We live in a fast-paced world where what’s new today is old news tomorrow. It’s relatively easy for a writer to keep up with what’s trending; the problem lies with processing the information overload. The solution? Your smart phone. Nicolette Louw looks at how this clever gadget can make your writing life easier.
Information Highway
Internet Research 13.0 claims that “…journalism has undergone profound changes as people seeking information increasingly turn to the internet and mobile apps for news and community.”
Reading a news article online or scanning social media pages can spark ideas. The initial inspiration and further research for a piece can come from reading Facebook updates, breaking news stories on Twitter and News apps, while LinkedIn can serve as the perfect platform to connect with people related in your field and help to find interview possibilities. What good is a bucket-load of information if you have no place to record everything? Thankfully, many smart phones come with built-in notepads to jot down information when pen and paper are not around.
Easy Recording for Writers
Many writers conduct interviews over Skype and with the “Callnote” app, you can record video and voice calls so that you can re-listen to the interview without missing anything important. “Tune in Radio” is another cool app that monitors and records radio broadcasts to ensure that no breaking news announcement are missed and are also saved for later. Your phone camera can also be useful to record visual information that you may need for future reference.
Data Filing Apps for Articles
“In addition to getting the story, you need to stay organised too.” Unfortunately colourful post-it notes don’t always cut it online. Smart phones fortunately offer us numerous ways to not only record but organise our material. “Flipboard” is a popular app where you can collect news articles and subscribe to online magazines, which can also be placed into categories. Apps such as “Pocket” can file websites and videos for later viewing and with “CardMunch” you can take a picture of a business card and it will automatically pull and the save the information to your smart phone. A must have app for a budding journalist should be “Story Tracker”, which keeps track of your progress: published pieces, rejections, sales and deadlines.
Useful Writing Extras
Your life as a writer can be made a lot simpler by having basic apps that can be extremely helpful, such as “Dictionary.” Besides a definition, it provides synonyms, word of the day and writing quotes. “Grammar Guide” can help with general rules and hints for sentence structure. Remember to regularly back up your smart phone device with cloud back-up in case your mobile device breaks or gets stolen. And for double-checking research, “Factbook” presents interesting facts and statistics that are CIA approved.
With just the touch of a few buttons, your journalism career can be coordinated, up to date and easily structured. All it takes is a few savvy technological apps.
About the Author:
Nicolette Louw graduated from the University of Pretoria with a BA International Relations and History in 2009, with a distinction in creative writing.
A leisure blogger on WordPress and with a piece published on Sport24, she loves bringing words to life. When not writing, Nicolette reads, plays squash and spends time with the people she loves.
Image credit: Flickr_com Okalkavan
