The Latest Writing Tools I Use and Love, Check Them Out

 Here is my latest update as well as new products I use for writing.

As writers you know there are a plethora of tools available for writer to help them work faster and/or smarter. I have these listed on my website as well and will continually add or subtract from the list. These are all tools I use or else I wouldn't recommend them.

Book Brush is book centric and is still my favorite tool for easy meme making, book cover creation and videos. Use SARTOR15 for a lifetime 15% off any paid plan.

    New: editable Instant Mockups

    New/Improved: Animations to make your meme pop I love this (and they have something new in works that I've been beta testing. Just wait!!)

    Improved: Book Trailers, both an Easy or Advanced Version. Use templates or start from scratch.

    New: Webinars for all levels of memberships and exclusive quarterly levels for Platinum members.

    Remember there is a free trial. Use the coupon once you've decided. Check it out here.

*I am not an affiliate, I just love this company.

SiteGround Web Hosting. I moved over from GoDaddy and I have a big website, so I was nervous. Not only did they move everything, they have amazing customer service and walked me through some of the more complicated things.

•  Customer service is always the biggest criteria for me to choose a company. They have a variety of sized plans, and most of all, they never tried to upsize me to this or that. Nice.  And they have a 30-day trial. Check it out here.

*I am an affiliate of SiteGround and may earn a commission if you use my link. No charge to you. (I only affiliate with companies I like and use, so you know it's the real thing)

Social Bee is a meme posting company that I absolutely love using. I was using Social Jukebox, but couldn't post videos! Never ever had anyone return my email queries and I found little new how-to info anywhere on the net, it was all very dated. 

Social Bee is incredibly responsive, flexible set and forget, schedule your posts, create for each platform if you wish, and I do, b/c I size my memes in Book Brush with basically a few steps. They have free trials which is what convinced me.

• Evergreen Posting 
• Category based scheduling
•  Team management & Internal Post Commenting with our PRO Plans - Setting a Post to Expire if needed 
• Importing content through RSS feeds, CSV Files or Links 
• Integrations with Shortlink Providers (Rebrandly, Bitly, PixelMe, JotULR Etc), Zapier, Quuu, Pocket etc. 
• Analytics & Reporting on Posts (Top performing & all posts published through SocialBee). You can also keep an eye on our Roadmap to see upcoming features & improvements.

Use this code to try them out and don't be shy about asking them questions.

*I am an affiliate of Social Bee and may earn a commission if you use my link. No charge to you. (I only affiliate with companies I like and use, so you know it's the real thing)

Epidemic Sound I make a lot of videos for memes and I make Book Trailers. It's extremely important that you use royalty free music and art. Some sites say they are royalty free, but things can change, artists leave etc. I don't have to worry about that with Epidemic Sound. While I find the searches a bit cumbersome, I've learned how to do this better and have found some epic music to use. 

Right now until June 30th, sign up for a 60 day free trial double the normal 30days).

• I love to have my music fade or cut sections out that exactly match my video and I use another product for that. Audacity which is free. I'll talk more about this in another post. So stay tuned.

*I am an affiliate of Epidemic Sound and may earn a commission if you use my link. No charge to you. (I only affiliate with companies I like and use, so you know it's the real thing.

---

Okay that's it for this post, but I have more to share in future posts. Plottr, Vellum, Atticus, Kindlepreneur, Primal Video, Phototheca X and more!

Again I want to make clear that I only affiliate with companies I trust and use. 

Let me know below what you think and if you use any of these companies already.

My Book Series Bible ~ Hints, Helps and Musts!!

A series bible?  Yep, if you're writing a series, then you need this. Seriously. 

When I mentioned the need to have one at a recent writer’s meeting, there were a lot of nods indicating agreement. But in another, unscientific, survey, I found that although the writers I’d polled knew it was needed (sadly, including me) they hadn’t started one, in fact, most didn’t know where to begin. It felt like a daunting task.

My aim today is to help you start.

I currently have 4 series and a new cozy mystery series about to begin, and I’m making a stand-alone book into a series!! So that will be 6. And yet, I hadn’t started on any of my bibles. I told myself umpteen times that I needed to but failed to do so. Sound familiar?

Well, now I had to get cracking, as my latest WIP begins at a house you’ve met before, with characters you’d grown to love, and the timeline was nearly simultaneous with the beginning of Believe In Me This Christmas Morn. 

I knew if blew details, my readers wouldn’t forgive me. Nor did I want to repeat names. In seven books I have more than 100 names. Some names are important, some walk-on parts. 😊 But still, I need to know.

So long story short, I’d begun learning how to use excel to plot out my new Jenna Hart Jewelry Mystery series, as well as creating a spreadsheet for the business end of my writing, sales, and listing links to nearly everything that is needed. Blogs, publishers, HTML links, etc. (A huge task, but oh-so-easy to find my info now.)

So I dug in and created an Excel spreadsheet for my bible. My writing friend Amanda Cabot creates a table in Word instead (she kindly sent along a sample, see below), and uses it as a hard copy, adding mostly by hand, but eventually entering the data into the computer and reprinting and then adding as necessary.  You’ll find a method that works for you, BUT the key is to start. 

Since I procrastinated doing this as I was writing the books, I now have to reread each of them for my information which is very time-consuming.  And believe me, you think you’ll remember all these details, but I can pretty much guarantee you won’t. Sorry.

As I began to create the columns for my sheet, I realized I needed more information than simply their name, hair/eye color, and age. I needed kitchen details, house, garage, office, favorite stores, music, phrases, friends, the old boyfriend, favorite foods, drinks...

And I needed to know which book they appeared in. If they were in more than one book, I highlighted the title they were introduced in.

Currently, my column headers are; Character Name, Book, Profession, Town/State Born, Town/State Now, Age in Book, Physical Traits, Misc. Info, House, Office. (Not all shown.)

Here's a tip, sometimes I simply add a page number in the proper column to show me where I can find the best specific information on a character and since the book is highlighted I know which one to look in. 

After I listed everything I could find during my reread, I realized that not only did I need the main sheet, but one for each book because the main sheet had already become a bit cumbersome to scroll through (and this was only after ONE book.)

I had to learn how to copy and easily move the data from the main sheet to each individual book's worksheet.  I found this tutorial on YouTube and it works well (our needed info starts at about 44 seconds in.)

One super thing about the main sheet is that I can select and copy the column of names, paste that into a Word document and sort it alphabetically.  This way I won’t repeat a name unless I want to. 😊

I soon realized that having so many rows and columns made it hard to see where I needed to add info as I scrolled up/down/sideways, so found a great tutorial on freezing the header and the first row so it moves with you, called freezing panes. Here is the crux of the info;

If you want to freeze both rows and columns, you need to freeze them at the same time.

To lock more than one row or column, or to lock both rows and columns at the same time, choose the View tab, and then click Freeze Panes. You will want your cursor to be below the row(s) you want to freeze and to the right of any column(s) you want to freeze.

I warn you that my spreadsheet is still a work in progress, and as I work, I'm thinking that mostly I’ll be working on my individual book sheets, with character names and main info copy and pasted into the main sheet. But I'm uncertain yet, and the nice thing about Excel is that it's easy to add columns and rows, so I can be uncertain yet still make it work as I change my mind. 

If you have any suggestions on how to make this spreadsheet better or tell me what you do that works, I’m all ears, so comment below.  Creating this document or spreadsheet may be a bit of work to start, but in the long run, it’ll be invaluable as a source document.

And remember, save, save, save, and BACKUP your data religiously.

If you want a blank Excel workbook but formatted with headers to start your bible, let me know in the comments below along with an email address and I’ll send you one. 

Hope this helps.

Warm Regards, 
~L.A.