Writing

Gadgets

Chunky Concrete Sketch Pencil Is A Weighty Way To Write

2:00PM November 27, 2011 | Andrew Liszewski

Your sketches and notes will carry a lot more weight if they’re created with this squat mechanical pencil that’s made from actual hand-poured concrete. You’ll just want to make sure you’re not the type who likes chewing on the end. More »

Gadgets

Six Tools To Help You Through NaNoWriMo

12:45PM November 3, 2011 | Adrian Covert

It’s NaNoWriMo, say whaaaaaaaaa? For the acronym-challenged, it’s National Novel Writing Month, which means that anyone who decides to partake has 30 days to crank out their literary masterpiece. Think you’re up for the challenge? Here are six tools to help. More »

Software

$22 Writing App For Mac Makes A Feature Of Having No Features

9:00PM May 30, 2011 | Kat Hannaford

I think I’ll stick with my torrented copy of Word, but if you find you spend more time tinkering with the various viewing options and being niggled by the constant auto-correct/blue squiggly lines/Clippy notifications, iA Writer might tickle your fancy. More »

Online

Do You Have An Email You Really Don’t Want To Write? Hire Someone To Write It For You!

10:20AM May 25, 2011 | Casey Chan

ShameBeGone is a hilarious service that helps people with their email etiquette. Like if you forgot to reply to an email two months ago but need to respond now. Or you want to break up. Or start an affair. More »

Online

The Art Of Pitch-Perfect Emails

9:12AM March 25, 2011 | Anna North

Ever spend an hour staring at your screen, struggling to compose an email that strikes just the right balance between polite and friendly, only to give up and go browse on Zappos? Us too! But with the tips below, none of us will have to wander the wasteland of email uncertainty any longer. More »

Geek Out

The Pencil For The Purist Afraid Of Technology

12:40PM February 2, 2011 | Casey Chan

I miss the good ol’ days of scribbling as much as the next guy, but I don’t think I’d buy this pencil. This is strictly for the purists. Or the out-of-touch dinosaurs who really hate Photoshop. [Etsy via LikeCool]

Computing

Is The MacBook Air The Perfect Traveling Writer’s Laptop?

8:00AM January 17, 2011 | Jack Loftus

The 11.6-inch MacBook Air: One well-traveled, veteran author labels it the “perfect writer’s machine.” As a 13-inch owner myself, I’m inclined to agree, somewhat, with one pretty substantial caveat: Let’s add “established” or something similar before “writer,” shall we? More »

Geek Out

Depresing Newz: Spelcheking During Exams Now OoKay

3:40AM December 18, 2010 | Sam Biddle

Hey, here’s a thing that’s suddenly not cheating anymore: using a computer spell checker on school writing exams. This week’s top head-shaking sign of the times is courtesy of Oregon, now condoning the practice for middle and high schoolers. More »

Geek Out

The Best, Most Disgruntled Toner Cartridge Description Ever

2:00AM December 10, 2010 | Brian Barrett

Sometimes, a man reaches his breaking point. He realises that he’s, say, a copywriter for InkCartridges.uk.com, and that he’s tired of writing boring ink cartridge descriptions all day, and he snaps in hilarious ranting fashion. This is that glorious moment. More »

Online

How To Back Up Your Tumblr

9:00PM December 8, 2010 | Whitson Gordon

If you’re a Tumblr user, you probably noticed the massive outage it endured this weekend, and you’re probably having one of those “what if I’d lost everything” moments. Here’s how to back up your Tumblr to save yourself from such distress. More »