Monthly Archives: March 2012

Opening a Writer’s Toolbox

I like technology, though I wait until initial fervor dies down before purchasing some big ticket item, like an iPad or an iPhone.  I still haven’t gotten the iPhone.

I also know the biggest tool of the trade is known as “butt in chair”.  But there are a few things that I find indispensable to my daily writing grind, and thought I would share some of them here.

Music.  iTunes, Pandora, Rhapsody.  I listened to Napster before it became Rhapsody.  Heck, I listened to Napster before it became the pay-to-play and was one of the original people who downloaded music from Napster when it first came out.  (To show my age, I had AOL when it first came out and used it on my IBM PS3.)

I can write without music, but music is helpful, especially music with good cadence; that is, music that sounds like it would come off of an action soundtrack.  Pandora is good for that, as I tell it the music I like, and it creates a radio station based off of my preferences.  If I hear something I like, I’ll search for it on iTunes and buy it for the iPod.  Then listen to it over, and over, and over, and over…

Word processing program.  Word, Pages, Googledocs.  I will be honest, Googledocs is the best thing that came along since…Google.  I can go to any computer anywhere and work on my novel.  I can do some work at home and then do some work at work (shhh).

The Internet, specifically: google, wikipedia, youtube.  Google to find things; wikipedia to find information; youtube to find that song that’s been running through your head for hours.

Scrivener.  I’m writing the second book on this using it as both a word processor and for a novel-writing format.  It’s one of the best organizers out there for novelists.  If you’re going to write, buy it – after you buy my book.  My book is cheaper.

Peripherals: iPad, iPod, Mac (I have a Windows computer right now).

Now, contact information:

You can contact me here on this website by ljacob@grimaulkin.com.  I answer all emails.  I probably won’t be able to read your novel or give you editing tips.  If you really want my opinion, I’ll give it to you…though I might not be too diplomatic about it.  And I’m not an editor, nor do I work in the editorial world.

Inspiration

I hope to write a blog every week, for Saturday or Monday consumption, about what I think about writing, the writing life, or even, very simply, a writing prompt or an opinion on what are important items every writer should have.

This week I was away for vacation, and amazingly enough, the muses were quiet.  No story ideas.  No need to write anything.  Because I was in a place that stimulated me constantly, and did not let up.  In fact, this place gave me no chance, no room to breathe.

I was fed, constantly, with creativity, creative minds, so called Imagineers (now you know where I went) – and I was overwhelmed.  My muses were overwhelmed as well.

This made me realize that I write best when I’m bored.  When I have little to no stimulation, my mind goes wild, and stories just happen.  The most creative things I did was photography and updates on my status page on my personal page on Facebook.

When do you write best?  When you’re stimulated visually or when you’re bored – or when you’re poked and prodded?