Every profession has tools of the trade. Plumbers have it, carpenters do, and so do the surgeons and artists.

Writers do need tools too. But we never think of it that way.

For a long time, a pen and notebook were all you needed, to write.

When typewriters were invented, they were considered the only tool that a writer needed to write professionally.

When computers replaced the typewriters, writers were over the moon and reached heaven. Now they could make corrections on the go, write books directly on the keyboard and print several copies of their manuscript with the press of a button.

But that is where their investment in tools ended.

Unlike other professionals, we writers don’t like to invest money in tools. We like to do without than fork out a few hundred dollars or a regular subscription to produce our best work.

The next key to successful writing is having the right tools. Imagine a painter. Would he buy the cheap stuff to produce his masterpiece, or would he buy the artist-quality brushes and paint?

We might buy more gardening tools each year that we use a few times a year than the writing tools which we need every day.

As a writer and an artisan of the highest quality, you must find your tools. And you must master them.

There are 5 essential tools for writers.

1. Writing App

A writing app is the most important tool you will use all the time. I love Medium’s clean interface. Even though it has limited editing functionality, it still allows me to do all I need to do to write articles.

I also like Substack and use it to send my newsletter. It has recently added many more features to its interface.

For writing books, I used Reedsy’s Free Editor. It provides not only a clean interface but also formats and creates professional ePub (for publication) and print-ready files in seconds.

Other than these, there are many other apps that are useful for specific purposes.

Scrivener

If you are writing fiction, Scrivener is a popular application that allows the plotting, outlining, and formatting of a novel. It also provides templates for writing essays, recipe collections, screenplays, and comic books, making it a versatile application.

Ulysses

Whether you’re writing a blog post or a full-length novel, the seed of an idea doesn’t get too far without the ability to organize that idea into a cohesive piece of writing. That’s exactly what Ulysses allows you to do: organize your thoughts into a well-written work.

Ulysses boasts a slightly more clean and simple interface than Scrivener, so if ease of use is high on your priority list, Ulysses might be a better option for you.

In addition, Ulysses offers a very helpful WordPress and Medium integration, which bloggers love.

Reedsy Book Editor

Reedsy Book Editor is a free, online word processor that formats your book as you write. See your drafts automatically turn into a professional-looking, ready-to-publish manuscript — and allow this glimpse of your work as the final product to spur your motivation to write.

If you want a writing tool that takes care of formatting and conversion for you Reedsy Book Editor is it. And it is free.

Draft

If you need a tap on the shoulder to remind you to write your daily quota of words, then Draft is your tool. It will send you daily email reminders about your daily word count goals. So, if you want to build the habit of writing every day, Draft is the application for you.

It functions like Google Docs, allowing you to do track changes, collaborate via suggested edits, and make comments on the doc.

And it is FREE.

LibreOffice

LibreOffice is an open-source application for people who want to use Microsoft without paying the premium price. LibreOffice is free.

And it’s compatible with all of the regular file types people are used to, such as .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ppt, and .pptx files.

If you like a classic word processor and a free one, try it.

Mellel

Mellel is for Mac users who want more than Mac’s inbuilt Pages app offers. From their website, “Mellel is the leading word processor for Mac. Powerful, flexible, and reliable, it will help you write your book, academic paper, or doctoral thesis — from outlining your ideas to a finished manuscript.”

Mellel is not free (and it’s only for Mac). It has more book-specific tools than traditional word processing — such as outlining and bibliography-making.

2. Editing Tools

If you are writing whether it is emails or social media posts, or articles, you need an editing tool. There are two good ones in the market. — Grammarly and ProWritingAid.

Grammarly

Grammarly is subscription-based and does spellcheck, punctuation, grammar, and sentence structure. It’s spellcheck real-time assistance to improve a content’s clarity, cohesiveness, fluency, and vocabulary. Its most significant benefit is that it will plug in wherever you are writing.

ProWritingAid

ProWritingAid will proofread and spell-check your material for you, no matter where you’re writing. It will also offer suggestions to improve your overall language — outside of just grammatical technicalities. You can buy it with a one-off payment.

The difference between the two is that ProWriting Aid is tailored more towards fiction writers, while Grammarly is a slightly better fit for articles and essay writers.

Hemingway

Some writers swear by the Hemingway app. They claim that the application makes their writing concise and clear. It has several handy features, like a word counter and an automatic readability score. But its real use lies in making suggestions to your prose. It will highlight a complex sentence that’s hard to read and instances of passive voice, qualifiers, and adverbs.

Cliché Finder

If you want to avoid clichés like the plague, you can add Cliché Finder to your toolbox. And for free. It combs through your writing in search of clichés and then highlights them.

3. Notes Taking Tools

Taking notes and filing those in such a way that they are easily accessible when needed is the primary requirement of a writer. Good notes taking applications make the process seamless. Many writers struggle because they can’t remember the story or the case study or the perfect quote when they need it. A notes app solves that problem. There are several in the market.

Evernote

Evernote is perhaps the most known of the lot. It lets you quickly jot down thoughts, record audio notes, and save online articles you’re hoping to reference, and it will sync all of this information across all of your Evernote-installed devices. It has a free version with basic functionality and a paid version for premium users.

Notion

Notion is a project management and note-taking software. It is an all-in-one workspace for your notes, tasks, and databases. Basically, it’s a tool that you can use to organize your thoughts, projects, and information. Mainly used by companies, Notion is basically a product management tool that combines all collaborative and management applications in one. Many writers find it useful during collaborative writing projects.

Obsidian

Obsidian is a powerful knowledge base on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files. Its strength lies in its simplicity and offline nature. You always have access to your files (markdown) and don’t have to rely on the internet. Also, there is no security threat or data being lost or transferred to third parties.

Roam Research

Roam Research is easy to use as a word document or bulleted list, and as powerful for finding, collecting, and connecting related ideas as a graph database. It is my favorite notes taking app. I really like its daily diary and ability to connect thoughts.

Milanote

Milanote is an easy-to-use creative writing app to organize your research, ideas, characters, and outline in one place. Designed particularly for novelists, it is suitable for plotters who prefer a flexible workspace to organize ideas and see a birds-eye view of how your story outline is coming together.

4. Newsletters Apps

As a writer, you need to build your reader base and communicate with them regularly. Newsletter Apps help you do exactly that. There are several newsletter apps in the market and all of them are fiddly and expensive.

MailChimp

MailChimp email marketing service for managing mailing lists and creating email marketing campaigns to send to customers. It was one of the first email marketing services and hence could grab a big share of the market for many years. It is fiddly and the most expensive of the lot. However, it offers much more in-depth analytics — especially with its Standard plan and above.

Convertkit

Convertkit is basically for creators and has better functionality and interface than MailChimp. But it is more expensive. Convetkit has great support and training for new users.

Mailerlite

Mailerlite is the most affordable of the three. It offers a simple reporting dashboard, and usual metrics for email campaign activity, subscriber engagement, devices, popular links, click maps, and opens by location.

Substack

Substack is not a newsletter like the above three, but it is a newsletter writing platform. It allows writers to communicate whatever they have written to their readers with the click of a button. It has a beautiful interface and is free to use as long as you are sending free newsletters. Once you start charging for your newsletter, Substack start taking a cut. It makes sense to use Substack to stay intact with your reader base.

5. Speech To Text

There was a time when Dragon Naturally Speaking was the only speech-to- text application. Now there are several. My favorite is Otter.ai, which is in fact an application to transcribe meetings. It has 98% accuracy, better than any other speech-to- text application. It has a free plan available which is enough for your needs as a writer.

To Sum Up

Now you know what tools are available, you can choose which one is right for you.

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I am one of those writers who would try anything to be more productive.

Whenever I am stuck and need a new way, I usually hit productivity blogs and videos for inspiration. It often works. But this time, I didn’t even have time to read or watch a video. 

I am working on two books simultaneously, writing on a post a day on LinkedIn, and publishing writing two articles and a newsletter a week, to name a few.

Recently I hired an office space to use my writing time more effectively. I am going there three times a week, putting in 5–6 solid hours, getting up only to make a cup of tea or a sandwich.

But I still wasn’t getting as much done as I wanted to. At the end of the day, rather than feeling relieved, I felt more stressed because I wasn’t finishing as much as I would have liked.

A few days ago, as I was driving to the facility while dreading the prospect of spending another day away from home and not getting much done, an idea came to me in a flash.

Lego blocks.

When my children were little, we used to play with lego blocks. We had quite a few of those and could never make the structure we were making with them in one sitting.

So we would make smaller structures and pack them away. So when we start the next time, we will have pre-built modules to make the next structure.

I needed Lego blocks for my writing too.

I realized most of our writing presents the same arguments but in different contexts. If I could have basic writing blocks ready to use (or mold as needed), I could be much more productive.

For example, each time I write about productivity, I fall back on five or six techniques I use every time. Some of the techniques I write about are — scheduling, the Pomodoro method, deadlines, focusing on one project a day, etc.

Each time I write about them, I explain bits and pieces, starting from scratch. If I have all that information prewritten, I don’t have to retype. I can pick the bits I want to use and populate that information quickly.

I also figured that 250 words are enough to explain a sub-topic. So that gave me a constrain.

When I reached the hired office space, I tried my theory out. I wrote 250 words each on four sub-topics. I usually work in 25 minutes intervals. I found I could easily write 250 words in 25 minutes and even fit in little research.

Most articles could be written in modules working on one module at a time. So if I can write four of those blocks, they make a 1000 words article. I don’t have to write them in one go. I can break the article into four chunks and write them in blocks of 25 minutes each.

This article has three modules and is written in three blocks. I wrote it in three different settings. While I was doing other things, my brain worked on the article in the background.

Leggo block can work for books as well.

Books are intimidating to write because you have no idea how long it will take you to write them. You can use the lego blocks technique to write books as well.

I have started applying this technique to my books as well. My book chapters are normally 2000 to 2500 words long. I have divided each chapter into eight to nine blocks giving each of them a heading. I work on one block at a time. 

Whenever I have a spare half an hour, I write a block. Since I work on only one sub-topic, I stay focused. Then, twenty-five minutes later, I get up and do something else.

This way, books are much easier and even fun to write. I found working this way; I get into a flow state straightaway. 

When working on the book for an extended period, I only do four of those blocks and then stop. I have noticed my productivity drops when I go any longer.

Psychologist Benjamin Hardy says, “All you need is three hours of creative flow every day.”

I try not to overdo and stop working before I am exhausted.

Now I no longer dread working hours. Rather than writing more in my working hours, I work in 25-minute intervals building a writing block each time.

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Just before the pandemic in 2020, Holly Worton decided to write 12 books in 12 months, along with another writer Michelle Kulp.

They both did.

But there was a big difference in their approach. Whereas Michelle white-knuckled it each month, Holly went very strategically.

Her secret tool — workcations.

In her book Workcations for Writers, she writes about how she used vacations to write her books.

A workcation is a laser-focused getaway where you focus on ONE writing project so you can get more done in less time.

It’s incredible how much writing you can do when you have uninterrupted time with zero distractions.

Our days are full of interruptions.

Have you ever realized how interrupted your typical day is? For example, an average person checks their cell phone 96 times a day which equates to once every ten minutes and responds to email every 6 minutes. No wonder we’ve lost our ability to focus and do deep work.

A workcation is a two-day (or longer) retreat that you can use to complete projects and get things done — like writing books.

“Something miraculous happens when you are away from your everyday surroundings,” writes Holly Worton.

A Workcation helps you get over procrastination.

Typically, when we are procrastinating on something, it’s because we most likely need long, uninterrupted, undistracted blocks of time to truly focus on that project.

Whatever writing project you can’t seem to complete but need to get done workcations might be the solution.

Holly discovered workcation accidentally. One day while attending a workshop she arrived a day early. She used the time to do a number of pending things and was surprised by how quickly she was able to do them.

“The following month, I headed off to a hotel just before the end of the year holidays and completed an entire online program in one weekend: I recorded videos, created worksheets, and built a whole members website to host it all. I was on fire. I had embarked on my first workcation with a very ambitious project to complete, and I achieved my goal.” — Holly Worton

Why Workcations Work?

Going on a workcation requires getting out of your regular workspace and going somewhere different, usually a hotel, a rental property, or an Airbnb. It needs to be a place where you have peace and quiet — where you won’t be interrupted. Ideally, it should be somewhere that doesn’t offer distractions, like great nearby restaurants or local attractions.

The workcation is about being hyperfocus and getting things done — alone.

Why take a workcation?

For two and half years I tried to work from home where I see a messy kitchen, a basket full of ironing, groceries to be put away, and a garden to be tended to. Invariably I will get up from my desk for a little break and start doing a chore. An hour will be chewed out of my work time.

But whenever I’m away from home, I get things done more quickly and easily than I do when I’m in my “home office”.

A hotel or an Airbnb is a clean, clear, uncluttered environment that’s devoid of distractions and chores beckoning me to attend to them. It’s much easier to focus and get more things accomplished.

Workcations are the perfect solution for a busy writer like me who can’t seem to find the time to write her next book.

With a workcation, I would be setting aside space to only work on my writing. I’ll be able to write more words in less time.

“Simplicity boils down to two steps: Identify the essential. Eliminate the rest.” ​ — ​Leo Babauta

Workcations are better than working in the coffee shops because coffee shops are noisy and you can only sit there for a few hours. The workcation is more intense — you’re there for longer to focus on a particular project.

A fresh environment can take you out of whatever is blocking you and a change in scenery can work wonders for your productivity. This new and different workspace can be very stimulating to your creativity and it could be a place you return to month after month.

Holly Worton encourages people to find one place to go and stick with it.

Once you’ve done a couple of workcation weekends, your mind will subconsciously associate this type of focused, intense work with this specific location.

What workcation is not.

Workcation is NOT about combining your family holiday with remote work.

It’s NOT about a romantic getaway with your partner where you get some work done in your free time. If you’re half-working and half-relaxing while on holiday, you’re not doing either of those things very well.

What to do during workcation.

During a Workcation you can get projects like these done:

• Write a new book
• Edit a book
• Design and write a whole course
• Redesign or create a new website
• Write your articles for the entire month
• Map out your publishing plans, projects, and goals
• Create your business plan

It is better to work on one specific project during a workcation and complete it rather than a little bit on multiple projects. You’ll be able to work at lightning speed, so you can get into the flow state and achieve your goals in record time.

“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” ​ — ​Paul J. Meyer

When To Take Workcation?

If you are working, it could be a weekend — Saturday or Sunday. And if you are not working, you can have it during the week like me. I prefer weekdays because some accommodations are cheaper during the weekdays than on the weekends, and I still have my weekends free.

Two days are more than enough.

Holly says she once did a three-day workcation to build a new website but was so burned out at the end of it that she didn’t repeat it and kept her workcation limited to two days.

Takeaway

I am fully sold on the concept of workation and booking my workation. I will let you know how I go.

In the meantime, you should check out Workcations for Writers and see if it is for you.

For more tips and motivation, subscribe to my newsletter at A Whimsical Writer.