For my first little review I’ve deciding on the awesome desktop blogging platform known as Windows Live Writer.
Let’s start with a quote from WLW’s Live Spaces profile and then break it down from there.
“I am a desktop application for publishing to blogs and work with almost any blog provider in the world including Windows Live Spaces, Blogger, WordPress and more.“
Requirements-
- Operating system: Windows XP with Service Pack 2 (32-bit edition only), or Windows Vista (32-bit or 64-bit editions).
- Processor: 1 GHz or higher for Windows Vista; 800 MHz or higher for Windows XP
- Memory: 128 MB of RAM (256 MB or more recommended) for Windows XP; 512 MB for Windows Vista
Features-
- Spell Checker: I’ve never seen a better spell check in any kind of software. You can either run spell check as you write/edit to catch your errors as you go with a little red squiggle -or- you can run it after creating the post before you Read the rest of the article. »
Someone recently asked me what writing software(s) I prefer to use and well, that turned out to be a more complicated question than you’d imagine. I don’t use just one software related to writing. I use a few, all of them free of course. Thinking more on this question I figured it would be a great idea to share some of this free software with all my writing friends out there. So- I tried to write a post about it.
A handful of software programs + a babbly writer + tons of features to tell you about + a bunch of screenshots = ?
If you’re doing the math and trying to figure out how I’m supposed to compress this all into one single post then you’re seeing the same thing I did. It doesn’t add up. Unless I write a post that spans twenty plus pages (yeah, I babble that much) with tons of images that make your computer want to scream on loading… well, I’m sure you get the point by now.
So, I’m figuring I’ll do a whole bunch of posts. Not just about the software I personally use but I’ll be testing other software and reviewing it for your freebie consuming pleasure. Who knows maybe I’ll find something I like more along the way or save you from something that could crash your computer and make you cry over not having backed up your files- thank goodness I’ve learned from that mistake.
In either case… please send me your links and questions. Do you know of a good free software (related to writing) out there that you’d like me to test out for you? I’ll give blunt reviews and provide as many screenies as I’m able to. I’ll even try to give you some reviews for ‘non-free’ stuff providing they offer me a free trial as I’m not going to pay $ just to test something I probably won’t keep. Also, please don’t ask me to test out anything for Mac or Linux. I’m strictly a Windows girl but if anyone is desperate enough I’ll track you down some links to the appropriate software and reviews you desire.
Here’s the latest prompt of the moment and first for this section of my site since I usually do them on my blog. I’ll put a link to my response as soon as I get it done.
Prompt rules: None. Write whatever first comes to your mind, be it a memory, poem, random tidbit, or short story. No length limit.
Where do the wild roses grow?
Feel free to leave a comment with a link to your own post on this prompt (so be it that it’s age appropriate).
POV stands for Point of View and it’s something that every wannabe writer should know about as far as I’m concerned.
There are two main uses for the term POV:
The first is in describing which character you are narrating for or focused on. Often your star character is your POV character. Think about the very first Star Wars (for lack of a better example) movie for a moment. That story is mostly focused on the movements, thoughts, and feelings of Luke Skywalker. He is the POV character for that story. On occasion the focus may switch when he’s not in a certain but very important and necessary scene. When this happens whatever character that is being focused on at that moment is the POV character.
Now, the second use for the term POV is a bit broader in retrospect so please bear with me. As the first use is for describing who you are narrating for, the second is used to describe how you are narrating for them.
There are three main types of POV narration. There are actually several more generalized types but I’ll only be covering the main three here so I can go more in depth on the others later. Read the rest of the article. »
The most important rule, tip, guideline, or whatever the heck you want to call it, I can give you is to write. What use is knowing anything else if you don’t pick up your pen in the first place? None, that’s what use it is.
In the bath tub, at the laundry mat, on your break at work, in bed, before bed, outside, in a closet, under a rock, or on Mars. Wherever and whenever you most enjoy writing- go there. You don’t necessarily have to right this instant but make sure you go there at least once a day and more importantly make sure you write while you’re there. Pop in your favorite music, turn away all distractions, duct tape various peoples mouths shut, unplug the phone and just write! Read the rest of the article. »
