Writer's Technology Companion

[…] And for the Linux fans amongst us,  a collection of “ Linux Tools for Writing. If you find Scrivener interesting and you’re a Linux user, the Scrivener-like WWMKR might […]

cool book, but the download link is broken and i was going to post it on my site

[…] Setting clear writting goals is one of the first tasks you must do to get yourself organized. Read Writers Technology’ article on setting smart goals […]

Dan: I don’t use Master Documents regularly, but here’s one case where they are useful — many publishers want chapters as separate documents, but single documents are easier for many writers to work with. Or for people who prefer to work in small chunks — maybe you are writing different sections on different computers — Master Documents provides a way to meld them together into a final product. (Same for working with other authors.)

I’ve actually found a plugin that I’m testing that offers much more flexibility than Master Documents but does kind of the same thing, which I’ll be posting about soon, once I’ve determined that it works well. But both this new plugin and Master Documents provide a way to outline a large document and drill down into specific parts to work on at any given moment.

Like most of what I write about here, this boils down to individual style and comfort levels — this is far and away the most popular post on the site (!!!!) so people must have some need to use Master Documents or they wouldn’t be searching for it. I don’t really work that way, but that’s more because I write mostly short pieces than because I’m just not Master Documents material…

Thanks for the effort, but you discuss functionality without detailing the theory. Why would I outline sections instead of complete documents? Give examples. This still requires trial and error on the part of the reader.

You no doubt understand the subject you’re discussing, but you don’t thoroughly explain the details a new user will need.

Thanks, Tom.
Works perfectly in Word 2003!

Wow seems like there is more this this then what I would have thought.

Now, starting from the top was something I have never ever thought of, nor read anywhere else.

This is priceless advice, thank you!

Best,
Sosha

Thank you so much, Dustin, you help out a lot

Nice article, though it repeats what I read here and there.
What I miss is a mention of Evernote. I admit I have no experience with Web-chops, but Evernote is - in my opinion - state-of-the-art notetaking software.

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Thanks a lot for your information. I have done it and it’s working fine in my blog. If you are a newbie or stuck in the middle, check it out my blog at http://www.techbuzzy.com

I am having some troubles trying 2 load your blog. I’ve been read it many times before & never gotten something like this, but now when I try to load something it just takes a little while (3-15 minutes ) & then just stop. I’ve tried with www or not. Does anyone know what the trouble could be? Please ask your support at hoster..And, yes, thanks for your post!

I don’t understand why this article has (needs?) references I wouldn’t want my kids exposed to, adjectives used to draw attention to difficulty or low quality could be replaced with alternatives. I imagine that most of you don’t care, but I prefer to work in a realm that can be viewed by anyone in my family.

We just wrote about an alternative way to tag tweets (and gmails) using our app - this could help if you need to have tweets/gmails grouped with files on your disk:

http://tabbles.net/blog/2010/05/17/how-tag-tweets-and-gmails-with-tabbles/

I hope I’m not spamming too much!

Yep that was great. Loved his commitment to his misguided rant.

Speaking of The Anguish Languish/Ladle Rat Rotten Hut, you may enjoy the following link:

An Anguish Languish Lesson 11/3/2008

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fl7_J-reLxg -

9 min - Nov 15, 2008 -
Ladle Rat Rotten Hut in the Anguish Languish, as originated by Professor Howard L. Chace and translated by a mysterious “Sergei” individual….

It was about six years ago while studying Robin Williams’ (a female writer -not the Actor) Non-Designer’s Design Book, that I discovered Howard L. Chace’s Ladle Rat Rotten Hut.

It was a series of wonderful discoveries because:
it slowly dawned on me that these were not just random words …
it slowly dawned on me that this was a story …
it slowly dawned on me that I knew this story …
The moment I knew that it was LRRH, -everything started to fall into place, and boy was it fun!

I’ve tried (and succeeded) to include that sense of discovery in this performance. The audience has the opportunity to see, hear and speak the Anguish Languish, which helps them grasp it from three directions.

Thanks
Drew Letchworth

PS I have done some work with the ‘other’ Robin Williams. I played his incompetent lawyer in Mrs. Doubtfire

Wow I cant believe who is creating all these spam posts. Your site is on topic and it attracts vast amounts of these types of comments. take care and thanks for the work!

Hello! Just wanted to respond. I really loved your opinion. Keep up the phenomonal work.

No, no, no. That takes way too much work. Adriano was on the right track.

To search for everything in parenthesis, type this in the search box:

\(*\)

In other words, put a slash in front of the parenthesis

As Dustin noted, the parenthesis have a special meaning when wildcards are turned on. The \ tells Word to ignore that special meaning.

Can I do the same thing on Typepad? It seems to give me a choice of sending the entire blog or an excerpt (which they choose) but I can’t figure out how to customize the email. I’m using feedburner for my email subscription service. Thanks!