With the holidays coming up my thoughts always turn to planning creative projects, to while away the long days of the height of a Kiwi summer. As I devour books at the beach, I often experience the twinges of authorly aspirations. I've already written about ways of self-publishing for indie authors, but that's the final step of the process. For advice about writing, blogs with tips, tricks and online communities are a good place to start...Check out Lifehacks and their compehensive list of 50 Tools which can help you in writing, from Roy Peter Clark of the Poynter Institute. Another excellent list which every budding wordsmith should be familiar with is Common Writing Mistakes from Michael LaRocca.

There's a free online dictionary and thesaurus search you can use, and Kiwi writers like me may find the Ngata Dictionary - English to Maori & Maori to English Translator a very useful resource. I also rate the Thinkmap visual thesaurus, which offers a free trial with a limited number of searches and is a lot of fun to play with. I tried looking up 'creative' using their funky interactive interface, and of the four definitions given I particularly liked was "having the power to bring into being." A search on 'idea' led me to view the concept from at least four different perspectives, and I think could be a powerful tool to break a spate of writers block, or explore the richness of language.

One of my favourite authors for economy of word and impact of image was George Orwell, who outlined 12 Writing Tips. He concludes with the ultimate get out clause for artistic license, "Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous." Orson Scott-Card is well known for his far reaching sci-fi and is a respected writing teacher. His online Uncle Orson's Writing Class contains a list of useful topics such as dealing with distractions from writing, writing spec scripts and inventing aliens. The guide to writing science fiction and fantasy from Write SF is aimed at young writers and offers two approaches: 'Quick Launch' lets you grab a few suggestions to avoid the abject horror of the blank page, or you can choose 'Hyperspace' to learn in-depth about the elements of successful story writing and be walked through the creative process.

If you have a stable internet connection then I would recommend using Google Docs for managing your manuscript. It saves automatically in the background so you never have to lose hard won words in a computer crash. You are reassured that somewhere, a server on the Matrix is saving your opus for hot-desk access. A Google document can also be used as a collaborative wiki, or a useful webtop way of managing the vital sub-editing process. What you cut out can sometimes be as important as what you leave in. Even if you love that finely turned phrase, you have to ask yourself - is it really necessary?

If the thing that is holding you back from writing a masterpiece is your shockingly low Word Per Minute typing rate, then why not let a virtual secretary take your dictation instead? The prolific if decidedly saccharine late Barbara Cartland dictated to a manuscript wielding minion, though modern writers can use tools such as Dragon Naturally Speaking. It's extremely accurate straight out of the box these days with minimal training. It's no longer necessary for complete silence or a hair flattening headset, as noise cancellation software and clever microphones are now available for noisy offices. You could even skip text altogether and publish your recording as an audio book or a series of podcasts. If you still love writing by hand then you could try out a digital graphics tablet and pen, or the new wave of hybrid laptop/tablet PCs with inbuilt handwriting recognition. I'm already planning my book for the summer - what will yours be about?

22/11/07

As well as being TBI's strategist, Helen Baxter a.k.a. MsBehaviour runs dance-music label TMet Recordings, 3D animation company Mohawk Media and has a fortnightly slot on National Radio called 'Virtual World'.