A friend of mine asked me to blog concerning the writing tools that I use. I hadn’t really thought about it, but I do use some pretty cool gadgets.
I’ll start with the Live scribe smart pen. If you attend conferences, workshops or classes, this will save you so much time! This pen’s made specifically for those occasions. You can purchase this pen for approximately $99 and a special notebook for $10. I purchased everything at Best Buy.
Here’s how it works. You turn the pen on, tap “record” in the notebook and it records the speaker. You can also write one word in the notebook, and later when you are listening from home, tap the word that you have written, and the recording will go directly to the place when the speaker said that word. No more lengthy notes and cramped fingers, or “Oh, what did they just say? I missed it.” The pen comes with headphones as well. There are a few uses for them. If I’m in the back of the room, which I often am because I’m shy, plug the small headphones in and it amplifies the speaker. When you play it back, it is crystal clear, and plays in surround sound. I also tend to keep this pen in my purse. When I’m stuck in traffic, and a new idea for a story smacks me, I grab my pen, turn it on and talk into it. Presto, I haven’t lost my thought.
My sweet hubby bought this pen for me when I seriously began my writing journey. It’s one of the best things invented since toilet paper.
Another great tool I use is writersmarket.com. With a membership, you can look through fiction, non fiction, magazine, novel and short story submissions. Several sites accept photos and poetry too. I purchased the Writers Market 2012 deluxe edition book, and received a year subscription free. All I do is sign in to my membership, select what I’m searching for, and it returns with pages of places to submit your writing. I recently searched magazines for a short story. It gave me 28 pages of choices. I read through the guidelines, visited their individual websites, and decided if it was the right market to submit to. Each market has different guidelines for submissions as well, so this site offers a wealth of information.
My iPad is my best friend. I carry it everywhere. It’s an instant source of information, reading, or entertainment. As a writer, I use “Pages” which is compatible with Word. I often sit at Starbucks and use Pages for ideas or writing a story. It saves automatically, and I can email it to myself, check my email from my laptop, and the document opens in Word on my computer. I use this on lunch breaks at work so that I can continuing working on whatever project I have my hands in at the time.
Those are a few things that I use that help me stay organized while writing. I’d love to hear what works for you as well.
Until Next Time…
Do you mind if I quote a few of your articles as long as I provide
credit and sources back to your site? My blog is in the exact same area of interest
as yours and my visitors would really benefit from a lot of the information you provide here.
Please let me know if this alright with you. Thanks!
I tried to visit your site, but I don’t think it took me to a writer’s site? Can you tell me more? Thanks for visiting 🙂
Hi Jen, found your site on a writer’s group on LinkedIn. I’m somewhat new to blogging, but I love to write. I saw earlier that someone said that they “reblogged” this article on the smart pen. I’d love to put in on my blog as well. What’s the accepted way to do this? I can’t wait to check out the pen in person. You can find me at http://www.MichelleAlanis.com, and if you’re on NaNoWriMo, I’m BlueInk.
Hi Michelle-
Thank you for visiting! I just hopped to your blog and am going to subscribe. 🙂 I’m not participating in NaNoWriMo, but we can connect through our blogs and email.
Thank you for your interested in reblogging my post. If you go to my blog, at the top, next to the follow button, there is a button that says “reblog”. Click on it and it will walk you through. You rock!
[…] One last item that ended up being a hot topic. The Smart Pen. If you missed the previous post it’s here: https://jenowenby.wordpress.com/2012/07/17/tools-for-writers/ […]
Jen, with all the comments I am receiving on catnip about Writing: Gift or Curse?, I may need to reblog this post about the SmartPen! Thank you for visiting:>)
I’ve read about the Live Scribe pen but never really understood exactly what it did. Thanks for the explanation. I can see how this would be really useful. I have a suggestion too, though it’s not really a gadget. There’s a software package called Dropbox and you can read about it at https://www.dropbox.com/features/. In short you set up a folder on your computer and link it to space at Dropbox. You can get 2Gig of space absolutely free and, for writers, this is an enormous amount of space. Whenever anything in the linked folder changes it’s automatically sent to the Dropbox site.
So, at the end of a day of working I take the story I was working on, drop it into Dropbox and it’s backed up for me. If I ever lose a disk drive my stories are still safe. You can even use your ‘live’ folder as your Dropbox folder so every single time your story is saved it’s whisked of to safe nirvana.
Most of us a bad at backing up. Dropbox is a Godsend to those of us who are! *laughs*
In response to Gene’s post, Dropbox is excellent! Along with my writing and blogging, I am an educational consultant. There are times when it is necessary for a teacher to send me a video package for evaluation. Dropbox has worked immensely well! The videos come in very clear with crisp audio and the document folders are easy to access.
Gene, I had not thought about using it as a ‘safe nirvana’ but that is a terrific idea. Especially since I have already had a computer crash and lightning strike. Thanks for sharing the info:>)
Aren’t all of technologies little gadgets and gizmos amazing? How did we ever live without them before? My iPhone runs my life. I’ve wanted one of those pens since they came out and an iPad. I adore ereaders and ebooks – I’ve read more books in the last 7 months than I have in the last five years. Writers Market is one of the few I subscribe to every year without hesitation. Money well spent!
Very helpful post. Thanks Jen.
That pen sounds great. So magical. Thanks for sharing!
I’ll have to check out that pen and notebook. The combination seems much better than just using a notebook or just using a recorder. Can you use it just as a recorder though, for in the car?
Yes, I just carry mine in my purse without the notebook so I can record my thoughts.
Reblogged this on Where do you get your ideas? and commented:
All good stuff, but I covet the Livescribe smart pen… Thanks, Jen!
Very cool. Thanks for sharing. (Missed you at group last night.)
Reblogged this on Dena Weigel Bell and commented:
I’m the friend who asked Jen Owenby to write about her cool writing tools. I’ve seen them in use and they are super cool!
WOW! You have some great toys! And it sounds like they’re very helpful toys. Good for you!!!
i found the pen fascinating. WOW that is cool technology that I can’t even wrap my brain around. Thanks for the info..
It is fascinating! I’m glad you enjoyed the info, and thanks for visiting!
reading your amazing tips made me realise that I’m a Neanderthal in this new world !
But at least I’ve learned from your comments what I can disguise myself as – technologicaly challenged!
Keep up the good work!
Those are some cool things! I’m rather technologically challenged, but I sure like that pen! I think I’ll be putting it on my Christmas list! 🙂
Here goes another try. . .
Isn’t it the age of technology in the 21st century simply mindboggling?!. I must have that ‘pen’ which I am sure will very quickly become a favorite ‘pal’. . .LOL:>)
BTW Jen, I wrote an article for Live Lite Love that somewhat parallels your posting. There are actually two types of tools for writing: those necessary physically, pen, paper, computer, iPad, etc. and those that are inspirational, the heart, mind, body and soul. Check out the article and let me know what you think: http://www.likelitelife.in/2012/06/inspiration-and-imagination-blueprint.html
You can leave me a comment @ http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/inspiration-what-is-your-blueprint-for-writing/#comments
Looking forward to hearing from you. . .
Since my last reply posted so quickly I think something just went amiss on my first attempt. So here goes another try. . .
Isn’t it the age of technology in the 21st century simply mindboggling?!. I must have that ‘pen’ which I am sure will very quickly become a favorite ‘pal’. . .LOL:>) Just Tweeted and posted to fb.
BTW Jen, I wrote an article for Live Lite Love that somewhat parallels your posting. There are actually two types of tools for writing: those necessary physically, pen, paper, computer, iPad, etc. and those that are inspirational, the heart, mind, body and soul. Check out the article and let me know what you think: http://www.likelitelife.in/2012/06/inspiration-and-imagination-blueprint.html
You can leave me a comment @ http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/inspiration-what-is-your-blueprint-for-writing/#comments
Jen, I left a comment but I don’t see where it posted. I will come back later in case it is still in cyber space awaiting permission. LOL:>)
Well pooh. I don’t see anything else from you. Thank you as always for visiting!
Here goes another try. . .
Isn’t it the age of technology in the 21st century simply mindboggling?!. I must have that ‘pen’ which I am sure will very quickly become a favorite ‘pal’. . .LOL:>)
BTW Jen, I wrote an article for Live Lite Love that somewhat parallels your posting. There are actually two types of tools for writing: those necessary physically, pen, paper, computer, iPad, etc. and those that are inspirational, the heart, mind, body and soul. Check out the article and let me know what you think: http://www.likelitelife.in/2012/06/inspiration-and-imagination-blueprint.html
You can leave me a comment @ http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/inspiration-what-is-your-blueprint-for-writing/#comments
Jen, it is just not going to post so I am going to try here.
Another try. . .
Isn’t it the age of technology in the 21st century simply mindboggling?!. I must have that ‘pen’ which I am sure will very quickly become a favorite ‘pal’. . .LOL:>)
BTW Jen, I wrote an article for Live Lite Love that somewhat parallels your posting. There are actually two types of tools for writing: those necessary physically, pen, paper, computer, iPad, etc. and those that are inspirational, the heart, mind, body and soul. Check out the article and let me know what you think: http://www.likelitelife.in/2012/06/inspiration-and-imagination-blueprint.html
You can leave me a comment @ http://catnipoflife.wordpress.com/2012/06/22/inspiration-what-is-your-blueprint-for-writing/#comments
Ha! I found your message lurking in my spam. I’m going to visit your article now. Let me know what you think of the pen! 🙂
Isn’t our age of technology completely mind-boggling?!. Never heard of such a ‘pen’ but can definitely see how it can become a ‘pal’ very quickly:>) Tweeted and posted to fb.
Jen, along similar lines as your posting is an article I wrote for Live Lite Life. It is more on the tools of inspiration rather than physical tools but both are necessary in the writing world.
Here is the link: http://www.likelitelife.in/2012/06/inspiration-and-imagination-blueprint.html
My tablet along with my cordless keyboard has become my best writing friends. I can write whereever I go. Thanks for sharing your writing tools.
Thank you for visiting and sharing! What kind of tablet do you use?
Tweeted and promoted, Jen. 😉
Thanks Carole! Hope you are doing well.
I know what I’m asking for for my birthday now… haha, that pen is great! I have heard of it before, but glad to hear such a rave review of it.
Libby- Thank you for visiting and commenting! I can’t tell you how awesome this pen is. It is well worth the money. Let me know what you think about it after you use it.
I like the recordable pen. Need to pick one of those up. Thanks for another informative post. -Josh
Thanks for visiting! The pen rocks! I just saw something about it connecting with Evernote, but I haven’t had time to read about it yet. Have a great evening!
Can’t believe it finally posted and lookie, lookie. . .TWICE! LOL:>)
Right on. Evernote? Never heard of that. Better get searching.Take care.
Wow – I love that pen! I am not sure I would use it to its full potential or I would get one. I say this because I purchased a digital recorder for my car in order to stop note writing while driving but fail to remember to use it.
Thanks for sharing all this juicy info Jen. I will check writersmarket when I have a chance.
Lesley