Happiness is… my top ten writing tools

Writers write. The more you write, the more you sell. A great income makes for a happy writer, so I never stint on buying writing tools, and you shouldn’t either.

Yes, you can do without fancy tools, but if a tool has the potential to make you more creative and productive, it’s worth the money. That said some of my favorite writing tools are completely FREE.

1. A text editor – for pasting into blogs, emails etc

Although I use both Pages and MS Word on my Mac, I nevertheless live in my text editor of choice, TextMate. This is because Word adds all sorts of weird formatting junk when you paste into another program, so when you’re writing for the Web, a simple text editor is essential.

If you don’t want to pay for your text editor, there are many freebies available for both the Mac and the PC.

2. WordPress – fast, easy Web sites

It’s free. It’s golden. It’s…. if you haven’t worked with WordPress, you’re missing out on a lot of fun and productivity. WordPress is an essential tool for Web writers.

3. Mind Manager – create structure from ideas

I’m a visual thinker. I like to doodle mind maps, but especially for long projects, I plan my writing with Mind Manager – it’s a tool I use every day.

4. Ecto and MarsEdit – desktop blogging tools

I blog every day, using ecto and Marsedit. They make blogging easy.

5. Scrivener – all in one writing tool

I use Scrivener for long projects because I can keep everything related to the project in a single file. This means that if I need to leave a project for a week or two, I can come back to it and get inspired again quickly.

6. Skitch, to manage images

Skitch is a perfect tool for blogging, and creating ads. A wonderful time saver.

7. Bento – to get organized, and stay organized

I tried using the MS Access and FileMaker database programs years ago, but I spent way too much time fiddling with databases to make it worthwhile.

Bento is very Mac-like. I bought it to manage all my domain names – I’m a domain name addict – but it’s been useful for helping me to keep projects on track too.

8. Wealthy Affiliate – to keep my inspiration high

Everyone needs inspiration. I get mine at Wealthy Affiliate. Although I don’t do as much affiliate marketing as I’d like to, WA is a gathering place for people who are striving for success. It has great information and great energy.

9. 5 Bucks a Day – great motivator

“5 Bucks a Day” has increased my productivity – which was already quite high – at least a couple of hundred per cent.

It’s a great motivator: I’m a recent convert to the process. I wish I’d found it, and the forum, earlier.

10. RapidWeaver – Web sites in a blink when I don’t want to use WordPress, or in addition to WordPress

With RapidWeaver, you can create a complete Web site in an hour. It’s as easy to use as a word processor.

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