25+ Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About

25+ Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About 25+ Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About 25+ Pieces of Writing Software You Should Know About By Ali Hale Of course, all you really need in order to write is a notebook and pen. But there are lots of software packages that can make life easier for writers. Whatever you want to be able to do, there’s almost certainly some software out there to help you. The list below includes the best packages to help you plan and structure a novel, share documents online with other people, format your screenplay or script correctly, minimize writing distractions, improve your English and more Collaborative Documents Often when writing, you’ll want to share a document with other people – either to ask for feedback, or to get them to add to it. All of these pieces of software allow you to share documents online, so that multiple people can have access to and edit them. I’ve found this very successful for receiving feedback from friends on my short stories. Google Docs FREE â€Å"You can easily do all the basics, including making bulleted lists, sorting by columns, adding tables, images, comments, formulas, changing fonts and more. And its free. †¦ Google Docs accepts most popular file formats, including DOC, XLS, ODT, ODS, RTF, CSV, PPT, etc. So go ahead and upload your existing files.† Writeboard from 37 signals FREE â€Å"Writeboards are sharable, web-based text documents that let you save every edit, roll back to any version, and easily compare changes. Use Writeboard to write solo or collaborate with others.† Word Processors Microsoft Word $324.99 for Microsoft Office 2007 Standard version $109.99 for Student version â€Å"Microsoft Office Standard 2007 offers the core Microsoft Office applications, but significantly updated for faster, better results. Comprised of Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook, this software suite empowers you to create high-quality documents and presentations, build powerful spreadsheets, and manage your e-mail messages, calendar, and contacts.† Word Viewer FREE â€Å"View, print and copy Word documents, even if you dont have Word installed.† Open Office FREE â€Å"OpenOffice.org 2 is the leading open-source office software suite for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, graphics, databases and more. It is available in many languages and works on all common computers. It stores all your data in an international open standard format and can also read and write files from other common office software packages. It can be downloaded and used completely free of charge for any purpose.† As a hard-up student (who preferred to spend money on booze than software), I used Open Office throughout my degree, and found it an excellent alternative to Microsoft Office. It’s a whole office suite, so can also be used to replace Excel, Powerpoint and more. AbiWord FREE Famous open source word processor, and ideal for someone looking for a light and compact software. It comes with all the basic features that you would expect from a word processor, and it also supports different languages and operating systems. Fiction: Writing Novels and Screenplays If you’ve tried a bit of fiction and you want some help with writing longer pieces, there are a number of software packages you might want to try out. Here’s some reputable, well-established ones: New Novelist $54.99 download, $59.99 download and CD â€Å"If you’ve ever tried to write a novel (or even just thought about it), you know the routine. You just can’t put everything together. You’ve got to work step by step to write a great book, right? NOT ANYMORE! NewNovelist Software has turned the writing process on its head. With this revolutionary software, you can write your novel the way you want to.† I used version 1.0 of this myself, and it definitely helped me with my world building and pre-writing notes. None of the twelve structures it suggested quite worked for the novel I was planning, but you can change the headings to suit yourself. Character Pro (Now called Character Writer, see below) 60 days free, then $69.99 â€Å"Character Pro puts a proven system for understanding human behavior at your fingertips The Enneagram to create a character spine for your character. But thats only the beginning. Character Pro isolates each part of the character, provides tools and extensive help files to guide you to a well-rounded, complex and realistic character.† Quick Story (Now called Character Writer, see below) $49.99 â€Å"Create a basic story structure with the Story Generator then use the tree to organize your structure while you develop the story in the edit box on the right. Simply drag and drop or insert and delete story items until your story is perfectly structured.† Character Writer $69.99 This version combines features of both Character Pro and Quick Story, and is Java Based (so runs on almost any system), for $69.99. Writers Cafà © Demo version free, $45 download,  £32.90 (approx $65) on CD. â€Å"Writers Cafà © is a software toolkit for all fiction writers, whether experienced or just starting out. The heart of Writers Cafà © is StoryLines, a powerful but simple to use story development tool that dramatically accelerates the creation and structuring of your novel or screenplay.† Writing: Organising and Formatting your Manuscript One of the biggest headaches for fiction writers is coming to the end of a project only to realise that every scene or chapter is in a separate file (and sometimes in different formats), and that pulling this all together – and editing it to match editorial conventions – is going to take ages. These packages can help you keep things organised: Celtex FREE â€Å"Celtx is the worlds first fully integrated solution for media pre-production and collaboration. It replaces old fashioned paper, pen binder media creation with a digital approach to writing and organizing thats more complete, simpler to work with, and easier to share.† Scrivener 30 days free, then $39.99 Mac Only â€Å"Scrivener is a word processor and project management tool created specifically for writers of long texts such as novels and research papers. It wont try to tell you how to write it just makes all the tools you have scattered around your desk available in one application.† Minimise Distractions When Writing If you’re anything like me, distractions come up constantly when trying to write. Whether your problem is instant messenger, web browsing, email, or just using all the fancy formatting features on your word processor, a simpler writing environment can be the solution. Wordpad FREE If you’re running Windows, this almost certainly came free with your computer. Some people find all the extra bells and whistles of a full wordprocessor distracting when writing. If you have trouble knuckling down to write, Wordpad allows formatting (bold, italics, etc) and can be easier to use than Word. Write Room Free trial, then $25. Mac only. â€Å"For people who enjoy the simplicity of a typewriter, but live in the digital world. WriteRoom is a full-screen writing environment. Unlike the cluttered word processors youre used to, WriteRoom is just about you and your text.† Dark Room FREE Windows version of Write Room Both Write Room and Dark Room have a retro feel of green text on black background (though you can change the background of Write Room). I’ve used Dark Room when suffering from a severe bout of procrastination on my novel, and would certainly recommend it. Scientific Writing For specialised types of writing, such as creating scientific documentation, normal word processing software may not be enough. Latex FREE â€Å"LaTeX is a high-quality typesetting system; it includes features designed for the production of technical and scientific documentation. LaTeX is the de facto standard for the communication and publication of scientific documents.† Improving your English (for native and non-native speakers) The spelling and grammar checks built into word processors can often leave much to be desired. If your English is shaky, or if you’re learning English as a foreign language, you might want to invest in software designed to help you improve your grammar and style. JaLingo FREE This cool little program will bring a handy dictionary to your desktop, that you can use to confirm spelling of words or to check their meanings. The advantage of JaLingo is that it is OS independent, so it will work smoothly on most computers. WhiteSmoke $79.99 for â€Å"General† version, $99.99 for â€Å"Business† version other specialised ones. Executive writing version usually $250 but currently $125. â€Å"WhiteSmoke is an innovative software tool that improves and edits your English writing. Based on patented natural language processing (NLP) technology, WhiteSmoke performs advanced and context-based English grammar, spelling, and punctuation checking, as well as text enrichment to enhance your writing.† StyleWriter $160, which includes a â€Å"Software for writers† CD â€Å"Designed by journalists, editors and business writing tutors, StyleWriter gives you the skills of a good editor. Simply click the StyleWriter button in Microsoft Words or WordPerfects toolbar (or any clipboard text) to launch a check for thousands of faults and bad habits found in writing. Trimming the excess words, simplifying and clarifying your style, checking for good English usage - editing is easy with StyleWriter.† Typing Software After a mis-spent youth playing online text games, I learnt to touch-type without trying to, but I realise many people aren’t so lucky (or so geeky). Typing speed is a surprisingly big factor in being a successful writer, and if you’re still pecking away at the keyboard with two fingers, it’s worth investing in software to help you learn to type properly. Kaz-Type $19.95 download, $34.95 CD â€Å"KAZ will teach you how to learn to type and master your computer keyboard fast. Our interactive, multimedia typing tutor software uses a revolutionary learning method so you can learn to type really quickly without the need to resort to repetitive typing drills and games. Learning to touch type with KAZ is tested and proven with over 1 million users.† Miracle Type (Not Available Anymore) $19.99 â€Å"Miracle Type is the perfect answer for you if typing on your computer is just taking far too long or if you have given up in frustration after trying to teach yourself to Touch Type with other typing software.† Blogging Platforms If you run your own blog or website, you’ve almost certainly heard of WordPress and Movable Type. Both are content management systems that you install on space provided by your web host, allowing you to easily publish new posts to your blog and modify existing ones. WordPress FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting) â€Å"WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.† Moveable Type FREE (but you’ll need to pay for web hosting) â€Å"Movable type is a professional publishing platform.† There are also many blogging services which will host your blog for you, such as blogger.com, livejournal.com, but these are more â€Å"sites† than â€Å"software† (you don’t install them on your own webspace.) Journalling Software At the moment, I journal on paper, as I like to get away from the computer screen and take fifteen minutes alone with my thoughts. I also enjoy writing with a good fountain pen, in a nice hardback notebook. However, this does make it hard to search for anything†¦ David RMs The Journal $39.95 download / $49.95 CD / $69.95 for â€Å"Writers’ edition† â€Å"The Journal is a powerful journaling and writing tool that can help you take control of your life. Create a digital scrapbook of your life! Organize your notes about your family, about your work, about a hobby, about anything. Write a short story, a magazine article, or even a novel. Remember your appointments, events, tasks special days! Find whatever youre looking for with The Journals powerful searching. Get inspired!† Debrief FREE basic version, $29.95 for standard version, $39.95 for professional version â€Å"Debrief ® is software for saving notes on your PC. Ideas. Experiences. Research. Thoughts. They come from projects, meetings, status, tasks, issues, changes, risks, decision, contacts, brainstorming, pondering, work, studies, school. Capture them while you can and put them to good use later† Suggested by Our Readers Final Draft $229 Use your creative energy to focus on the content; let Final Draft take care of the style. Final Draft is the number-one selling word processor specifically designed for writing movie scripts, television episodics and stage plays. This sure is not a cheap writing software, but it is supposed to be the industry standard when it comes to script writing. Q10 FREE A free alternative for Dark Room and WriteRoom, Q10 brings you a full screen word processor that will let you focus entirely on what you are writing. Additionally, it also come with customizable features like paragraph styling and live statistics about your pieces. Scripped FREE An online service that lets you write, edit and print your scripts straight on their website. The advantage is that you can work on your scripts from different locations and from different computers. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the General category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:"Because Of" and "Due To" 3 Types of HeadingsWhat is an Anagram?

How to Create a Homeschool Schedule

How to Create a Homeschool Schedule After deciding to homeschool and selecting  curriculum, figuring out how to create a homeschool schedule is sometimes one of the most challenging aspects of educating at home. The majority of today’s homeschooling parents graduated from a traditional school setting. The schedule was easy. You showed up to school before the first bell rang and stayed until the last bell rang. The county announced the first and last days of school and all the holiday breaks in between. You knew when each class was going to take place and how long you’d spend in each based on your class schedule. Or, if you were in elementary school, you just did what your teacher told you to do next. So, how do you make a homeschool schedule? The complete freedom and flexibility of homeschooling can make it difficult to let go of  the traditional school calendar mode. Let’s break homeschool schedules down into some manageable chunks. Yearly Schedules The first plan you’ll want to determine is your annual schedule. Your state’s homeschooling laws may play a  role in setting your yearly schedule. Some states require a certain number of hours of home instruction each year. Some require a specific number of homeschool days. Others consider home schools self-governing private schools and put no stipulations on attendance. A 180-day school year is fairly standard and works out to four 9-week quarters, two 18-week semesters, or 36 weeks. Most homeschool curriculum publishers  base their products on this 36-week model, making it a good starting point for planning your familys schedule. Some families keep their schedules very simple by choosing a start date and counting days until they’ve met their states requirements. They take breaks and days off as needed. Others prefer to have a framework calendar in place. There is still lots of flexibility even with an established yearly calendar. Some possibilities include: A typical school schedule from Labor Day until the end of May/first of JuneYear ‘round schooling with six weeks on/one week off or nine weeks on/two weeks offFour-day school weeks until youve satisfied attendance requirementsFollowing your city or countys  public/private school calendar (This option works well for families who homeschool some of their children while others attend a traditional school or families in which one parent works at a traditional school.) Weekly Schedules Once you’ve decided on the framework for your yearly homeschool schedule, you can work out the details of your weekly schedule. Take outside factors such as co-op or work schedules into consideration when planning your  weekly schedule. One of the benefits of homeschooling is that your weekly schedule doesn’t have to be Monday through Friday. If one or both parents have  an unconventional work week, you can adjust your school days to maximize family time. For example, if a parent works Wednesday through Sunday, you can make that your school week, as well, with Monday and Tuesday being your family’s weekend. A weekly homeschool schedule can also be adjusted to accommodate an  irregular work schedule. If a parent works six days one week and four the next, school can follow  the same schedule. Some families do their regular  school work  four days each week reserving the fifth day for co-op, field trips, or other outside-the-home classes and activities. Block Schedule Two other scheduling options are block schedules and loop schedules. A block schedule is one in which one or more subjects are allotted  a large span of time a couple of days a week instead of an hour or so every day. For example, you might schedule two hours for history on Mondays and Wednesdays and two hours for science on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Block scheduling allows students to fully focus on a particular subject without over-scheduling the school day. It allows time for activities such as hands-on history projects and  science labs. Loop Schedule A loop schedule is one in which there is a list of activities to cover but no  specific day  to cover them. Instead, you and your students spend time on each as its turn comes up on the loop. For example, if you’d like to allow space in your homeschool schedule for art, geography, cooking, and music, but you don’t have time to devote to them each day, add them to a loop schedule. Then, determine how many days you want to include loop schedule subjects. Perhaps, you choose Wednesdays and Fridays. On Wednesday, you study art and geography and on Friday, cooking, and music. On a given Friday, you may run out of time for music, so the following Wednesday, you would cover that and art, picking  up with geography and cooking on Friday. Block scheduling and loop scheduling can work well together. You may block schedule Monday through Thursday and leave Friday as a loop schedule day. Daily Schedules Most of the time when people ask about homeschool schedules, they’re referring to the nitty-gritty daily schedules. Like yearly schedules, your states homeschool laws may dictate some aspects of your daily schedule. For example, some states homeschooling laws require a specific number of hours of daily instruction. New homeschooling parents often wonder how long a homeschool day should be. They worry that they aren’t doing enough because it may only take two or three hours to get through the day’s work, particularly if the students are young. It is important for  parents to realize that a homeschool day may not take as long a typical public or private school day. Homeschooling parents don’t have to take time for administrative tasks, such as roll call or preparing 30 students for lunch or allow time for students to move from one classroom to the next between subjects. Additionally, homeschooling allows for focused, one-on-one attention. A homeschooling parent can answer his or her student’s questions and move on rather than answering questions from an entire class. Many parents of young children through first or second grade find that they can easily cover all subjects in just an hour or two. As students get older, it may take them longer to complete their work. A high school student may spend the full four to five hours – or more – dictated by state law. However, you shouldn’t stress even if a teen’s school work doesn’t take that much time  as long they are completing and comprehending it. Provide a learning-rich environment for your children and you will discover that learning happens even when the school books are put away. Students can use those extra hours to read, pursue their hobbies, explore electives, or invest in extracurricular activities. Sample Daily Schedule Allow your daily homeschool schedule to be shaped by your family’s personality and needs, not by what you think it â€Å"should† be. Some homeschool families prefer scheduling specific times for each subject. Their schedule may look something like this: 8:30 – Math9:15 – Language Arts9:45 – Snack/break10:15 - Reading11:00 – Science11:45 – Lunch12:45  Ã¢â‚¬â€œ History/social studies1:30 – Electives (art, music, etc.) Other families prefer a daily routine to a time-specific schedule. These families know that they’re going to start with math, using the example above, and end with electives, but they may not have the same start and end times each day. Instead,  they work through each subject, completing each and taking breaks as needed. Factors to Consider It’s important to note that many homeschooling families start much later in the day. They don’t start until 10 or 11 a.m. – or even until the afternoon! Some factors that may influence a homeschooling family’s start time include: Biology – Night owls or those who are more alert in the afternoon may  prefer a later start time. Early risers and those who are more focused in the mornings, usually prefer an earlier start time.Work schedules – Families  in which one or both parents work an atypical shift may choose to start school after that parent goes to work. When my husband worked second, we had our big family meal at lunch and started school after he left for work.Family needs – Factors such as a new baby, a sick parent/child/relative, a home-based business, or maintaining a family farm can all affect start times.Outside classes  Ã¢â‚¬â€œÃ‚  Homeschool co-op,  dual-enrollment, and other classes or activities outside the home may dictate your start time requiring that you  complete school work before or after these commitments.   Once you have teens who are working independently, your schedule may undergo a radical shift. Many teens find that they’re most alert late at night and that they also require more sleep. Homeschooling allows the freedom for teens to work when they’re most productive. The Bottom Line There is no one perfect homeschooling schedule and finding the right one for your family may take some trial and error. And it will likely need to be adjusted from year to year as your children get older and the factors affecting your schedule change. The most important tip to remember is to allow your familys needs to shape your schedule, not an unrealistic idea of how the schedule should or shouldnt be set up.