NaNoWriMo Ten

Ten Things for the NaNoWriMoer's

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

New Nano Badges!









(I've uploaded .jpgs of all eight badges over on my Photobucket account if any of you want to use the codes.)

Get character names in an instant online with Kleimo's Random Name Generator, which uses data from the US Census to generate up to 30 male and female names at once; you preset the obscurity factor from 1 to 99 (1=Common, 50=Not so common, 99=Totally obscure.)

NovProg2 "allows you to create a graph of your progress in writing a NaNoWriMo style novel. You enter your wordcount and it updates a graph showing you how much progress you have made. It also shows you how far you are through your daily goal, and your total goal. Mousing over a bar in the graph will show a tooltip with that day's wordcount." (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista)

Outline Your Novel in Thirty Minutes by Alicia Rasley

Special Offers from NaNo-friendly companies: Create Space, Scrivener, Writer's Digest and AlphaSmart all have some nice discounts or offers here for NaNo'ers.

If you need some help putting together an outline or a plan for your NaNo story, try one of PBW's how-to freebies: Novel Wiring Diagram (blank and filled out), Ten Point Novel Plot Outline Template, or The Novel Notebook. Also, since year I get asked for these, here are the links to my single novel plotting template, trilogy plotting template and mid-length series plotting template.

The Printable Notebook "lets you organize and print your personal data in the same manner a paper notebook does. You can print (and cut) selected pages so that they fit into your paper notebook. The program allows you to create multiple notebooks with custom fields for each. It includes several sample print templates, that will fit a standard notebook size. The templates are XML based and can be edited by experienced users to accommodate other formats. Printable Notebook supports website links and email fields, different tab layouts, search across notebooks and more" (OS: Windows 98/ME/2000/XP)

When you just can't think of the word: OneLook's Reverse Online Dictionary allows users to "describe a concept and get back a list of words and phrases related to that concept. Your description can be a few words, a sentence, a question, or even just a single word. Just type it into the box above and hit the "Find words" button. Keep it short to get the best results. In most cases you'll get back a list of related terms with the best matches shown first."

Not sure what constitutes a novel scene, or what to put in it? Get my jewels o' scenic wisdom in my PBW post Scene Building 101.

Finally, links that are most requested from me during NaNoWriMo (hover your cursor over the link title to get a description): Notecarding: Plotting Under Pressure, Novel Outlining 101, Richard Salsbury's Rough Draft, Seventh Sanctum, Text Block Writer.

Contract No-Nos

Ten Things You Probably Shouldn't Ask for During Contract Negotiations

Advance Check -- you're not going to see this until after the contract is signed, sent to legal to be checked, lost for a week, reviewed by the senior editor, lost for three weeks, signed by the executive editor, shuffled into the wrong pile, accidentally filed by an intern, found after seven phone calls from your agent, sent to accounting, used as a coffee coaster for another four weeks and then flagged for a notation error, in which case a new copy of the contract has to be drawn up and sent to you for resigning, or your book has been published, remaindered and goes out of print, or your estate comes out of probate, whichever is the most financially convenient for the publisher.

Apologies -- So the editor who is making the offer rejected your last manuscript by sending you a post card with This SUCKS scrawled on it in pink ink. Say nothing. Wait. Think of that day in the future when you deem it time to send the editor a parting gift. I recommend a box of brand new pink ink pens and a how-to book on improving penmanship. Plus you can recycle the rejection postcard and make it into a gift tag, crossing out This and replacing it with your handwriting, or perhaps offer advice on other, southern, insertable uses for the pens.

Champagne -- you don't want to get the other parties involved plastered; they might start telling you and your agent the absolute truth -- and giggle while they do it.

Diamonds -- okay, for all your hard work you definitely deserve that tiara from Tiffany's, but you know they're just going to slip you cubic zirconium and later swear they thought it was real, or word the contract so that a gift of a tiara is implied but one with real diamonds is never actually offered.

Facelift -- sure, your sagging jowls and the carry-ons under your eyes aren't going to get you last place in the Prettiest Author of the Year contest, but remember, they still think that biophoto you sent them of your granddaughter is you.

Parties -- the only time your editor will actually party is when your novel hits #1 on the Times list, and then the partying won't be with you. Before your editor leaves work early to start drinking, though, you'll get a nice phone call.

Quote From Big Name -- this is how big name quote demands work: you ask for Charlaine Harris, you'll get Harriet Klausner; you ask for John Grisham, you'll get Harriet Klausner, you ask for Stephenie Meyer, your editor will ask me, I'll say I don't do quotes anymore, and then you'll get Harriet Klausner.

Revenge -- baby, what do you think signing that contract is?

Stephen King's Home Phone Number -- he never answers it, and Tabitha gets tired of everyone saying, "But you know, Mrs. King, I thought your books were really cute, too."

Tranquilizers -- you don't have your own supply stocked yet? Okay, come to the next cover art-traumatized authors' meeting, and we'll front you some freebies.

Sub Ops

Ten Things About Submission Opportunities for Writers

Poor Mojo's Almanack is holding a contest for rants; The 33-and-a-⅓ Contest. Evidently they want ". . . RANTS featuring "The Best Recipe You'd Never Guess." In the spirt of Mr. Morgan Johnson's "Industrial Espionage and the World's Greatest Sangria Recipe," craft a rant of fewer than 3,000 words featuring a fine recipe of your delight." They define a rant as ". . . a personal essay, and might take the form of a rave, a complaint, a memoir, a travelogue, a stump speech, an outlandish claim, a quiet prayer before dying, et cetera. It can also be about a favored pet." Winner receives $33.33 (I assume) U.S. Reprints okay, electronic submission via online form only, see contest page for more details, deadline December 31, 2009.

Every Day Poets is looking for "short poems, of up to 60 lines/500 words or fewer. There’s no such thing as too short. All genres are acceptable, and poems that don’t fit neatly into any genre are welcome too. We hope to reflect a wide diversity of cultures and cross cultures; although all poems must be in English, this need not be restrictive (as in, for example, “Search for my Tongue” by Sujata Bhatt, or John Agard’s “Half Caste”). We encourage contributors to ensure that all capitalization is a matter of your artistic choice and not a default function of your word processing software, and that punctuation is similarly deliberate. Our readership is adult, so poems intended for children are unlikely to be accepted unless they are relevant to adults as well. On the other hand, we are not impressed by gratuitous sex and violence, or pointlessly foul language; edgy content should be necessary to the purpose of the poem and appropriate to this venue. It ought to go without saying that any poem submitted to Every Day Poets must be your own unpublished original creation. If you publish a poem on a blog, even your own personal blog, it is considered published and therefore inappropriate for our market." Pays $1 per poem, so it's mainly for exposure, but if your poem is the one that is most read that month you'll be featured in a site interview. No reprints, electronic submissions via online form only, see guidelines page for more details.

Fantasy Magazine is looking for "stories that delight, entertain, and enrapture readers, stories ranging from delicious treats that melt on the tongue, leaving only a trace of sweetness, to the dark and poignant tale whose memory lingers with you for days, perhaps years." Length 1-6K, pays 5¢/word, no reprints, electronic submission only using their online form, see guidelines for more details.

Leisure Books is teaming up with Chizine for their Fresh Blood contest for as-yet-unpublished horror novel writers (defined as any writer who has not yet published a horror novel; e-pubbed and/or short story published writers are eligible. Which, hey, makes me eligible.) Leisure wants to see "finished horror novel manuscripts, either supernatural or non-supernatural, of 80,000–90,000 words." The winner will be published in Leisure's 2011 lineup and will also have a limited edition hardcover published by Chizine. Deadline on this on is September 30, 2009 and please read the link page for more, important details on entering.

Drollerie Press has an open call for an as-yet-untitled Greek Mythology/Urban Fantasy anthology (scroll down on link page), and wants to see short stories "retelling Greek myth re-set as urban/contemporary fantasy. They may be set in any location in the world, and do not have to specifically reference Greece. The stories should be between 5 and 20k in length, and should be YA friendly, that is, appropriate to a sophisticated YA reader and to adults as well. The protagonist(s), therefore, should be wrestling with issues of young adulthood, and should be between the ages of 17 and 25. Some profanity is acceptable. Sexual activity and violence may be referenced, but should not be described in loving detail." Pays: "an equitable distribution of royalties based on word count. Publication will be in ebook, with trade paperback to follow if warranted by sales." No specs on reprints, electronic subs okay, see guidelines page for more details, deadline January 5, 2010.

Midnight Echo, the magazine of the Australian Horror Writers Association, "aims to showcase the quality and diversity of the modern horror and dark fantasy genres. Particular emphasis will be placed upon Australian authors, but international voices will also be included." Length 5K or less, pays AU1¢/word, no reprints, electronic submissions only, see guidelines page for more details. Submissions reading period for the next issue ends January 31, 2010.

Mindflights "publishes science fiction and fantasy (including all its sub-genres). All submissions to MindFlights must have a SF&F element. MindFlights is a family-friendly, Christian-friendly market. Thus we prefer stories without excessive or explicit profanity, sexual content, etc." Will be open for submissions again on October 12, 2009. Length 5K or less (not firm), pays ½¢/word ($5-$25) via PayPal only, reprints okay, electronic submissions through online form only, see guidelines page for more details.

Samhain Publishing has an open call for their as-yet-untitled Red Hot Fairy Tales anthology, and is "open to any genre, M/F, M/M, or multiples thereof. I’m looking for your super-hot take on the fairy tales we grew up with and . . . there must be a Happily Ever After." Length: 20-25K, no info on payment but Samhain offers 40% of cover price for single-author books, no reprints, see guidelines page for more details, deadline February 1, 2010.

Drollerie Press also has an open call for their Trafficking in Magic/Magic in Trafficking anthologies: "Trafficking in Magic deals with the sale and transport of magical goods and services, including magical beings, artifacts, fortune telling, communing with the dead, and other spells for hire, or the sale of magical energy itself; Magicking in Traffic deals with magic in the flow of traffic–which could be street traffic, commerce, the flow of energies, or something else entirely–whether to aid, block, or manipulate the flow of traffic, or simply to play in it. Creative interpretations of the title(s) are also encouraged." Focus is on f/magreal/slipstrm/mythicfic/fairy tales (fic/poem, query for b-w art/comics); pays equitable 60% royalty. Words: <12k; poem<100 lines (query if longer). Reprints okay, electronic submissions only, see guidelines page for more details, deadline January 5, 2010.

Pill Hill Press has an open call for their Twisted Legends: Urbanized & Unauthorized, edited by Jessy Marie Roberts, and are looking for "short stories that present clever twists on urban legends. Though most genres are accepted, all stories must contain strong horror/suspense themes. I will only accept one revised version of any urban legend/myth - I will post the stories I've accepted on my blog and forum so everyone knows what urban legends I have already taken. As this anthology is open until filled, I will read the submissions in order of when I receive them (first come, first serve). Make the stories fun, frightening and most importantly, TWISTED." Does NOT want to see: " . . . stories with a strong religious theme. Also, please do not send rape/torture stories, anything 'x' rated or pornographic, pet mutilation tales, fiction about child abuse and/or pedophilia, or submissions that denigrate any race, gender or sexual orientation." Length: 500 words to 5K, pays 1 cent per word plus 1 contributor's copy upon publication. No reprints, prefers electronic submissions, deadline: October 2, 2009.

Nearly all of the above sub ops were found over in the market listings at Ralan's place.

I'd Buy It

Products for Writers That We'd Like to See

Awards Nom Sleepy Time: Drink a cup of this delightful tea and snooze like a baby for weeks and weeks the next time your book is nominated for an indy award that you probably haven't kissed enough ass to win.

Buzzkiller Off: One spritz of this jackass repellent keeps all trolls, flamers, bait-danglers and smear campaigners off the writer's back for as long as they need to finish the next book. Comes in extra-strength for writers who are looking for more long-term protection.

Catty Colleague Anti-Scratch Spray: Spray generous amounts of this writer conference air freshener around at the next Nat'l to repel any frustrated frenemy trying to get in your face or stab you in the back. For the persistently pissed off with you, try the Crass Colleague Brush-off Roll-on.

Cover Art Trauma Tranquilizers: I don't have to explain how these little beauties work, do I? Each powerful tranq comes dipped in generous amounts of white, milk or dark chocolate (candy coatings are 100% donated by the sympathetic folks at OhYeahItSucks Chocolates.)

Ego Superglue: Fix all the damage to the writerly self from those wisecracks and heartbreaks with a single fast, easy application. To repair more extensive damages from direct attacks, try You Should Have Ducked Tape.

Genre Color Enhancer: Add to your favorite genres and publishers to bring out more releases by authors of every color, not just the whites.

Revisions Sweetener: Sprinkle one packet over the manuscript to make those revisions easier to swallow (or directly on the author to remove lingering bitterness.)

Royalty Retinal Burn Gel: Apply directly to the eyes when scorched by reading the latest royalty statement (available in extra-strength for three-year-old releases that still have thousands of dollars being held in reserves against returns.)

Stalled Submission Soothers: These calming all-natural lozenges will ease chronic tight throat and help heal bitten lips induced by overlong response waiting periods and perennially late postal carriers.

Writer Soul Balm: Removes the soreness, restores the softness, and keeps your soul feeling young instead of dried out, withered and old. Comes in flavors like cherry (for when you need to change agents/editors/publishers -- again) and medicated (for after you change agent/editors/publishers and find out the new one is just as bad or possibly worse.)

Timeless Ten

Ten Things to Kill Some Time While I'm Off Sulking Editing

Click on the orange square, type your name or any word(s) in lower case letters, and hear how it sounds on the craymachine.

Need some epic swears, like Almighty son of a festering trogg-breeding serpent!? Get up to fifty at once over at zlana's Cuss-O-Matic generator (hosted by Manon/Serendipity.)

Play the fame game celebrity-style over at Famousr.

All we need is a little synergy, and a lot of luck: Go Farther ~ The Next (Big?) Thing by Steven Savage

All fountain pens all the time: Inkophile

29,714 artists, 174 countries, one single global collaborative online art project: The One Million Masterpiece.

Read on Earth is "a collaborative art bookmarking project where photos are stashed inside of books with the goal of seeing other readers discover them."

Possibly the best name for a kids/YA book review blog ever: Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast

One for the history buffs: The Times Machine allows you to browse any issue of the New York Times from September 18, 1851 through December 30, 1922.

Chaotic Shiny has an interesting writing exercise generator that challenges the user to with story element prompts as well as word or time counts.

Many of the above links were found while rifling through the archives over at The Presurfer.

Rain Rain Go Away Ten

Ten Things to Do on a Rainy Day



Begin or update an interesting character names list. Haul out your baby names or other name source book and start reading through; stop and jot down whatever name appeals to you or pops a character in your head.

Catch up on your correspondence. We all whine about how little time we have to e-mail; this is the perfect opportunity to catch up with your colleagues and friends. If you're already caught up, e-mail some friends you haven't heard from lately and see what they're up to. Also see 15 Tips for Writing Effective Email.

Clean out your filing cabinet. Bite the bullet and file everything that's sitting around. Come up with a color label system and redo your file labels. Also see Sally Allen's article Get Organized!
Filing Systems: A Four-Step Formula That Really Works.

Edit some pages or a chapter from your WIP by hand on paper. Everything looks different printed versus appearing on the screen. To take a different approach to editing, read your pages in reverse order -- start editing on the last and work your way backward to the first.

Make a writing to-do list. Plan your writing time, what projects you'd like to work on and when you can work on them for the next week or month. Write out your plan on a calendar or notepad to keep at your writing space. Also see How to Write a Work At Home Business Plan.

Practice writing premises and synopses. Challenge yourself to write a premise for your current WIP in less than 25 words, then 15 words, then 10 words. Try writing a one-page story synopsis for your WIP, then a three-page, and then a fifteen-page.

Read the book at the very bottom of your TBR. Or pick the one you've been avoiding for whatever reason. An unread book is an adventure in limbo, and you never know what gem you might unearth, especially if it was recommended by a friend. If you're all caught up on reading, organize your book shelves. Group your books by subject, author, or however you like to keep them in order. And dust!

Start a novel notebook, or update your current notebook. If you're having trouble writing a character, fill out a worksheet and get to know them better. Cut inspiring images out of magazines and newspapers and make some visual note pages. If you've only planned out one novel, write up some notes on a potential sequel.

Tidy up your work space. Remove any trash or clutter from your desk, dust your equipment, vacuum under your chair. This is also a good time to clean out the debris lodged in your keyboard or the dust and pet hair stuck to the fan vent on the back of your tower (follow your computer manufacturer's instructions on how to do this.)

Write up or plan a week's worth of blog posts. If the power goes out, use your Neo, your netbook, your laptop or other battery-operated device. If you're tired of blogging, look for some ways to recharge your own batteries.

Now if you've done all that and still need something to do, stop by Drops of Crimson and read Kristopher Reisz's free short story Quiet Haunts.

Rejuvy Ten

Sorry I'm running late today, guys. Tom and his family are basking on a white-sanded beach somewhere right now, and they wouldn't take me with them, no matter how much I whined . . .

Ten Things You Can Do to Revive Your Blog

A to Z: make an alphabetical list of things you love, hate, want, avoid, or otherwise feel strongly about.

All the things I'll miss from summer: amusement parks, barbecues, corn on the cob, dog walks, every day home with the kids, flip-flops, gardening, halter tops, icees, jazz festivals, kites, LB&LI, museums, nectarines, opal skies, peaches, quiet mornings on the porch, rain storms, salad dinners, tacos, umbrellas, vacation, warm days, x-tra hours to sleep in, yoyo contests, zzzzz'ing in the lawn chair.

Contest: Ask your visitors an interesting question, and offer a prize for the most interesting answer or on a random draw, i.e. What's your favorite how-to writing book, and why?

Freshen Up: Give your blog a makeover by renaming it, putting up a new template, rearranging your content display, adding some new features or widgets, etc.

Greatest Hits: Go through your archives and pick ten posts that you like best, thought were the funniest, got the most reponses or something like that, and list them along with links to the original post (or do a best of the last year, like I did here.)

Meme Fun: Post the latest meme you've seen on your blog (here's one from Facebook, answered by a dude with the very interesting handle of Adonisdemon) and challenge your visitors to answer it in comments or on their blogs (don't tag me. I know where most of you live.)

One Year Ago Today: Revisit your archives and see what you posted about exactly one year ago to date (a year ago I was offline due to Tropical Storm Fay; and now we have three storms in the Atlantic: Tropical Storm Claudette, currently in the Gulf of Mexico, will make landfall Sunday evening in the Florida panhandle; Tropical Storm Ana was downgraded to a depression as of the 5pm advisory from the National Hurricane Center; and Tropical Storm Bill, which may be intensifying and making its way towards the Carolinas.)

Publishing News: Go to an internet search engine, type in the word "Publishing" and hit enter. You'll find the latest articles about the industry, and maybe find one that proposes something new or a new view (here's one on "cloud-publishing" by a self-pubbed author that I thought made an interesting argument for self-pubbing on the internet.

Serendipity Spin: Visit one of the blogs on your blogroll at random, read their latest post, and then write up a post about it or your opinion on the same topic (be sure to link back to the author and the original post so your visitors can go there to check it out.)

Ten Listmania: Make a list of ten things (like this one) about book, authors, or whatever that are funny.

Writing or Reading Stats: It's almost September; what have you gotten accomplished so far this month? This season? This year? Write up a post about where you've been, and talk about what you plan to do to finish out the month, season, year, etc.

Sub Ops Ten

Ten Things for Writers Looking for Work

Pulpwork Press is looking for stories for their Amazing Alternity Stories antho: "What we are looking for is stories in the pulp tradition with an adventure component of 5-12K in length with a central character based on a real-life personage. We want a wide variety of pulp genres represented; if this book is successful we'll release future volumes that focus on specific genres. Fun should be the most important element in these tales--the oddity of seeing a real-life person in a different setting should be secondary to the excitement of reading a fast paced adventure tale." Pay shared royalties, query on reprints, electronic submission of 2-3 page outline only. See guidelines for more details. Deadline: August 31st.

Pill Hill Press has an open call for their April 2010 antho The Bitter End. "We are looking for scary stories that take place on ships, boats, rafts, anything - as long as the setting is on - or in - or under - the ocean (or land-locked bodies of water or lakes). Traditional monsters (werewolves, vampires, witches, mummies, ghosts, etc.) are welcome if presented in a new and interesting way. The setting (at sea) must be integral to plot development. Stories can be realistic or fantastical. They can take place at any time - past, present, future, alternate. We are looking for a good variety of unique and terrifying sea stories." Length: 500 to 5K, pays 1 cent per word plus contributor's copy on publication by check (US authors) or PayPal (International authors), no reprints, electronic submission preferred. See guidelines for more details.Deadline October 31st.

Someone out there asked me for the guidelines to submit to Boy's Life magazine, here is a link to the pdf. with their guidelines.

Comet Press has an open call for their to-be-titled antho of Dark Crime/Horror fiction: "We are looking for very violent, extreme, gruesome, and disturbing hard boiled tales. The stories preferably may have horror elements, whether supernatural, non-supernatural, paranormal, occult, etc." Length 3-10K, payment ¼¢/word, query on reprints, electronic submissions only. See guidelines for more details. Deadline: September 1st or until filled.

Electric Velocipede has a new online submission form; according to Ralan they're also open for submissions as of August 1st. Looking for SF/SpecLit fiction and poetry, Length: 10k or less, query if over 10K; payment 1¢/word with a minimum of $25, No reprints. Electronic submission via online form only. See their excellent guidelines page for more details.

Samhain Publishing will soon be closing their open-call, as-yet-untitled Space Opera Anthology to be published in the Spring 2010; looking for 25-30K length fast-paced, action-adventure space opera romances. No info on payment but they offer 40% on the net for single-author books so it should be fairly decent; definitely inquire as to terms and see guidelines for more details. Electronic submissions only (please read guidelines for specific formatting), and get moving, as the reading period closes August 10th.

SFzine.org, the Internet Audio Magazine of Fantasy, Horror and Science Fiction, accepts fiction and nonfiction submissions: "We are primarily looking for works of fiction up to 10,000 words but feel free to submit works of shorter (flash fiction) or longer (serializable) length as well. We are also looking for reviews, commentary and non-fiction articles of a scientific or entertainment industry related nature We purchase non-exclusive audio rights to stories for which such rights are available regardless of previous publication history. We do, however, prefer not to re-broadcast fiction that has already been published in audio on another fiction podcast." Payment: "$0.01 (USD) per word for fiction and $20.00 (USD) flat for non-fiction. Donations of fiction or non-fiction are also gladly accepted." See guidelines for more details.

Twilight Times print magazine and e-zine will be open for submissions from August 15 to September 5, 2009, looking for sf/f/literary/cross-genre fiction, nonfiction, poetry and art and "still need a few stories and poems for the Halloween issue." Length: cross-genre fiction under 6k words, fiction from 1-10k, essays to 3.5k, poetry to 30 lines. Pays $5 for original and $2.50 for reprints (you're basically going for exposure with this one) electronic submissions only. See guidelines for more details.

I had to see it to believe it, but it's true: Ralan has opened up a new section for Twitter markets.

Tyrannosaurus Press is open to submissions again; looking for novel length SF/F, pays 10-20% net royalties, no reprints, query first, electronic submission preferred, see guidelines for more details.

Nearly all of the above listings were found over among the marvelous market listings over at Ralan's place.

Help Ten

Ten Things for Writers with Impairments

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Click-N-Type virtual keyboard freeware provides "an on-screen virtual keyboard designed for anyone with a disability that prevents him or her from typing on a physical computer keyboard. As long as the physically challenged person can control a mouse, trackball, touch screen or other pointing device, this software keyboard allows you to send keystrokes to virtually any Windows application or DOS application that can run within a window." Version 3.03 has a page explaining new and helpful features (OS:Windows 95/98/ME/NT/2000/XP/Vista)

Disability Resources on the Internet is a majorly helpful and useful site for people with all types of impairments.

Dyslexia-Parent.com has a page of software programs to aid the dyslexic, a couple of these are free or have free trials or demos.

Iconico's EasyRead utility allows you to view HTML pages and magnify them as you browse the web via Internet Explorer (OS: Windows XP)

Inspired Code's resources for the visually impaired includes SayPad, "a freeware talking text editor that can read you a good book or help you write one, using the latest speech technology. It carefully installs the SAPI 5.1 Text To Speech engine from a compact 8.2 megabyte download. This is a quick and painless way to get the SAPI5 TTS onto your system, plus it does cool things like read to you with natural phrasing as a person would. You can fit huge files into it like the whole Bible for instance, which you can prove by downloading it below. (In fact it has a filter you can turn on that skips over verse numbers to let you hear it like a story.) SayPad can now convert Text to Audio, even a whole book in one run, splitting off chapters into separate, well named Audio files you can burn onto a CD" (OS: Win98/Me/2000/XP)

For the visually impaired, there's a free trial download of The Magnifying Glass Pro utility, a "virtual magnifier (virtual lens, screen-zoomer) that enables you to enlarge (magnify) text and graphics as they are displayed on your computer monitor or attached television screen, or projected onto a larger media during a presentation (e.g., using an application such as PowerPoint). As you pass your mouse cursor over a section of the viewing area, the display is magnified making it instantly more readable and accessible. In addition, you can apply a variety of visual effects and enhancements to that display" (OS: Windows 9x/ME/NT/ 2000/XP/Vista)

For those who need a free screen magnifier utility or program, check out Magnifier.org's freeware and shareware list.

Panopreter "reads text files, word documents and web pages in .htm format, it can read in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Japanese and more, provided such Text-To-Speech voice engines have been installed on your computer. Panopreter converts the files into audio files with the format of wave and MP3. So you can hear your files with your audio media player, you don't need to sit at the desk, with your eyes fixed on the computer's screen any longer. Panopreter is also a good aid to any language learning program. You install the Text-To-Speech voices for the specific language, then you can hear the files being read for you" (OS: Windows XP/2003/Vista)

The Talking Dictionary is designed "for use by visually impaired and/or disabled computer users. It is a very powerful program using an incredibly detailed dictionary/thesaurus database. Full instructions are included" Note: although this is advertised as completely free on a couple of sites, it's only a free trial download. (OS: Windows 95 or higher)

TTSReader is "a full-featured, text-to speech software package that allows reading text aloud as well as to wav or mp3 files" (OS: Win 98/ME/2K/XP/2K3/Vista)

Ten with Character

Ten Things to Help You with Your Characters

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

Addressido is meant for use as a portable virtual address book that fits on a memory stick, but writers can use it to keep track of character names, details and story appearances (OS:• Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista, Microsoft® .NET Framework 2.0 or higher -- note: on Windows® Vista™ the Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.0 is already included as part of the operating system.)

Martha Alderson's article Character-driven or Action-driven gives you a little test to see what sort of stories you prefer to write.

When I need a little character inspiration or just a good laugh, I head for Seventh Sanctum's always amazing page of online character generators.

Dynastree is a home geneaology freeware that could be useful to writers for creating character trees for series novels or books with large casts. If you think outside the box, a tree can be used for more than relatives (in vampire fiction, for example, you could create a sireline tree) (OS: Windows XP/Vista)

Eposic.org's online Persona Generator will give you the more nebulous aspects of personality for your characters.

Geni has an online customizable family tree generator with profile sheets and all sorts of bells and whistles including photos you can fill in and upload to flesh out your character. I made up one in a few minutes with some of the Kyn to give you the general idea (click image to see larger screenshot):



Rich Hamper's Character Profile Sheet

Outlines for Character-Based & Plot-Based Synopsis by Barbara Karmazin

Karen Lotter talks about the importance of profiling characters in her article Getting to Grips with Character ~
Profile your Characters; Work on Real Character Development

Virtual Project freeware is a web-based project organization program that could be used by writers to profile and manage characters as well as research for them throughout your story (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3)

Added: a reader sent me a link to a free service that brings together all of your notes and data no matter where they're stored (laptop, web, phone, Twitter, etc.) and keeps them in sync, on both Windows and Mac computers, which would be very helpful in keeping your character info up to date: Evernote.

Count 'Em Ten

Ten Things About Word Counters

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

If you're looking for a wordcounter widget that uses straight HTML versus images, check out Another Little Progress Meter (and here's what it looks like on a blog.)

The Dreaded Daily Word Count by Chris Stewart takes a practical look at wordcounting and suggests how you can custom design a daily quota you can live with.

Allena Tapia has some good tips on how to trim your numbers in her About.com article Five Ways to Cut Down Your Word Count.

LanguageIsAVirus has an online wordcount code generator (which looks like this on a blog.)

StoryToolz requires you to register first (free), but then you can get their progress meter.

If you just wanted to count your words and don't trust your word processor, cut and paste your text into the box at Word Count Tool, click submit, and get your count.

Word Counter is a "Macintosh OS X application that performs a word count and a character count, but it can do much more. It can be used independently or in conjunction with other applications such as TextEdit, Microsoft Word, Pages, TextWrangler, and others" (OS:Macintosh OS X 10.5 or higher)

The Word Counter Widget is a "Dashboard Widget for Macintosh OS X. It provides word counts and character counts and can also count the number of instances of a specified word or phrase" (OS: Mac OS X 10.4 or later)

WordFlood 1.2, which offers customizable word and phrase lists, one-click word usage frequency stats and a displayed worcounter, is now being offered as freeware (OS: Windows 2000/NT/XP/Vista)

Writertopia offers two free wordcount widgets; one that is a simple, no-frills meter, and the other to display your mood as well as your progress.

Imagery Ten

Ten Things About Images and Graphics

Freeware caution: always scan free downloads of anything for bugs and other threats before dumping the programs into your hard drive.

If you're looking for images that contain the same colors as one of your own, you can upload your pic and get an entire page of them with Idée Labs' BYO Image Search Lab.

FotoSketcher is "a 100% free program which can help you convert your digital photos into art, automatically. If you want to turn a portrait, the photograph of your house or a beautiful landscape into a painting, a sketch or a drawing then look no further, FotoSketcher will do the job in just a few seconds" (OS: Win 2000/XP/2003/Vista)

Mark Tyler's mtPaint is a paint program that "uses the GTK+ toolkit (version 1 or 2) and runs on PC's via the GNU/Linux or Windows operating systems. Due to its efficient design it can run on older PC hardware (e.g. a 200MHz CPU and 16MB of free RAM.)" Also operates in several languages other than English (OS: Win 9x/ME/NT/2K/XP/2K3; Linux)

Multicolor browses for images on Flickr that match a color you pick out from their grid.

If you'd like to try uploading an image to a sketch generator (like an online version of FotoSketcher), stop by Sporkforge.com's Sketch Generator.

Retrievr will also find Flickr images that match something you sketch in their little paint window or upload as an image.

Sqirlz Morph multi-morphing freeware allows you to "mark features on several images, and the program mixes the images so that each feature on one image moves smoothly to the corresponding feature on the other images - a technique widely used in the film industry" (OS: Win ME/2000/XP/Vista)

Someone (you know who you are) asked if I knew of a search engine that would match an uploaded image to something on the web (helpful if you want to check and see if your cover art had been used before) -- you might try the reverse image search engine Tinyeye.

Also from Idée Labs, the Visual Search Lab Alamy Set allows you to search by tag and pixel color.

In need of public domain clipart? Browse the 30,500 images over at WPClipart.