Whatever your genre, you’re sure to benefit from writing apps. The trick to supercharging your daily writing is to find a mix of apps that works for you. We recommend the following:

For enhanced typing

Grammarly

Compatible with: Android & iOS

“Better emails, clearer texts, mistake-free tweets. Write confidently in every app.”

Grammarly is a writing assistant that suggests corrections and detects your tone. The developers also allow integration with your phone’s keyboard for polished writing on the go.

Gboard

Compatible with: Android & iOS

“Gboard has everything you love about Google Keyboard—speed and reliability, Glide Typing, voice typing, and more.”

This keyboard app lets you multitask with its voice typing feature. No need to put off that idea that came to you while you were washing the dishes.

For planning and focusing

Todoist

Compatible with: iPhone, Android, Mac, Windows, & more

“Ranked as ‘the best to-do list right now’ by The Verge, Todoist is used by 20 million people to organize, plan and collaborate on projects, both big and small.”

Todoist is a task manager that can contain all your outlines and daily writing reminders.

Bear

Compatible with: iOS & Mac

“Bear is a focused, flexible notes app used by writers, lawyers, chefs, teachers, engineers, students, parents and more! Bear has quick organisation, editing tools, and export options to help you write quickly and share anywhere and preserve your privacy with encryption.”

This app has such an uncluttered design that writing on it feels like inscribing your story on premium paper with a fountain pen.

Journey

Compatible with: Android & iOS

“The #1 Motivational Journal App”

More than a journal, this app gives you an inspirational writing prompt every day to keep you centered as well as creative.

Forest

Compatible with: Android & iOS

“Forest is an app that helps you stay focused on the important things in life.”

This app asks you to plant and nurture a virtual tree. As long as you keep working on your manuscript, you keep your tree alive. The developers also partnered with a tree-planting organization to plant trees whenever users spend virtual coins in the app.

For mixing things up

The Brainstormer

Compatible with: Android & iOS

“The Brainstormer is kindling for creative minds. A tactile tool to randomly combine a plot, a subject and a setting or style, the Brainstormer provides a moment of inspiration for writers, painters, or any creative mind. Combat creative block, spark new ideas and summon up quick subjects for doodling, sketching or journaling.”

This app lets you generate writing prompts when you spin three wheels for plot/conflict, theme/setting, and subject/location.

Character Story Planner 2

Compatible with: Android

“Every character has stories and every world has histories.”

Geared towards players of table-top role-playing games, this app can also be used by writers like you to plan out characters, scenes, locations, and more.

For fine-tuning

Ludwig

Compatible with: Mac & Windows (mobile version coming soon)

“Ludwig is the first sentence search engine that helps you write better English by giving you contextualized examples taken from reliable sources.”

If you think your sentences sound awkward or you’re not sure how to use a certain verb, you can take your cue from established media sites, scientific journals, and official documents through Ludwig.

Hemingway

Compatible with: Mac & Windows

“Hemingway makes your writing bold and clear. It’s like a spellchecker, but for style. It makes sure that your reader will focus on your message, not your prose.”

Despite his adult audience, Ernest Hemingway wrote stories that are actually readable to fifth graders. The Hemingway app judges which U.S. grade level is required to understand your text. The lower the level, the clearer—and more effective—your text.

We hope you can find the time to explore our recommended apps. A good combination of these will surely optimize your daily output and help you reach your goals.

The post Apps that can supercharge your daily writing appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Solomon, tell us a little about yourself.

I was born on April 5, 1977 in the eastern highlands of Zimbabwe. I attended Mutsvangwa, Ratelshoek and Chikore High Schools between 1992 and 1999 before attending the University of Zimbabwe, where I studied Literature and Theatre Arts. I’m currently studying for an MA in African and Diasporan Literature in English with Midlands State University. I teach Literature at Dangamvura High School in Mutare, Zimbabwe.

Do you have any particular literary influences that helped you develop your style, subject and genre?

My imagination was captured by the Romantic novel, and I grew up in a continent that is struggling to shake off vestiges of colonialism, and whose literature largely represents that struggle. I suppose Rebel Soldier is a hybrid between the Romantic novel and the African novel, though I did not consciously make it so. My wife, Linda, once remarked that the book reflects its author’s identity crisis!

Tell us a little about your book.

Rebel Soldier is a story about a young, strong-willed woman, Lizzy Chiwara, who grows up in a highly oppressive patriarchal society in which she witnesses gross abuses against women. As a child, she witnesses her mother being physically and emotionally abused by her father. Her beloved Aunt Rizi dies frustrated and bitter because “they” rejected and murdered her fiancé. Lizzy’s twin, Lucy, refuses to marry the man to whom she is given to appease the avenging spirit of Aunt Rizi’s boyfriend, and she commits suicide instead.

After Lucy’s death, Lizzy must now be married off to that same man for the same purpose, but she too refuses. She vows to never get married or fall in love, in solidarity with her twin and aunt. She pledges loyalty and love to them, vowing to take her revenge on men. But that loyalty is severely tested when it turns out that the man she is being forced to marry is the same man she has always secretly loved.

In a society where belief in the influence of the dead over the living runs deep, Lizzy faces a serious dilemma: to accept this man is to betray her deceased twin and aunt (incurring their wrath,) but to decline the offer is to betray her own heart. What happens to a yearning repressed, a longing sacrificed to principle and loyalty? That is the heart of the story.

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We’ll present the conclusion of our interview with Solomon Mwapangidza later this week. His debut, award-winning novel, Rebel Soldier, is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore.

Thanks for visiting Author’s Digest!

The post AuthorHouse Meets Solomon Mwapangidza appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Vladimir Putin’s recent invasion of the Crimean peninsula and the March 8 move into Kherson Oblast to establish control of land access into Crimea bring back unpleasant memories.  The obvious threat of extension of this latest Russian military incursion from Crimea into Eastern Ukraine is undeniable.  Having served the entirety of my Marine Corps career during the Cold War, this sort of confrontational brinksmanship is all too familiar.

In a move reminiscent of the Khrushchev Doctrine (used as an excuse for the invasion of Hungary in 1956,) the Brezhnev Doctrine (used as an excuse for the invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1968,) and a similar move by President Putin when he invaded Georgia in 2008, an invasion of sovereign territory has been justified in the following manner.

“A sovereign nation on our border has been subjected to violence and put in danger by unwelcome outside influences causing unrest and instability.  At the request of the duly-elected government representing the interests of its people, Russian forces have peacefully entered this nation to restore order, and safeguard and protect innocent lives.”  Really?  Could any ruse or pretext be more transparent?  Could any military aggression with purely expansionist political motivation be more thinly veiled?  What sort of idiots does President Putin think populate the rest of the world?

So what reason would Putin have to make such a transparent move?  His potential gains in the short term are political and economic.  Politically, he appears to his supporters and countrymen to be a strong, decisive leader who is willing to stand up to the West and particularly the United States in the defense of fellow Russians.  Economically and militarily, he retains unquestioned control of the Russian Black Sea Fleet port of Sevastopol and concomitant control of the access routes to the Mediterranean.  Movement further into eastern Ukraine would provide access to rich coal fields and elimination of cumbersome Ukrainian regulation of Russian oil and gas imports to, and shipments through, Ukraine.

The downside of this all-too-familiar farcical political-military gamesmanship is extraordinary, though these probably weren’t considered by Putin and his planners prior to pulling the trigger.  First of all, nobody needs what Russia has.  The Russian economy is shallow and one-dimensional:  it is based on the sale of oil and gas.  In case no one bothered to inform President Putin, there is plenty of oil and gas in just about every region of the world, and those areas who don’t have their own supply can easily import these commodities.

Second, Russia is far more dependent on the rest of the world for staple products and goods than the rest of the world is dependent on Russia, making an economic boycott potentially devastating for Russia.

Third, the Russian government does not have the ability to control and manipulate information as it did when the Soviet Union was still in existence.  People in Russia have access to the internet and a multitude of information sources and will no longer sit patiently by, believing phony platitudes while their country’s economy collapses around them.  The Russian economy and currency have, in fact, already been weakened by Putin’s incursion into Crimea.

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Dr. Charles Levy is the self-published author of the award-winning novel El Volcan, available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore. Thanks for visiting Author’s Digest!

The post AuthorHouse’s Dr. Charles Levy – Military Adventures (Part One) appeared first on AuthorHouse.

His wife, Helen Armstrong, was the inspiration for The Shadow of Her Smile, his first novel:

From her, he received the gift of an exceptional, selfless, and loving personality who breathed music and shared it with everyone she met.

Helen, an international virtuoso violinist, was also the founder of Armstrong Chamber Concerts, Inc. (ACC,) a non-profit organization with the goal of broadening public knowledge and appreciation of chamber music through education and performances. She passed away in 2006, but her vision lives on through ACC and its more than 100,000 students.

And now, we present Ajit Hutheesing:

Who is the author behind the book?

I’m a financial professional of 40 years experience with a compulsion for writing short essays, political/economic critiques in newspapers, and poetry.  I come from a family of writers: my mother wrote eight books and dozens of articles, which were published in the U.K., USA and India; my father was a journalist and the author of one of the earliest books on Mao Tse Tung’s China; my uncle was first Prime Minister of India, Jawaharlal Nehru, who also wrote prolifically; my aunt was Mrs. V.L. Pandit, the first woman President of the United Nations General Assembly. She wrote her biography, which I assisted in getting published in the USA. There are many more authors in the family.

Do you have any particular literary influences that helped you develop your writing style?

Not any one, but a collection–see above

Please tell us a little about your book.

It’s a loving dedication to my wife, the famous violinist Helen Armstrong. I reveal Helen’s remarkable life as a childhood prodigy transformed into a virtuoso violinist. Tragedy diverted her career to charitable contributions of concert performances and music education for children.  Political and economic circumstances following India’s independence are revealed briefly, and are the reasons I arrived in the USA and eventually met Helen Armstrong.

What inspired you to write your book and how long did it take you to finish it?

My wife was a “living inspiration.”  Her untimely death while in the midst of a concert drove me to great grief and solitude during which I wrote and wrote.  I completed 90% of the book in six months, but shelved it for seven years seeking privacy–until now.

What is the one message you would like to convey to your readers about your book?

Paying great attention to the ones you love while they/you are still alive is the most important thing one can do in one’s lifetime.

What was your favorite part of your self-publishing experience?

An education in what it takes to publish a book.

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

Write, write, write and publish, publish, publish.

Are you working on a sequel to your book, or another subject matter?

Yes–a sequel is not possible.  I’m writing an insider’s perspective of great members of the Nehru family.

Are there any events, marketing or promotions planned for your book?

Yes – mainly in the music community, and among friends and family in the USA and India.

Is there anything else you’d like to say about writing or publishing?

Too much to say – too little time!

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Thank you very much for your time, Mr. Hutheesing, and for sharing your wife’s story with Author’s Digest and the world. We look forward to your next book!

The Shadow of Her Smile is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore.

The post AuthorHouse’s Ajit Hutheesing and “The Shadow of Her Smile” appeared first on AuthorHouse.

In part one, which you can read here, Denise talked about her background and writing influences. Today she’ll tell us about the book itself, self-publishing, and her promotional efforts.

Tell us about your book.

This story is a whimsical tale of an adventuresome stinkbug who just wants to get warm!  It is another side to stinkbugs (at least in my imagination), and is in the form of a poem.

What inspired you to write the book and how long did it take to finish it?

The abundance of stinkbugs in our area needed a creative outlet! Seriously, there were a few that showed up when I was writing! I wrote this in  a few days, then re-wrote, tweaked, sent it out, went to writers retreats, got lots of critiques and was told it was not quite over the top enough; however, my family and I believed in the story and… here it is!

Is there one message you’d like to convey to readers about your book?

It’s just to make you smile, perhaps chuckle… and that is enough! If for a moment you catch the silliness, then it has been a success.

What was your favorite part of the self-publishing experience?

EVERYTHING! AuthorHouse, from start to finish, has been a delight to work with. I have learned a lot from them, and will continue to use them!

What advice would you give to an aspiring author?

JUST DO IT! Believe in yourself. Keep writing. Trust your initial thoughts and writing with positive people!

What are you working on next?

I’m starting a series on “Friends Come In All Shapes and Sizes”

What promotions are planned for your book?

I have been very blessed in this! I’ve done a book signing for our local hospital auxiliary. We sold out two elementary assemblies where we discuss poetry, and how each child has a special talent–these are interactive with a discussion on poetry types, with a challenge and contest at the end. There are more assemblies planned. I’ve participated in a signing in the Strip District in Pittsburgh, and have just been invited back. I have library programs set up, and I’ve been invited to speak at a women’s club.

Thanks to Bob Sr. and Sara for reading, listening, re-listening, and helping the whole way through!  Enjoy each part! People will always have an opinion and not all will be helpful to you–remember what YOU are about and why you are writing. Relax and let it flow; remember the adage about enjoying the journey too!

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Thank you very much for your time, Denise, and we look forward to seeing your next project. Mr. Stinkbug Takes a Trip is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore, and would make a great gift for those young readers on your Christmas list!

The post AuthorHouse Talks More with Denise Kissell appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Denise, tell us a little about yourself. 

I  LOVE to read, which then turned into: I LOVE to write!  I wear multiple hats, like most people: mother, wife, nurse, pet tender, gardener, cook, spiritualist, and friend. We travel to the Outer Banks of North Carolina several times a year, and as I am the co- pilot I would create tales of where we were going and what we would see, and let them take flight from my imagination. Reading them back to the family would bring a few chuckles.

I could certainly write of the hardships in my life, and perhaps someday I will, but I prefer to reach for the JOY in life and look for ways to simply bring a smile. A simple task, but one that I believe is very worthwhile!

My basic philosophy is “The standard of success in life isn’t the things. It isn’t the money or stuff–it is absolutely the amount of JOY you feel” (from The Teachings of Abraham by Esther and Jerry Hicks.)

Are there any literary influences that helped you develop your style?

No, I love a variety–mystery, autobiography, self-help, romance, cooking, poetry.  I even enjoy children’s stories to this day and like to discuss them with our local neighbors. (I have a “Little Free Library” in the front yard and love getting the messages from the children! Surprisingly, it is the 9, 10, and 11 year-olds who have been really utilizing this, and the feedback is GREAT.)

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Thanks, Denise! Readers, check back at Author’s Digest later this week when we present the conclusion of our chat with Denise Kissell. Until then though, check out Mr. Stinkbug Takes a Trip at the AuthorHouse Booktore!

The post AuthorHouse’s Denise Kissell… and Stinkbugs! appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Syria

It is with deep regret that I am currently witnessing the ongoing policy debate with regard to Syria and the use of force by the United States as an answer to a recent chemical weapons attack on the Syrian people.  There are a number of points that have not been elucidated by the president, congressional leadership, or the press that are important to consider.

First, and most importantly, the origin of the chemical attack has not been definitively made clear.  In all regards, the Syrian government of President Bashar al-Assad has nothing to gain and everything to lose by using chemical weapons.  Mr. Assad is shrewd, brutal, and vicious, but he isn’t stupid.  Remove the recent chemical attack and potential U.S. intervention from the scenario, and the war was all but won by the Syrian army.  The rebels know all too well that the only event that could save their foundering effort is the introduction of chemical weaponry, especially if deployed–as it indeed was–against civilians.  The Syrian rebels have everything to gain and nothing to lose by an attack of this nature.  This analysis leads to the question, “Who was responsible for the attack?”

While our own government and intelligence sources seem convinced that it actually was the Syrian army who was responsible, is it not at least possible that the attack was perpetrated by rebel sympathizers having infiltrated a Syrian army chemical weapons unit?  Is it impossible that the rebels themselves perpetrated the attack?  The Syrian army has stockpiles of VX nerve gas obtained from Russia.  If sarin was used, then this attack almost certainly did not come from the Syrian government.  As some readers might remember, sarin is relatively inexpensive and easy to fabricate and deploy, leading to its use in 1995 in the Tokyo, Japan subway attack.  Before deploying forces to the region, the nature, character and origin of the Syrian attack should have been determined absolutely and without doubt.  Even if VX was used, it is still possible that the attack was perpetrated by rebel infiltrators or sympathizers within the Syrian army.  Events of this nature have taken place in the past in the Arab world, such as when Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by members of the Egyptian army on 6 October, 1981 at a parade and troop review during a military commemoration.  This attack by Egyptian army personnel occurred in response to Sadat’s recently-signed peace treaty between Egypt and Israel.

President Obama placed himself in an untenable position and, in my opinion, hastened or at least made more likely the use of chemical weapons by opposition forces when he declared such an attack to be the red line that must not be crossed.  Given the indisputable fact that the rebel forces were, up until the introduction of chemical weapons, essentially defeated, it seems difficult to rationalize the use of these weapons by the Syrian government while making eminent sense that they be used by rebels.

Finally, and of no little importance, Assad retains the support of several large blocs of people in Syria.  The rebels do not necessarily represent the majority of Syrians, and their lack of popular support has, at least up until now, led to their defeat at the hands of the Syrian army.  The increasingly radicalized Sunnis who make up the majority of the opposition have no greater love for the United States then the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

This leads to the inevitable conclusion that there are no ‘good guys’ or ‘bad guys’ relative to the United States and our current directionless foreign policy.  Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had the unfortunate lack of insight to characterize the conflict in those terms just this evening, which only serves to further confound the issue for many Americans.  It seems necessary to inform Senator Graham, Senator McCain, and President Obama that picking sides in a distant conflict devoid of security concerns for the United States makes for bad policy.  Recent lessons that should have been learned in Egypt and Libya apparently were not.

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We thank Dr. Levy for his insight, and thank our readers for stopping by Author’s Digest. Charles’ book, El Volcan, is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore, and we look forward to hearing from him again soon.

The post AuthorHouse presents Charles L. Levy on Syria appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Charles, what inspired you to write your book? How long did it take you to finish it? I was inspired to write the book after my initial exposure to the war in El Salvador and then my fairly long involvement as an advisor in various capacities to the Armed Forces of El Salvador and the U.S. Embassy there.  Many of the events I witnessed first-hand or heard about from first-hand sources are reflected in the writing.

Is there one message you would like to convey to your readers about your book?  That as long as U.S. foreign policy focuses only on military and socioeconomic factors and ignores culture, it is doomed to fail.

What was your favorite part of the self-publishing process? Seeing the book in print and getting uniformly positive, high praise from my readers.

Any advice for other aspiring authors? If you feel that you have something to say and wish to see your work in print, you must discipline yourself to sit down and write.

What is your next project? Can we expect to see a sequel to El Volvan? I’ve finished a second book with some of the same characters as the first, but it isn’t exactly a sequel.  I am currently in the process of editing and re-writing this book.

Are there any other events, marketing or promotions planned for your book?  I have just placed a 10” full-color ad in the El Paso Times and will soon be involved in some additional promotional activities.  Stay tuned!

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Best of luck with your second book, Charles, and thank you very much for your time!

El Volcan is available in the AuthorHouse Bookstore, along with thousands of other great titles. Author’s Digest thanks you for stopping by, and hopes you’ll visit again soon to read the latest news from our community of writers around the world.

As always, best of luck on your personal self-publishing journey!

The post AuthorHouse presents Charles L. Levy and “El Volcan” (Part Two) appeared first on AuthorHouse.

Click here to read part one, if you haven’t done so already. Otherwise, read on to learn more about Dr. Levick’s research!

When A Picture Really Means More Than A Thousand Words (Part Two)

As I followed my mentor’s lead and attended lectures by staff psychiatrists, I learned that “art therapy” is using the creative process instead of words as a means of communication between therapist and patient. I learned that the “art therapist” does not interpret a patient’s art production, but facilitates the patient’s ability to interpret their own work, to make conscious what was unconscious. The more I learned, the more I trusted the creative process to help people begin to recognize and cope with internal and external conflicts.

My career path took many turns. I went from art therapist to art therapy educator, to founder and first president of the American Art Therapy Association. Within all of this, my particular interest and forte remained coping mechanisms and the relationship between intellectual and emotional development. Subsequently I had the extraordinary opportunity to work with Ms. Anna Freud for five weeks in England.

This experience, and the publication of my first book in 1983, led to an invitation from the Miami-Dade County School District to develop an art therapy assessment to be used by the therapists employed in their clinical art therapy program. That assessment and where it has taken me is the crux of this blog.

Working with the art therapy staff at Miami-Dade, an assessment was designed that I believed was a good one. For the next 14 years I lectured, conducted seminars and collected data on the Levick Emotional and Cognitive Art Therapy Assessment. Being an academician, I knew it was time to test the validity and reliability of this instrument. I initiated a normative study in the Palm Beach County School District, the community in South Florida most representative of the general population.

(To be concluded)

To read the results of Dr. Levick’s research and the final part of her guest blog,  please check back at AuthorHouse Author’s Digest at the end of the week. Until then, check out Levick Emotional and Cognitive Art Therapy Assessment at the AuthorHouse Bookstore!

Read more about AuthorHouse author Dr. Myra F. Levick and her research at the links below:

Children at Risk – the homepage of Myra F. Levick, Phd, ATR-BC

The Boca Raton branch of the National League of American Pen Women

Myra’s Facebook page

Myra on LinkedIn

The post AuthorHouse presents Art Therapist Myra F. Levick, PhD, ATR-BC (Part Two) appeared first on AuthorHouse.

AuthorHouse Author’s Digest welcomes Willie Pleasants as a two-time published AuthorHouse author. Her first book, Ain’t That the Truth, opened the door to giving her the confidence that she could write, and her second book, Make Truth a Habit, just confirmed that she had found her passion.

Poet, Writer, Teacher, Inspiration: Willie Pleasants

Willie Pleasants writing has propelled her on a journey of reading and teaching poetry to children. She is a team leader for a Jumpstart program that helps three-to-five year old children prepare to enter kindergarten to succeed with language and literacy skills.

She discovered her love for poetry at an early age.

Her favorite poet is Langston Hughes. His words resonated within her. She understood how he felt during those troubled times in his life.  As a woman of color, she had to endure discrimination, retaliation, lies, and limited promotions in the workplace.

Her short stories will take you on a journey of true to life experiences.

Her poems paint vivid images that leaves her listeners mesmerized; always asking for more.

She travels locally and nationally to do book signings.

She has ongoing appearances on cable and radio shows.

She was so intrigued by the idea of being interviewed that she became the producer and host of her own cable show called Willie’s Web, on Boston Neighborhood Network (BNN). She sees it as a great opportunity to promote her books and as well as promoting other authors and artists to share their journey.

She combined her talent with three other women and created a professional published author group called, Authors Without Borders. They also have a cable show on which Ms. Pleasants is one of the producers, directors and host.

She works with the group to offer workshops, speaking engagements and panel discussions to help other writers navigate the maze of writing and publishing.

She created and facilitates a class called Storytelling at Tea, which is offered as a course for the Osher Life Learning Institute at University of Mass /Boston.

She has done extra work in major films like Fever Pitch, The Proposal, and Here Comes the Boom.

She has met and interacted with major actors including Jimmy Fallon, Spike Lee, Billy Dee Williams, Ernie Hudson, and Daphne Maxwell-Reid.

Willie Pleasants’ AuthorHouse Bibliography

• Ain’t That The Truth
• Make Truth A Habit

Articles by AuthorHouse Author Willie Pleasants

• Boston Seniority Magazine has published several of her short stories.
• Gift of the Great Spirit has published one of her famous poems.

Follow Authorhouse Author Willie Pleasants:

• Her Cable Shows, Willie’s Web
• On Her Official Website

The post Poet, Writer, Teacher, Inspiration: Willie Pleasants appeared first on AuthorHouse.