10 Free Online Tools That Make a Writer’s Life Easier

Even for those of us who have been doing it for a career for years, such as myself, writing is tough.

Non-writers believe that since we do it every day, we can miraculously generate a well-written and well-researched essay in only a few hours, but this is not the case. Every item of our work is treated equally as a masterpiece, and a masterpiece always takes time and a lot of thought to be as perfect as we want it to be.

Idea generation for content

I felt that my major responsibility as a Content Strategist for Spiralytics, creating blog articles for multiple customers in various sectors, would be simple since I had previously worked as an editor for publications. I was completely mistaken. It may have seemed simple at first, but if you do it on a weekly basis, you will quickly run out of options. I'll never run out of subject ideas or content inspiration thanks to these tools:

Buzzsumo

Have you ever wondered which articles or materials for a certain subject get the most shares? Buzzsumo can assist you with this. Simply type in a term or phrase, and it will return a list of relevant items. You get to choose whether the stuff they display you is from the previous year, month, week, or just the last 24 hours. You may also filter out certain sorts of material, such as movies and giveaways. What exactly does the list imply? You should make a better version of these subjects if they received a lot of shares.

Hubspot’s Blog Topic Generator

Hubspot's tool is one of the most user-friendly topic generators available. Simply type in a few nouns that you want to write about, and it will generate a list of subjects for you to choose from. It's not ideal, and you'll need to adjust the titles it generates, but it's a quick and simple method to generate subjects from single or two-word concepts.

Keyword Planner by Google Ads

Don't let this one frighten you. Despite the fact that it contains the phrase "AdWords," you do not need to be familiar with it to utilize it. This tool is mostly utilized by our Paid Ads and SEO teams, but it's also useful for us in the content team since it displays a list of keyword groups with significant search traffic.

Research

While Google search is the more apparent free research tool, I find these two apps useful for keeping myself up to speed on subjects that interest me, as well as bookmarking and taking notes when I'm not in front of my laptop. And if you're a writer, you're well aware that our finest ideas frequently strike at the most inconvenient times, such as when we're on the bus and just have our smartphone with us.

Feedly

If you read a lot of blogs and get a lot of email newsletters, I recommend creating a Feedly account and downloading the app on your phone. I'm a big admirer of Feedly, which is a better version of the now-defunct Google Reader. My Feedly account has all of the work (and non-work) blogs that I read, each of which is arranged into its own category. I can also view my feed on the move since it has an app. If you're doing research for an article, just add them to their own category in Feedly and read them whenever and wherever you want.

Evernote

Evernote enables you to jot down ideas, create a blog when inspiration strikes, and even capture photos for your notes at any time, even when driving or stuck in traffic. Unlike paper notes, which may be lost, Evernote notes are synced across all of your devices, including your phone and laptop.

Composing (and focusing on it)

Though the Internet provides a wealth of material to aid our research, it is also rife with diversions. While writing is difficult for us already, Facebook and other websites consume up a lot of our time that we might be writing.

FocusWriter Because we have deadlines to fulfill as writers, we can't afford to get sidetracked every now and again. Some authors need complete silence in order to complete their work. While listening to calm music via earbuds might help, writers will also want a clutter-free screen to prevent the temptation of doing anything other than writing. FocusWriter is a fantastic application that allows you to achieve exactly that by immersing you in your writing with its simple design.

Milanote

This little organizing gadget works as a bulletin board to keep track of all your writing ideas, resources, and references. You'll love how it enables you plan your creatives in an orderly way whether you're writing a book, producing a video, or running an ad campaign. Milanote also provides a handy platform for all contributing members to provide their ideas, regardless of where they are, if you're working on a project with others.

Milanote is a project management tool for creative projects.

Dayboard

With the aid of our resident designer Jevie, I just found Dayboard. We use Asana to keep track of our daily activities on the Spiralytics team, but when you're overloaded with work, it may be difficult to know which ones to prioritize for the day. Dayboard is a to-do list that appears every time you open a new tab, ensuring that you are constantly reminded of your responsibilities. I like how Dayboard only allows you to put 5 things each day. You'll be able to rapidly restructure your large list and choose which items are the most significant thanks to this function. When compared to staring at a big to-do list, it also reduces stress.

Design

I understand that this is a writers' list, so why include design? Including graphics in your content is a terrific method to boost page visits, engagement, and sharing. Investing in high-quality photographs improves the readability of your piece, makes it simpler to skim, and helps it stand out among the plethora of information published on a regular basis.

Canva

Canva is one of my favorite apps. It's a simple browser-based graphic design tool that's also accessible to non-designers and folks who don't have or understand Adobe Photoshop. By dragging and dropping design components from Canva's library, you can create social media photos, infographics, blog headers/banners, and more. If you wish to utilize a picture that you already have, you may also submit your own design components. They also have a blog called Design School, where they educate non-professional designers graphic design skills and tactics.

Editing is the last but not least step in the process. Even if you have an editor, you should still proofread your own work for spelling and punctuation errors, as well as plagiarism.

Grammarly

While it may be tempting to submit your work right away after spending hours (or even days!) on it, it doesn't hurt to double-check for errors. After all, your name is on your work. I realize that you may rely only on Microsoft Word's spelling checker, but it isn't as accurate as Grammarly's and lacks a plagiarism detector. It's as easy as clicking on the underlined and highlighted words; a proposed adjustment will show in the sidebar, and clicking on it will make the changes instantly. It will also explain why it believes a mistake has occurred. When testing for plagiarism, it will provide a link to the original source of the copied phrases or paragraphs. I use Grammarly when I post straight in WordPress or on my social media accounts since it has a browser plugin.

Writers' Bonus Productivity Hacks 1. Always have a note-taking device on hand.

Walking, riding in a car, having a shower, or lying in bed right before falling asleep are all good places to get inspiration. In other words, they generally arise while you're not at your computer—which, come to think of it, is precisely why you should take a break from your computer when you're running out of ideas. As a result, you should be prepared to jot down notes whenever inspiration hits.

If you prefer to take notes with a pen and paper, carry a small notepad with you everywhere you go! I recommend that you read this post on several types of analog note taking.

aqua-notes-home

However, writing on paper may be impractical in most situations, such as on a train, in the shower (unless you have this fantastic water resistant note pad! ), or in the darkness of your bedroom. In this instance, a note-taking app on your phone or tablet might be really useful. Not only can you write notes wherever you are, but you can also easily convert them to a digital format.

Any built-in note app on your phone or tablet will suffice. IOS has one, and I use it most of the time. It's simple and straightforward, and it connects to the cloud (although I rarely use this option). When I'm finished composing notes, I usually copy-paste the content and email it to myself. Tada!

Evernote. Many people swear by Evernote because it offers much more than a basic note-taking program. It can, among other things, clip articles, store photographs, collaborate, and make presentations. What can I say, Evernote isn't known for being the finest note-taking program.

Simplenote. This one syncs to a web-based platform and is accessible for iOS and Android. I want things to be simple, and this software removed a lot of the clutter off its UI. Simplenote is a wonderful alternative to consider if you want to save all of your digital scratch sheets in one location.

2. Add some white noise to the mix.

Plugging in your earphones when writing accomplishes two goals: (1) it reduces background noise and allows you to "get in the zone"; and (2) it sends an implicit "Do Not Disturb" message to others. (Hint: I sometimes wear headphones when working, even if I'm not listening to anything, just to keep people away!)

Listening to music while writing, on the other hand, might be quite distracting. Song lyrics will very certainly disrupt your flow of thinking, delaying rather than assisting you in the development of content.

White noise and inventiveness

On the other hand, I've discovered that listening to white noise (or music without lyrics!) not only filters out outside sounds and people, but also boosts creativity and productivity. According to one research, the correct quantity of ambient noise has a favorable effect on creative cognition. This is most likely why, rather than being trapped in a quiet room, we feel more productive at coffee shops or school libraries. And it's possibly for this reason why we feel creative when it's raining (I certainly do!).

The sound of rain is, in fact, my favorite ambient sound.

Consider the following:

Rainymood. Because this is a web-based application, there is no need to download it to your device or computer. The sound of rain will begin to play in the background as soon as you visit the web page in one of your browser tabs. I've been using Rainymood for a long time, back when there weren't many ambient sound applications accessible. Oh, and don't forget to use Rainymood with this! Thank you very much.

Noisli. You may create your own ambient noise using this software. For example, mix the sound of people talking at a coffee shop with the sound of rain. Or the sound of the ocean waves crashing on the shore, accompanied by the wind and the crackling of wood surrounding the campfire. The possibilities are limitless. If you're a writer, you absolutely must have this app.

Coffivity. If getting work done at coffee shops is your thing, Coffivity is the app for you. It includes not just coffee shops, but also bistros, university cafeterias, and tea houses as sources of ambient noise. Isn't it true that the sound of people conversing in the background and the clinking of coffee cups encourages creativity? Now if only someone could come up with a way to make an app that smells like coffee.

3. Use an egg timer to keep track of how long it takes to cook one egg.

An egg timer is useful in a variety of situations, not only the kitchen. You'll want it on your work desk as well! There is so much to accomplish in a day that you must be diligent with your time management or you will spend the whole day performing just one activity without realizing it.

eggtimer

An egg timer may help you be more productive in a variety of ways. First, as previously said, it separates your calendar into smaller portions, allowing you to better manage your time. Second, it puts pressure on you to do the activity within the time limit you've set, and it may even remind you to take a break in the middle.

As an example. You may set the egg timer to go off after the first hour of your day, which is often when you read other blogs. We're all aware of how time-consuming and distracting it is to read other blogs. While reading is beneficial before creating content, too much reading may become overwhelming and make you feel inferior to other bloggers.

So be hard on yourself. Time your reading, and then go on to the next action on your list after the timer stops ticking, whether or not you've finished reading.

Free writing and an egg timer

I do some free-writing while setting my egg timer. Free writing is a practice in which a writer writes continuously for an extended length of time without care for spelling, punctuation, or thinking flow. This is especially useful when creating blog content, as it allows you to just let your ideas flow, resulting in raw material that you can later edit and refine.

The sound of a ticking clock might be annoying at first, but if you get accustomed to it, you'll notice that it provides rhythm and also acts as white noise.

Consider the following:

This is a genuine egg timer. If you don't share your workspace or office with anybody, I recommend investing in a genuine egg timer. Get yourself a nice one!

Filibaba's Egg Timer (IOS). This is what I use on my iPhone, and I appreciate how easy it is to use. It also has the same sound as a genuine egg timer. Other egg timer applications are specifically built for preparing eggs, and hence contain egg recipes and other kitchen-related features. This Filibaba Egg Timer is as basic as it gets, with just a few choices for customizing the appearance of your egg timer. It's perfect for this purpose (increasing the strain on your writing process!).

E.ggtimer. E.ggtimer is a web-based timer that only beeps when your time is up if you don't like the ticking sound of an egg timer.

I hope you find these resources helpful!