Welcome to my blog (scroll down to see individual posts), which was originally on a separate site at Inkygirl.com. I also have a separate Inkygirl newsletter on Substack at debbieohi.substack.com.
Also see: Inkygirl interviews – Resources
I’m a big fan of lists, and have been experimenting with various To Do list systems for quite a few years. Recently I’ve been using Culturedcode’s Things, which syncs between a desktop version and my iPhone. While I like Things, in the past year I’ve found myself relying more on a . . .
Last month, I posted a review of Black Mana Studio’s Manuscript app for the iPhone, saying it was a disappointment. The developer has released an update which appears to fix the import and export issues from an to Google Docs. I’ve only had a chance to do some preliminary testing, but so . . .
THE SILVER ANKLET is a sequel to Mahtab Narsimhan‘s THE THIRD EYE, which won The Silver Birch award in 2009. For those who don’t know, The Silver Birch Award is a province-wide honour given by Grade 3, 4, 5 and 6 Ontario students. Although administered by the Ontario Library Association and run by teacher-librarians and . . .
Sometimes writers get so caught up in promotion and networking that they forget about working on improving their craft. One of my favourite writing craft blogs is that of Gail Carson Levine. Gail has written many books for young people, including the Newbery-winning Ella Enchanted. I highly recommend a visit to her . . .
I was recently approached by a publisher who likes my illustrations, asking if I had any stories to go with them. I’ve started using Zengobi’s Curio to brainstorm. LOVE this program. I’m also using it to brainstorm about my other writing projects, both fiction and nonfiction, as well as my cartoons. Curio’s . . .
You can find some great resources for writers on Laura Resnick’s website, including agent-related tips, books and sites for writers. Laura is an experienced writer and author of Rejection, Romance and Royalties: The Wacky World of a Working Writer, among other works. (Couldn’t find this title through Indiebound, so had to link to . . .
I’ve posted a new survey via Survey Monkey. Please do answer via this linkrather than in the comments section for your results to be included in the summary. I’ll post a follow-up on survey results next week. Thanks!
I’ve been working on more graphic illustration projects lately, and have been looking for a good brainstorming tool. Scrivener is good for text only but not as easy to use when it comes to combining images and text in different configurations on the fly. Corel Painter is great for pure . . .
StoryPlease is a storytelling app that lets you record a story in your own voice, or your can use the default professional recording. I first came across the StoryPlease people (person?) when they attended the #kidlitart chat last night. During the chat, they said they were purchasing the rights to use illustrations/characters in . . .
StoryPages could be a useful iPhone app for those working on picture books or graphic novels. The app lets you create storyboard style pages with your drawing in a top panel and typed text in a bottom panel, mimicking storyboards used in movie production. You can draw in fullscreen (landscape or . . .