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Essential Tools and Skills I Use As A Writer
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items When you get into the business of writing, especially as a freelancer, there are a lot of platforms and tools available for you to choose from. Here is a simple list of the ones that I personally use, and my reasons why. These have allowed me to buil...
Sections
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Writing Tools and Platforms
Books, Lessons and Skills
Prompts and Practice
Writing Tools and Platforms
These are the tools, software and platforms that I use as a professional writer. These are where I showcase my writing, where I work on longform articles before publishing, and how I do my quick and dirty editing before sending pieces off for review.
Speare is beyond useful for organizing your thoughts and getting into the zone. I use it for all of my longform writing, as it makes the process much easier than trying to write it all out in Word.
Speare App
Medium is where I publish a lot of my articles. It gives you creative freedom, an avid group of readers and a ready-made audience, and it even pays you for your hard work. Great for freelance writers, or bloggers just starting out.
Medium – Where good ideas find you.
This is the platform I use to host my website and newsletter. I used to use Substack, but the company has serious ethical issues that I can't put up with. Ghost is easy if you pay the premium, but you can also use it for free if you aren't afraid of ...
Ghost: The best open source blogging platform
Grammarly isn't flawless, but it's dead useful for checking the tone of your writing so you invoke the emotions you want to produce in your readers. The plagiarism checker is also practically mandatory.
Plagiarism Checker | Grammarly
It sounds weird, but being able to create your own images and graphs can be really cool. I used Canva to create the logo and branding for my website and blog, and it's really simple and intuitive to learn.
Canva: Visual Suite for Everyone
The Hemingway Editor is dead useful. This is a quick and dirty checker that will highlight each piece of your work with a color-coded legend. It checks for everything from clunky sentences to reading level, and it will give you easy suggestions to im...
Hemingway Editor
Books, Lessons and Skills
Learning how to be a writer is not a one-and-done thing- it's a constantly evolving process of evolution. The best way to learn to write is to read books and study your favorite authors. If you want to write fiction, read lots of fiction! If you want...
I know, I know, this book is about being a persuasive public speaker. But that actually doesn't matter, because if you want to be a good public speaker, you need to know how to write a speech. Unless you hire somebody to do it for you, of course. But...
Win Every Argument: The Art Of Debating, Persuading, And Public Speaking By Mehdi Hasan, ('tp') | Indigo
This book is all about making persuasive arguments in writing; just like a star lawyer making a case in front of a judge and jury. For people like me who write for social change, this skill is essential. I keep my copy close at hand on my desk to ref...
Point Made: How To Write Like The Nation's Top Advocates By Ross Guberman, ('tp') | Indigo
I am not a journalist, but I have this book on my shelf anyway. When you write about current events, keeping the standards of journalism in mind are helpful in avoiding common pitfalls that can get you accused of falsehoods and misrepresentations. Go...
The Elements Of Journalism, Revised And Updated 4th Edition: What Newspeople Should Know And The Public Should Expect By Bill Kovach,tom Rosenstiel, ('tp') | Indigo
A good thesaurus is your best friend in the whole world. Seriously- it gets REAL tiring seeing the same word used twenty times on the same page. Expand your understanding of language and watch your writing improve in real time.
Roget's International Thesaurus, 8th Edition By Barbara Ann Kipfer, ('tp') | Indigo
Margaret Atwood is easily one of my favorite novelists. The Handmaid's Tale sits proudly on my shelf and it remains one of the most harrowing, emotional books that I've ever read. I've started her course here on Masterclass and it's amazing to hear h...
MasterClass | Margaret Atwood Teaches Creative Writing
I've had this book on my shelf forever. Dialogue is not my strongsuit as a writer, and I'm not afraid to admit that I need the help- this book is an amazing guide that helped demystify the process for me.
Crafting Dynamic Dialogue: The Complete Guide To Speaking, Conversing, Arguing, And Thinking In Fiction ('tp') | Indigo
Prompts and Practice
Practice makes perfect! Writing is a skill like any other, and the only way to really improve at it is to get your hands on the keyboard and DO it. Prompts are a great way to get in your daily practice; try doing at least one a day, even if it's only...
“Write what you know,” is generally great advice. These questions are awesome prompts for memoir writers or people looking to begin journaling as a hobby.
30 Creative Writing Prompts for Memoir or Non-Fiction
There are 50 prompts on this page. You're guaranteed to find at least one that tickles your fancy. Number 8 was particularly intriguing to me and might inspire an article at some point in the future!
50 Creative Nonfiction Prompts Guaranteed to Inspire - Bookfox