Phras.in is one effective web app which will help us deciding on which words to use when we are not certain on the right term. Just typing both, will automatically retrieve which of those is the most used.
“Tell me, how many times did you come up with two ways to say the same thing, and couldn’t decide which one was the best fit?” A rare question but for a common scenario in the writers life; finding a right word can be tricky but Phras.in searches around the web and provide us the result for the most usual term.
And includes also the option “Contextualize ’em” for retrieving also the sentences where each of the words are appearing.
The coming year is sure to be filled with big things for all of us. One of my personal goals is to publish my work in book format. As a writer I’ve
Self publish your work.
spent years collecting works on my personal sites that would work well in book format. The idea is to take out the middleman, publishers, and put your work in your hands by giving you the options you need to get your work out to the world. But it’s not just for writers, opportunities are abound for photographers as well who want to feature their work in magazine or calendar format.
Lulu has offered self publishing opportunities for all of us for many years now, and since its launch, has expanded it’s offerings. Take your work in one of many formats, books, ebooks, calendars, photo books, cookbooks, cd’s and dvd’s. Lulu also offers distribution services to get your book out in as many markets as possible, and the fees are minimal compared to what you’d get having to work with an agent and a publisher. I don’t want to take anything away from the traditional models that exist for publishing, they definitely have a place in the world of content publishing, but self publishing offers us so many new opportunities.
At the pro level there are many great options you have, should you choose to go this route, that mimics what working with a real publisher is like. Services include publishing packages, retail listings, children’s book packages, and all inclusive packages. Each of them come with their own distinct professional connections that as a self publisher allows you to truly get a hands on the process of getting your book out to the masses.
For those of us writers who find ourselves seeking new content to relate to what we write, it was a huge breath of fresh air when Zemanta was released. Zemanta not only offered us links, but it offered up keywords we might want to highlight, along with images the engine though we should include in our post. Zemanta was unlike anything we’d ever seen in terms of its wide use and availability across browsers and blogging sites.
+Continue Reading
National Novel Writing Month is due to begin on November the first. Basically, it’s a 30 day event which poses a challenge for writers to write a 50,000 page novel in just thirty days – no easy task. That roughly translates into over 1,600 words per day for thirty days on the trot – all of a high quality.
The online community that is hosting the event is NaNoWriMo.org. Basically, it’s a kind of social networking site for all of the participants of the challenge. There is a counter on the homepage which counts how many words have been written so far. You also have your own personal counter on your own page which you’re supposed to update every time you make an addition to your work. The thinking behind all of this is to keep you motivated by graphical illustrations of your progress and comparison of your progress against other writers. 
Other features on the site include a community forum, widgets and free downloads such as inspirational wallpapers along with plenty of help and advice from seasoned writers.
Yours truly will be partaking in the challenge also. But I’ll have the added handicap of having to blog about my experiences before, during and after the 30 day which I’m starting today on a new blog I created especially for the occasion right here.
If you’ve always wanted to write that novel of yours, November 1st to the 30th is the time to do it with the help of wwwNaNoWriMo.org
