Google tools for writers

If you are anything like me then every writing day begins with a similar realisation: writing is hard work.

Inevitably, as one often does when faced with a difficult task, you’ll turn to other concerns, veiling your obvious procrastination with an earnest attempt to seek out what’s missing from your writing process. Some pearl of wisdom that would help solve your inability to ‘just write’ and uncover the secret formula to a writing process that doesn’t feel like bamboo torture.

As chance would have it, along with being a writer, I am also a digital marketer so I’m quite partial to whiling away the hours searching for online tools to help repair most every aspect of my life. In particular, I have spent a lot of time researching what the best online writing tools for writers are out there on the digiweb. Because procrastination aside, writing a novel is a large construction task, and there’s nothing wrong with sharpening your tools before you begin is there?

Rather than dump them all on you here, I thought I would start this theme off with tip number 1: how to effectively use Google’s great (and free) online tools to enhance and organise your writing. I’ll start off with Google Docs.

Storing notes on Google Docs

More recently I have started a healthy habit of note taking. I tend to jot down ideas, beginnings, character notes, dialogue while I am at the cafe or walking awkwardly down the street and then reference them later when I’m in the thick of writing. Generally I like things to be digital, because I like having access to my “idea bank” whenever the writing breeze comes in. So lately I have started to take notes on my iphone.

Since the last software update, the iphone (or ipod touch) has become a very handy tool for writers. The in-built voice recorder does a nice job of storing your audio notes and the addition of a landscape keyboard makes taking notes, even long notes, very possible. With two thumbs doing their thing, writing on the iphone actually feels quite natural and you’ll be surprised just how much you can jot down in a short time.

Even though the iphone comes with an in-built Notes program, it lacks wireless syncing with my mac and the notes are always either on my mac or my iphone -  I want my notes elsewhere. So instead of Apple’s Notes, I use a popular note taking application called Awesome Note to record my thoughts – which costs about $4.95 on the Apps store.

What I like most about Awesome Note is that it takes notes and syncs exports them over your 3G connection to Google Docs. It also does a raft of other things like keeping to do lists with reminders, storing notes in customisable folders and has a range of reasonably pretty themes.

Once I’m finished writing a note, I can keep it on my phone or hit the sync button and watch it drift off to my Google Docs account. From there, my docs are able to be further updated, shared and then, if I wish, pushed back to Awesome Note. For me this makes Google Docs my central depository for the many many snippets I’ll collect over a long piece of work.

I also like Awesome Note because I know that my notes stay secure with Google, and I retain the freedom to take notes on my mobile even outside 3G range.

Using Google Docs to display your writing portfolio

When I set about creating a writing portfolio for myself it seemed an obvious choice that a blog would be the best format to present it in. After all, we are writers, and blogs are mostly text. Hence writers should be reasonably confident with a blog. Unfortunately, as good as WordPress is, it doesn’t support PDFs very well.

Most writers will want to put some form of digital protection on their words, even if it is only getting it out of the editable word document and into something a little more fixed, like a PDF. Using Google Docs to store PDF copies of my writing, whether that be the full version or an excerpt, retains the protection (albeit limited) of the Adobe format and allows everyone to conveniently view it in the in-built Google Docs reader.

Now, when I have a new piece of work ready to go on my portfolio, I create a post about it on my blogfolio (using rich search keywords where appropriate) and pop in a link to the full piece or excerpt as a PDF in Google Docs. This means my blog get’s updated, which keeps Google interested, and I get to frame each piece of work I produce with a short introduction.

As an added bonus, because I’ve made it a public document in Google Docs, it’s instantly added to Google’s search engine. Now my work is picked up via it’s subject matter and keywords in regular searches. This added bonus is particularly beneficial for those wanting to get more exposure for their academic work, as many scholars turn to Google (shock horror!) at certain stages of their subject research.

There are of course many other cool reasons why you would integrate Google Docs into your writing process, including the ability to collaborate with other writers on a central document. But that’s all I’m going to cover in this post.

Let me know if any of these ideas help or hinder by leaving a comment below.

EDIT (28/12): I have since discovered a much easier way of keeping my notes synced and up to date : Evernote for the iPhone. The entry level sign up is free and allows 40MB of uploads each month (enough for 100s of new text notes each month). Awesome note had one critical problem. Notes didn’t actually sync with Google Docs after all, they just exported. Meaning each time you exported it to Google Docs the same note would appear as a new note. Not very helpful at all!

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