Strips (abcnews.go.com)
• Comic strip to inspire new generation of activists in rally against corruption (telegraph.co.uk)

The International Herald Tribune, in its weekend edition, carried a think piece by Michiko Kakutani that I find very sobering.  In the IHT, it is titled “Snip her, paste there: Onslaught of digital age makes perplexing jumble of our former certainties.” In the parent New York Times, it is titled “Texts Without Context,” and it is available online. As writers and custodians of culture, we should be very alarmed.

Here are some snippets:

• “…online collectivism, social networking and popular software designs are changing the way people think and process information…”
• “…increased internet use is rewiring our brains, impairing our ability to think deeply and creatively even as it improves our ability to multitask.”
• “We all may read books the way we increasingly read magazines and newspapers: a little bit here, a little bit there.”

Kakutani rummages through the growing literature that explores the disruptive consequences of our wired world and cites disturbing observation after disturbing observation.  As I read through the article, I couldn’t help but wonder:  what are the effects on writers?  What role are we to play in keeping our cultures grounded, in underscoring the commonality of the human condition?  Or will the forces of fragmentation simply overpower culture, leading to increasing conflict at every turn.  Will authors simply become irrelevant, except as partisans for increasingly narrow interests and points of view.

I’m not optimistic.  I see nothing but fragments here, fragments there, with nothing stitching it all back together.  Read Kakutani’s article to get a full sense of the situation.

I think it will take a generation at least to come to terms with the new realities.  In the meantime, I’m tempted to just lay down my pen, knowing that anything I write will simply add to the mess.

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS?

Related articles by Zemanta

• Kakutani ’s Look at Internet Optimists & Pessimists (pff.org)

ULYSSES 2.0 — Expectional tool for Mac

Many writers who use the Macintosh will know the name Ulysses.  It’s a text editor that’s b een around since 2003.  Now there’s Ulysses 2.0, and it looks really interesting.  Not being a Mac person myself, I haven’t been able to personally test it, but the software homepage sure makes it look enticing.  Would love to heard back from any of you Mac-ites about your experience with the software.  Just leave a comment below.

100 TIPS AND TOOLS

Block off the entire weekend and prepare to be totally absorbed by all that is offered in 100 Essential Tips and Tools for Writers of the Future.  This is one of the most useful compilations in a single place of information and links for writers.  The tips are divided into several sections:

• Marketing and Branding
• Organization and Project Management
• Business and Career
• Collaboration
• Brainstorming
• Finding Work
• Web Tips and Tutorials
• Finding Work
• Staying Cutting Edge

Thanks for our reader Amber Johnson for this this link with us.

NOZBE 2.0 — Project and Time Management

Nozbe is a web-based time and project management facility that is set up according to the Getting Things Done methodology.  Just released is more powerful version 2.0.

Nozbe offers several versions, according to one’s monthly plan.  I’ve had the free version since it’s early days and it’s been capable enough for my limited needs as a free-lancer with only a handful of projects.  The free versions allows one of plan and track up to five projects.  Busier writers may wish to upgrade to a more powerful plan, at a very reasonable cost.

For an overview, watch the video in our blog’s sidebar — or visit our VIDEO FOR WRITERS collection, now with over 110 videos aimed directly at working writers.

Related articles by Zemanta

• GTD Refresh, Part 3: Projects (lifehack.org)
• Adobe InDesign CS3 Essentials – How to Select a Text (5min.com)

*****

GENERAL:

TOM: Not being a poet, I do not have any understanding at all about how a poet approaches writing.  The romantic view is that poets just listen for the muse to speak to them.  Sudden inspiration drives the pen.  No thinking, organizing or even very conscious discipline during the writing process is necessary.  Is that romantic view of poetry accurate?

KAREN: It’s both romantic and accurate.  The initial impulse of the poem is much as you describe.  Suddenly, something hits.  Some metaphor suggests itself in an otherwise ordinary day.  Then the scribbling begins to see where it might lead.  Richard Hugo in “The Triggering Town” refers to the initiating subject.  So perhaps it’s the view of laundry hanging on a clothesline that begins to scroll backward in time and suggest a connection to some emotion or experience.  Of course, I’m speaking of my own process here.  Other poets may work in a completely different way. I just let the writing come—without censor or judgment—not even thinking about how anything is connected.  It always is.  That’s the integrity of mind.  Once I have everything I can think of to say—no matter how digressive, silly, or weird written down.  I give it a rest.  Later I come back and take this raw material and see how it makes itself into a poem.

THINKING:

TOM: Do you “think” about your poetry writing in any organized way?  Like mulling over objectives for yourself as a poet?  Tapping your inner resources for ideas for future poems — or even poetry book collections?  I guess what I’m asking is, do poets “think” about their work before actually sitting down to do it?

KAREN: I would hate to think of my thinking process as organized.  And I never have an a priori idea about what a poem is about in the sense of aboutness that, for instance, an essay has.  I find the aboutness somewhere about midway through the rewriting process when it announces itself and I say, “Oh, that’s what’s underneath this idea.  That’s the connection between these two things.  The unconscious is often much more literal than we imagine it is.  Much craftier too.  One thing I know for sure: I have to go slowly with this process or I may lose the point completely.  What do the images suggest?  How do they pile up toward a particular meaning?  A long time ago there was a poetry textbook I love the name of because it says so much about poetry:  How does a poem mean.  I like that because poetry is much more about how a poem means than what it means.

I do often get ideas from reading other people’s poems in much the same way musicians hear and understand what each other might be doing and then add their own spin to it.  When I teach poetry, I often have students read a book or two and find a line that speaks to them and then write toward or away from that line—agreeing or enhancing or arguing with or complaining about the line.  It’s a great exercise.

I don’t actually think about anything before I write.  But I definitely have a very specific feeling that makes me know I am about to engage in poetry.  It’s quite different than other types of writing I’ve done: fiction, essays, plays.

I save scraps of things that I think might eventually work their way into a poem.  I keep a “button box” with little provocative items, words, images, snatches of overheard conversation, metaphors.  When I feel stuck, I mine that box.  Often, the thing I select is just the thing I’ve been groping for.

TOM: Can you describe any thinking routines that you follow?

KAREN: I like to think about the way a poem suggests itself rather like a frayed bit of yarn that I can tug and follow as it unravels itself.  The most important piece for me is to separate writing—that spacious, non-judgmental, attentiveness–with rewriting and editing.  The second two should not take place simultaneous with the first.  Do them much later.  Let the raw materials of the poem breathe and coalesce for a while before rushing in to tidy it up.  And especially be careful with revising that you don’t eviscerate the poem.  I think it best to wait a week or two in stage one—going back to reread and add if anything new occurs, but do not get rid of anything or even put much effort into the order of things for a long while.  As you can tell, poetry is not fast food.  In fact, there are poems in my new book, Hard Bargain, that I have been writing for twenty-five years.

ORGANIZING:

TOM: Do poets organize things?  If so, how and why?

KAREN: When I do get down to editing, I depend very much on my ear to tell me the order of things.  Poetry, whether free verse or formal verse, is, above all, a kind of music.  You have to allow the order of the poem and the music of the poem to interact.  In the new book, there are a number of formal poems: pantoums and villanelles mostly.  These require a different kind of organizing because of the repetition and rhyme scheme. The editing process is fraught with pitfalls.  Go slowly with change.  Sit with it for a while.  Revisit and rewrite.

TOM: Do you have any organizational tricks that helped you create your poetry book?

KAREN: I find organizing a book of poems among the most challenging tasks a writer can undertake.  There are so many things to consider in the movement through a book.  It’s, I think, rather like writing a symphony—pushing toward a flow with has both variety and cohesiveness.  Some poems are difficult to place.  I’ve had poems for years that I have not been able to figure out how to use in any of my books.  They are good poems, but for one reason or another they don’t work in the sequence.

WRITING:

TOM: Do you as a poet simply use Microsoft Word as your word processor of choice?  Or do use some other program for your writing?

KAREN: I use Word.  I use a pen and tablet.  I use paper napkins.  For years, I used a fabulous old IBM Selectic.  Now I use my laptop.

TOM: If you could create a writing software to suit your own needs, what would you include?

KAREN: A simple way to keep track of and compare various versions.  It’s amazing that a fourteen-line poem can often go through fifty revisions.

TOM: What other resources did you keep at hand while you were writing your book?  Dictionaries?  Synonym dictionaries, or rhyming dictionaries?  If so, what specifically do you yourself turn to, either in print, online resources, or software?

KAREN: Occasionally, I consult a rhyming dictionary—as a last result and almost always with poor results.  Otherwise, I do consult dictionary.com to see if I am using a word correctly.  Mostly for poetry, I rely on my own vocabulary, as that sounds most natural to me as the language of my own thoughts.  I believe, as my guru poet William Stafford said, that poetry is the music of ordinary speech.  I try to avoid arcane words or tortured syntax.  Instead, I like a kind of democratic, energetic language.

PROMOTING:

TOM: Do you have a literary agent?  If so, how did you find one?  If not, how do you go about representing yourself to potential publishers?

KAREN: 99% of poets do not have an agent.  There is simply not enough money in poetry for agents to be interested.  I have had various agents for my fiction.  I am not particularly good at getting my work out. Every once in a while, I’ll notice that I have a bunch of new poems lying around and I’ll send then out to literary magazines.  I’m just terrible at the bookkeeping end of these things.  I wish this were not the case.  Maybe somebody could (or already has) invent a good software program for keeping track of submissions.  I would love to know about it.  I just do it rather haphazardly.

TOM: Was your poetry book published by an established publisher?  Or did you self-publish?  How did you choose between the two options, and why?

KAREN: My first two books were published by Nightshade Press which also published my second and third chapbook.  When the Nightshade owners retired, I didn’t have a press for a while. Then FootHills Publishing approached me.  I have admired their product.  A book of poetry is a little jewel and I like the production quality of the book to mirror the content.  I am extremely happy with my book and the work of Mike Czarnecki and FootHills Publishing.  Check out the website.  He publishes some of the best poets of our time.  And his handmade books are beautiful.

TOM: Do you do anything yourself to promote your book?  If so, what?  What promotional help does your publisher provide?

KAREN: FootHills Publishing has a great website and Mike provides some leads for readings.  I offer workshops and readings and network through those contacts.  Check out my website www.karenblomain.com to see where I am appearing in the next few months.  I also belong to two writers groups.  Occasionally, I do classroom visits in schools.  Both the publisher and I used the net to promote the book.

CONCLUSION:

TOM: What advice can you provide to aspiring poets regarding the productivity and business side of writing?  Any other parting advice?

KAREN: My advice to all writers is the same: don’t rush the process.  Don’t be in such a hurry to publish that you short-change the process of revision and editing.  Join a writers group.  Network with other writers.  Know your markets and your audience.  Don’t make it into such a business that you forget it is an art.  You are never going to make a million dollars writing poems, but the writer’s life is priceless.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Novel Writing Software yWriter (ghacks.net)
• Wanted: a distraction free Microsoft Word 2007 (billbennettnz.wordpress.com)
• The Case for Online Word Processors (lifehack.org)

Write your  blog with Microsoft Live Writer:  This detailed article at Computer Companion explains exactly how to use Live Writer to update your blog, right from your desktop rather than via an online entry form.   Being able to do it on your computer has real advantages.

StoryMill 3.2.2 Novel-Writing Software for Mac: This specialized word-processor for the Mac [named Avenir in an earlier incarnation] was upgraded on January 20.  MacWorld published an excellent review of an earlier version.  The comments under the MacWorld article are particularly interesting, indicating ways to harness this software for non-fiction use.  Price has been reduced to $33.71 from $44.95 — download and purchase via MacWorld.  MacWorld online offers some excellent user reviews.  I was particularly pleased to run across all of this information, as I recently received an inquiry about this very same software, which I previously did not know.

Major Update for Pages ‘09 for Mac:  While we’re talking MacIntosh, MacWorld has also done a thorough review of the major upgrade to the standard Mac word processor Pages.

Other Mac Writing Programs:  Poking around MacWorld uncovered several other programs of interest to writers on the Mac platform:  Storyist aims at helping with story development.  Jer’s Novel Writer [$30.00] has been around for quite a while, and was most recently updated last summer.  Users give it interesting reviews.  Scrivener [$39.99] is perhaps the best known of the alternative word processors for the Mac.  It apparently was updated this week.  Lots of user reviews.

MeshWrite — a tool for thinking, for Windows & Mac:  MeshWrite is a software in process, according to user reviews — it was updated just today to version 1.0.6.   But it may be worth exploring.  Right now it’s marked down to $38.00, reduced from its usual $62.00.  If anyone tries this out, please let us know.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Mind Mapping Software Xmind (ghacks.net)
• WritersPub.com Web site launches, for writers (macworld.com)

Many of you already know about NaNoWriMo, the amazingly popular online challenge to fiction writers to turn out a novel during the month of November.  What you may NOT know is that there is a similar challenge for scriptwriters callend ScriptFrenzy:  100 pages during the month of April.

This challenge is open to anyone interested in script writing, whether is be for stage, TV or screen.  At the challenge website, one will find a very useful list of resources.  And participants even have their own dedicated online video channel, hosted by Viddler.

If you have a bent for scripts, it’s not too early to start gearing up for this April’s challenge.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How to Achieve Your Writing Goal Every Day

Michael Arrington over at TechCrunch was the inspiration for this post.  For the past four years, he’s been publishing his own list of must-have products from his viewpoint as a tech blogger.  His recently posted list for 2009 set me to thinking:  what hardware, software and online services are indispensible to me as a writer?  Here’s what I rely on at least several times a week.

Two Custom-assembled Desktop PC’s:  Late last year, I locked up my laptop in my trunk, where it rests in waiting only as a backup if ever needed.  I travel internationally between two residences, usually via the US, and the new authority given to US customs to seize laptops for no reason galled my libertarian spirit.  I have absolutely nothing to hide, but I just don’t want to put up with the potential inconvenience.  When I do wish to break out of the house, I often carry along an AlphaSmart Neo to capture sudden inspirations.  An Olympus digital voice recorder completes my hardware essentials.

Syncplicity:  This remarkable application keeps both of my desktops fully synchronized, with the side benefit of maintaining an online backup of my most important data.  Software is downloaded onto each computer and an online intermediary repository is set up.  The service runs automatically, with just enough evidence of activity to be reassuring without distracting.  Being paranoid about backup, I also use the Mozy online back up serivce.

LastPass:  Similar to Syncplicity, but dedicated to keeping whichever passwords one approves in sync.  The application also fills in username and passwords for sites allowed into the LastPass personal database.

KeyNote:  This aging freeware still functions as my principle vehicle for organizing information and thoughts.  I’ve written a very full review of it at the link above.

WhizFolders:  Somewhat similar to KeyNote, I use it when I need to hyperlink information with other files and internet sites, as well as to gather the information into a hierarchical structure.

Microsoft Word:  While I’m fascinated by alternative word processors and long to break away from the Microsoft leash, I still return to Word for my bigger projects.  I often need the footnoting, outlining, and graphic layout capabilities it offers.  If not tied to Word for these advanced capabilities, I’d probably turn, as a non-fiction writer, to RoughDraft, PageFour or Jarte.  Or perhaps even to Google Docs [it has footnoting capability now!] or Zoho, as online application alternatives.  Check back here next year to see where I’m at.

Chapter by Chapter:  This small program is essential to keep my big book project organized and the files safe and easy to manage.  It displays a list of all chapters with word count, allows me to move them around within my overall structure, keeps each chapter as a separate Word file, and yet, if I ever finish the book, will pull everything into one big file for final formatting and submission.  The program now also supports OpenOffice.

Essential PIM Pro:  The first software I open every morning.  Not only does it display my schedule and maintain my contact list [which can be shuffled into different categories], it also holds my master list of goals and to-do’s.  Sometimes I want a bigger picture of my goals and activity.  Then I turn to Achieve Planner.

WordPress:  This open-source blogging software keeps my blog running.  I also applaud Hostgator for its impeccable hosting services.  Freeware FileZilla is essential to managing all the themes, plug-ins and photos that underpin the blog.

Firefox:  My browser of choice for gathering information via browsing the internet.  I sometimes turn to the newer Flock, which is exceptional in keeping my “social media” organized and close at hand.

FeedDemon-Newsgator:  FeedDemon resides on both of my desktops, with online Newsgator keeping them in sync.  I use this RSS feed reader for the ones I find most valuable.  I also use the online Google Reader, through which I follow less closely over 150 RSS feeds to uncover news of interest to writers.

Tweetdeck:  This application organizes my increasingly useful Twitter life.  I’m picking up lots of informational leads from Twitter, and Twitter in turn is bringing more traffic to this blog.  I would have never guessed that five months ago.

Vodpod:  A year ago, I had no idea how valuable online video would become for me.  Now I’m finding virtually every week a video worth viewing.  I collect them, as you probably know by now, at my VIDEO FOR WRITERS site ;hosted by Vodpod.  I find a lot of material at YouTube, where I subscribe to numerous informative “channels.”

SoftCAT Plus:  Because I download and evaluate so much different software that might be useful to writers, I use this specialized software database to keep track of it all.

Gmail:  I rely on this web-based email client for most of my business-related correspondence because of its ability to keep communication threads together for easy reference.  It has the added power of working seamlessly with Thunderbird to give me a desktop email client that downloads me Gmail onto my own computers.  I use Yahoo for personal mail and its portal homepage, where I gather my news and sport scores.

AceMoney:  This program is invaluable in tracking my finances because of its particularly capable multi-currency features.

WHEW!  When I started this post, I had no idea I’d cover so much.  Looking back on it, I think I can now retire for the rest of the year.  What else is there to say?  I’ve shared all the best I’ve learned over the past two years.

But things always change.  New software arrives, old software falls behind.  I’m already evaluating hardware, software and web app’s that may displace this year’s favorites on next year’s list.  Follow this blog during the year to keep up with continuing discoveries.

Related articles by Zemanta

• DoingText – Online Text Collaboration Tool
• Gladinet – joining up the clouds [storage and apps]
• OpenOffice five times more popular than Google Docs
• Report: Companies use Word out of habit, not necessity
• Is Your Feed Reader Becoming Boring?
• FeedDemon RSS News Reader
• Selection of My Twitter Favorites, Edition 29
• Feedly Adds Bleeding Edge Tech to Feed Reading Tool
• Think twice about using magazine style blog themes