 We're shaken. My name's Cam. Welcome back to another video. Technology. In 2021, we use, we use technology. Compared to the age of yesteryear where writers would tippity tap away at a typewriter, we now live in a time where software can replace all instances of the word red with the word a butthole, if that's what you want for some reason. My point is that technology has drastically changed the game for all aspects of writing. You may still prefer to do your writing by hand or by typewriter, and if you do, that is completely wrong. Stop it. I'm kidding. Do what you want, but also why? I've done videos in the past talking about apps I like and writing resources in particular, but that was quite a while ago, so I thought I'd do a bit of an update talking about anything and everything that helps me spew words onto the screen. I don't want to brag or anything, but I've been referred to as an okay writer before. So, I suppose the very first thing I should talk about is what I use for my actual writing. I get asked this quite a lot. I'm afraid to confess that I have always used and still use Microsoft Word. It is very old school when compared to all of the newer writing applications, and it's certainly not the best choice, even for people who like keeping it simple. But look, here's the thing. I don't like changing my ways. Look, right up until the point where I'm ready to publish, my actual writing process is very basic. It's very straightforward. I don't mess with the fonts or the formatting. I literally just jump into Word and I just write it. It's familiar to me, and not counting the one time that I lost a full day's worth of writing due to a computer crash, it works. However, I wouldn't recommend it. If you are like me and you like keeping it simple, just use Google Docs. It's almost identical to Microsoft Word, and you have a lot more functions and features and safety. You get the benefit of your writing being backed up live, so you don't have to worry about, again, losing a full day's worth of writing. There are a lot of other really great benefits to using Google Docs from a writer's perspective, but rather than me going through them all, I'll just leave a link to a video in the description below, a video from Cloud Kit and Chronicles. She does a really great job of going in depth. I personally want to move onto using Google Docs rather than Word, but I'm basically like, I'm like a porch-dwelling senior citizen when it comes to changing the way I do things. I mean, just look at where I wear my pants. That was a stupid joke, not worth the wedgie. I have tried Scribna and I have to say it is fantastic with all of the features that it has. If I was talking to a new writer and they were asking me what software they think they should use to do their writing, I would recommend Scribna. That way they can keep all of their outlining and their writing in literally one app, among a ton of other really cool features. Ultimately, and I know it's going to sound like a bit of a cop-out, but the software that you use to do your actual writing will come down entirely to you and what you prefer. Some writers like to keep it as barebones as possible, but others might like treating a writing project like they are solving a 30-year-old cold case, which is fine. All I would say is try not to let yourself get too distracted by all of the planning and the outlining and doing all this cool aesthetic planning stuff, you know what I mean? Because no matter what you tell yourself, at a certain point, planning can become procrastination. WRITE THE DAMN STORY The next one I want to mention is a phone app that I think will really help you out. There's a lot of writing apps out, there are a lot of handy ones. For example, NameDice, Ulysses, Plagiarism Checker, but the only one that I've used consistently for years now is Lists for Writers. I think it's about three dollars or so depending on where you are, but it is exactly what it sounds like. It's a very simple app, it's just filled to the brim with lists of words, terms, phrases, for pretty much anything that you could possibly imagine. This is easily one of the absolute best tools that a writer could have in their arsenal. I would almost say that Lists for Writers is essential. And no, this video is not sponsored. It has pretty much anything. Lists of names, characteristics, ways to physically describe characters, locations, slang, verbs, adjectives, the list goes on. For example, I usually struggle with describing characters in the body types. I don't want to just say that they're big or small or portly or skinny. So I open the app and then bam, I've got like 50 plus words to choose from. I cannot hype lists for writers enough. And I'm sure there's websites, probably free websites that have very similar lists, but being able to scroll through them all very quickly on your phone is a million times more convenient. So I do most of my outlining in Microsoft Word as well. And but for the last year or two, I have also used, in addition to Microsoft Word, I've used mind mappers. Mind mapping software is a fantastic way of organizing all of your outlining notes rather than scrolling through a Microsoft Word document now looking for the eye color of a certain side character. I can just use a few clicks on the app and bingo bingo. There it is. There are free ones that you can use online, but the best one I've found so far specifically for writing is called Write Mapper. It does cost a bit. It's like 50 bucks, a one time payment for a solo license. But if you can spare that, I think it's worth it when compared to the free ones. I've used the free ones before, but they are very obviously optimized for like businesses and companies to make like business models rather than actual story writing and planning. Again, not sponsored, but I found that Write Mapper is just cleaner and easier to use. You create a bubble for your story. Then from that bubble, you create more bubbles, maybe characters, location and plot. Then from those bubbles, you create more bubbles. For example, you could go from the story bubble to the characters bubble to the Jessica bubble. Once there, I'll be able to easily see all of the notes that I have made about Jessica. And also a feature I really like is that you can minimize or hide the bubbles that you don't need to look at, which makes everything much more pleasing to the eye and easier to navigate. Using mind maps really does make outlining just like a million times easier, so I would highly recommend it if you haven't tried it before. So on the side of publishing your book, assuming that you've finished writing it, is how I find the artists for my book covers and my marketing material. I usually go through either Fiverr or Upwork, both very similar websites that help bridge a connection between you and freelance artists. You can very easily see their rates, their pricing and most importantly their portfolios. If they don't have a portfolio, do not hire them. I've used these websites for years and for every book I've ever published and other stuff. You could pay a crap ton of money to a big professional book cover designing company if you can afford it, but there's also a lot of extremely talented artists out there who can provide just as good quality of a cover for a fraction of the cost. I also used Fiverr and Upwork for music and audiobook narrations. For example, my most recent release, Welcome to Zen. I've got an audio reading of the first full chapter of this book for free on YouTube which was done by the brilliant Anthony Centaro. I also had original theme music composed for the book trailer which was done by Carl Casey and back in the day when I was creating like bookish and writing themed clothing I got my designs and my art for that clothing through Fiverr and Upwork. The point is although there is obviously a lot of bad examples on those websites, you can get professional quality services at a very affordable price and that is invaluable for self-published authors in particular. So those are just a handful of my favorite resources and apps for when I finally get my arson gear and do some writing. I'd love to hear what you think. Have I missed any important or integral ones? Maybe you want to tease me about using Microsoft Word? Don't do it. If you are a fellow writer then I would love it if you stuck around. There's plenty more writing content on my channel and plenty more to come unless I give up and quit. The video is done now so go do some writing. Thanks for watching. Catch ya.