I was watching a Hallmark movie the other day (I know, one day, we’ll get into the world of Hallmark movies). It was about an aspiring writer and a famous, successful writer. The aspiring writer had a cozy and modern high rise apartment. And the famous, successful writer had this big, beautiful house filled with classic and traditional furniture. Of all the wonderful items that filled their homes, only one was purportedly used for writing - the aspiring writer’s laptop and the famous writer’s typewriter. Ahhh to live in the Hallmark world. If only writing were that simple!

I don’t know about you, but I tend to need various tools - aside from the device I’m actually writing on - when writing. Since none of us live in the Hallmark world, I figured you do too. If you’re looking for the tools you, as a writer, will absolutely need when writing, look no further. I’ve got you.

1. Google Keep: this is a notes app. And as part of the Google suite, it syncs with your Google Drive and Gmail. I use it whenever I have a blog, a book, or even a social media post idea throughout the day. I do a bit of a brain dump, go about my day, and then reference it when I’m ready to write about it. What’s cool is you can keep several notes (and even color-code them for my fellow Type-A folks), so you can keep notes about a specific idea or project together.

2. Power Thesaurus: this is a thesaurus app. I don’t know about you, but I’m always wanting to use the same words over and over OR drawing a blank on what word I’m trying to use. Having a clean and simple thesaurus readily available is super helpful.

3. Dictionary: this is a no-brainer one, right? Every writer needs a dictionary. And there are tons to choose from, and arguably they’re all the same. But I use Webster’s Writer’s Dictionary. I like it because it’s incredibly thorough. It gives notes detailing how the word was originally meant to be used, with accompanying examples. This is helpful for writers because that’s our thing right? Using our words to perfectly describe a thing, idea, feeling, place, etc. We want our words to be accurate. I also love this app because they stick to traditional type words; you won’t find slang or common parlance in it.

Those are the apps I use religiously. I have others I may share that I use here and there, depending on the project. But these are my trusty faithfuls.

Which apps do you use? Leave me a comment so I can check it out!