Monday, January 29, 2007

Winner & Write Stuff Ten

The victim winner of the Test Subject Needed giveaway is leatherdykeuk, aka Rachel Green, who should e-mail me at LynnViehl@aol.com with your ship-to address so I can begin the torture send along the DVD and cards. Thanks to everyone for joining in -- as soon as I get in more cards, I'll have another volunteer giveaway.

Ten Things for the Writing Freeware Lovers

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

1. Type faster and more accurately with a free trial version of As-U-Type.

2. Extend the power of your Clipboard with ClipMagic freeware.

3. FlashPeak.com's IntelliEdit 1.0 freeware "is a Rich Text Editor powered by smart autocompletion. It can autocomplete words and phrases, auto-expand shorthands. It can even learn new words and phrase while typing."

4. Pot Boiler novel writing software offers a free trial version for download that's the same as the full version except for disabled file load and save features.

5. Add your favorite phrases, signature blocks and other frequently-used phrases with the freeware version of Quick Phrase.

6. Have your computer read your WIP back to you with Sayz Me freeware.

7. You can test drive some of the features of "The Writer's Software Companion" by downloading Storyline Interactive freeware.

8. Text Explosion is an abbreviation expander and can be used to auto-correct common spelling errors.

9. Replace your NotePad with WordTabs freeware.

10. Another Clipboard extender freeware, YC3, remembers the last 200 things you placed on your clipboard.

Reader freebies: The University of Virginia Library Electronic Text Center offers over 2,100 books for reading online or for download in Microsoft Reader and Palm format.

7 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:36 AM

    Congrats to the winners! (*mumblesjealousmumbles*)

    Ummm I KNOW it's not Friday (so you probably won't even seeee this) but... Can somebody PLEASE explain what the difference is between a plot synopsis and a plot summary? My goodness it's driving me crazy. I know there IS one. They aren't both simply a "summation of events". So... anybody? anybody? (Beuller?) *tears hair*
    Jess
    Thanks in advance.

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  2. Anonymous10:52 AM

    Jess, I'm mumbling in jealousy too. ;)


    I think I'm going to buy the full version of pot boiler. The trial looks exactly like something i need since I can't always keep little physical details straight.

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  3. Anonymous11:21 AM

    Jess wrote: Can somebody PLEASE explain what the difference is between a plot synopsis and a plot summary?

    A plot synopsis is something like you'd see in TV guide, or as a premise for a pitch, i.e.:

    Aggressive aquatic pilot/gunner guarding troubled peace summit must avert diplomatic assassination and interstellar war.

    A plot summary is usually a condensed breakdown of the story: Title and author, the main events of the plot in chronological order as they relate to each other. When we did them in school, they were usually assigned as one to three paragraphs, i.e.:

    Afterburn by S.L. Viehl
    'Zangian weapons expert Sublieutenant Byorn mu Znora (Burn) wants to become a pilot, but must prove himself after causing a training simulation to end in disaster. He has his chance when he rescues an Ylydii diplomatic envoy en route to a peace summit from raiders. Burn's courage results in him being assigned to guard the peace summit. Burn offends Carada, the Ylydii ambassador, but grows close to Liana, Carada's daughter. During several attempts to sabotage the summit, Burn's efforts to protect Liana lead him to evidence that she may be involved in the conspiracy.... (etc.)

    Disclaimer: if this is a school assignment, check with your instructor to make sure that my explanation jives with their interpretation of plot synopses and summaries.

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  4. Anonymous12:24 PM

    LOL Thank you!! No, not a school project, or I'd just annoy the professor instead of you! :-D It's my own dang curiosity.
    Jess

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  5. Thanks for asking the question, Jess, and thanks to PBW for answering. I should have known that, but I appreciate the clarification/reminder/lesson. I'm sure I'm not the only one. (Well...I suppose I could be.)

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  6. Anonymous10:50 PM

    Kiora!!! I was looking for some free online reads when I stumbled across your blog. Where shall I begin?? I am not a big Sci-Fi fan but hey they were free and I couldn't resist....and now I'm hooked!!! Love your StarDoc series freebies that you posted on your blog and can't wait to read the paperbacks.......hope I can find them down here in New Zealand. Thanks for creating a world (planets/moons/universe)thats full of imagination and characters that are hard to forget. Keep 'em comin!!!!

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  7. Anonymous12:44 AM

    Jean, you weren't the only one. I was wondering that, too.

    I have a question I'm sitting on until Friday.

    ReplyDelete

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