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One of the things that I’ve tried to do with my mobile devices for has been to integrate them into my writing life.  For a while there I went through a phase of using the Handheld PC platform (HP Jornada  720) because I thought it was a nice balance of PDA and writing tool thanks to the keyboard.  When work gave me a BlackBerry, I never felt it was particularly suited for that task, so I wrote very little on it.  The Tilt, however, does seem better suited, and I carry around all of my outlines and works-in-progress on it.  Since my phone rarely ever leaves my side, there’s always an opportunity to write.  But tools are available for writing on the Tilt?? 

See more after break.

Since it seems like the Tilt could be a mobile writer’s dream, I thought that I would take the time to discuss some applications that I have previously used or that could be of use for a writer.

• ListPro.  As an up-and-coming writer, I absolutely believe that outlining is essential.  You can’t effectively write a story, audio, novella, etc., without one, just as you can’t build a house without blueprints.  And ListPro pretty much rocks the house for outlining.  Because you can customize your outline to accommodate your needs, and with the new rich text capabilities in the latest version, ListPro wins for me hands down.  I’ve owned the Professional version since 3.0 and I fell in love with it again thanks to the latest version.
• Textmaker.  Now, the price for Textmaker is a bit hard to swallow.  I lucked out a few years ago and purchased it on a sale they had on 11/11 (and bought it for… you guessed it… $11).  But Textmaker is about as close to having a desktop-capable word processor on your Tilt.  Then again, the 80/20 rule applies- 80% of users only use 20% of features.  But for the power user, Textmaker is hard to resist.  The latest version also reads OpenOffice documents, which is a plus if you’re a writer on a shoe-string budget.
• Dictionary software.  There’s a lot to chose from in this category, but a good writer needs to be armed with good words, right?  Thanks to the microSD cards, you would never need to reach for another hefty volume again.
• ScriptRight.  Script writing software for Windows Mobile.  One of its biggest features is that it supports Final Draft import and export.  Working on your future Oscar-winning screenplays on the go?  Sounds pretty nice to me.
• Word Mobile.  Don’t laugh.  Word Mobile is decent enough for getting rough drafts done, for writing out dialogue or concepts, and just plain old writing anywhere and any time.

Obviously, there’s a number of other tools out there to choose from.  I only picked from a few to get the discussion started.  Do you write on your Tilt?  What projects do you tend to focus on when you do?  And what are your tools of choice?  Discuss!

Doug Smith (301 Posts) - Website | Twitter | Facebook