Improving writing.

I've been on a bit of a writing streak lately. I don't have any art stuff for a week because my art customer cancelled a painting on me and is revamping another matching in the set I've been doing in a week, so I have a whole week to not paint... which, I'm not going to lie, is a relief.

So I've been writing and thought I'd share a bit on the tools and tips I use to improve what I do and help it along.

First things are web tools. When I write I have Thesaurus.com, Dictionary.com, and a "cliche catcher" open. Every once in a while I copy and paste into the cliche catcher to be sure I'm clean. I used the online thesaurus for obvious functions, and when I'm not sure on whether a word is the best fit or not I pop it into the online dictionary. If the thesaurus gives me a word I'm not sure of but I like how it flows, again, it gets entered in the dictionary. These three tools keep my writing fluid and of good quality, keeping it easy to edit later.

As I go along, I also check for the words "then" and "that." It seems like such a small thing, but keeping track of my use of those two words DRASTICALLY improves my writing quality. I also keep a wary eye on "but."

The next thing is a word counter. In the long run, it's not that important how many words you have in your story, but it gives me an idea of how far I've progressed from day to day. I log how many words I end up with in my first-draft manuscript and note the date and time just as a mental help thing.

 Now, the final tool is a bit odd and not really what you would expect. It's the website Stumbleupon. This website is great and all for time wasting, but if you specifically stumble the "writing" category you'd be surprised how much stuff you learn in a short time, and you will find some cool tools, words, and inspiration around the nets.

That's it in a nutshell. Hopefully this helps someone get some better computer tools on the go for a good writing session!