Evernote – My New Favorite Writing Tool

Screenshot of this post in Evernote

Evernote kind of kicks rocks*; meaning it’s pretty dang cool.

Some of you may know this fact already, but I only discovered this powerful little tool back in November.

I have it on my phone, the tablet my husband bought me, and my laptop, and I use it all the time for my writing.

For instance, a lot of ideas hit me as I’m driving to work in the pre-dawn hours. I can either voice-record my idea du jour into the Evernote app on my phone or type it in on my trek through the parking lot once I get to work. (This is usually my preferred method since I keep my cellphone zipped up in my purse when I drive.)

Once I’m done typing a few lines about my idea, I save it to my “Blog Ideas” notebook and it syncs up to the “cloud” where it taps its fingers impatiently until I can sit down and work on it.

Then at lunch I fire up my tablet, open up that fledgling idea and type away, fleshing it out and turning it into the blog-post goodness you kindly read each week (all while trying not to drip salad dressing or sandwich crumbs onto the keyboard). Once the idea has been typed into full-blown blog post, I move it to my “Blog Post” notebook and hit done. Off it goes again to the cloud.

When I finally crawl to my computer at the end of the day, there’s that draft, waiting for me to spruce up and add HTML tags. After it’s copied and posted here, I tag my Evernote entry as “Posted” and I’m done!

It’s a nifty tool and it fit my “starving artist, parent of teenagers who eat and grow a lot” budget. Translation: It didn’t cost a red cent.

And it can do so much more. I’ve only discovered the basics of this tool. I’m still exploring all of the features, but it looks like you can store photos, scanned images, collaborate with others through “Shared” notebooks, and store your favorite websites with a click of a button or swipe of a finger.

I save interesting-looking freelance opportunities I find on the web this way so I can pull the link up later on my computer and send a proper inquiry.

I can’t wait to see what else I can do with this thing. When I have some free time. Whatever that is.

Have you used Evernote? If so, how? Or do you have another tool you love so much you talk about it to anyone who’ll listen?

Note: Evernote doesn’t know I exist and they didn’t ask me to write this glowing review. I wrote it because I like it and thought I’d share in case it can help other writers, artists, harried parents or people in general, out. If you’re interested in checking it out, you can find it here: http://www.evernote.com. As always, thank you for reading!

*For the origin of the term “Kicks Rocks” check out the belly-laugh creative genius that is http://www.neverendingnights.com.

10 Replies to “Evernote – My New Favorite Writing Tool”

  1. Thank you, John! I know! I think I had it for a while before I actually took a look at it myself. It came in handy, one time, when I lost a big chunk of a post here due to a browser crash. I was able to go in and copy the draft out of Evernote and the day was mostly saved! If you learn any neat tricks in it, let me know! And thank you so much for stopping by!

  2. I’ve never used evernote. Of course, I have no tablet, nor a phone that does anything but make and receive calls (and drop them at an alarming rate). For now, I depend on a sharpie/crayon/chunk of charcoal, and the back of a receipt/paper bag/burger wrapper to capture the essence of that fleeting blog idea that just won’t stop rattling around in my head until I can capture it and let it rattle around in my car for a while.

    Works for me!
    Eli@coach-daddy recently posted..2012 Local Easter Egg HuntsMy Profile

    1. Hi Stephen! Thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment! You are no longer alone. 🙂 It’s such a great tool. I wish I’d found it sooner because it’s made my life a wee bit easier these days!

  3. I’m so low tech that I’ve never even heard of Evernote and even after reading this post, I’m not entirely sure that I know how it works. Do you have to have a special phone to support this app? I have an iPhone but it is not the latest model. (My husband has the shiny new one — he gave me the older model. Nice guy.)

    You said that you could just speak into it and it would capture your thoughts. Is that part of the Evernote app or do you have a Siri-type thing as part of your phone? ‘Cause THAT’S an app I could really get into. I hate it when I am driving along and think of the exact perfect way to phrase something or a good outline of a future blog, etc. but by the time I get to a place where I can type it into my computer, I can’t remember it. Or I can, but it’s never quite as perfect as it was in my head in the car. I hate it when that happens.

    Warmest aloha,
    Kay in Hawaii

    1. Hi Kay! First, thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read and comment on this post!

      According to one of Evernote’s latest blog posts. “Audio notes have been a core feature since day one…” and it looks like they now give a speech recognition option for speech to text. I don’t know, though, if that’s in the free version or if there’s a “premium” version you have to buy for this new feature. I have to say that I’ve never used the “Audio Notes” mostly because I hate the sound of my own voice. I may have to jump into the digital age with both feet soon though, because I know it’s a handy way to capture thoughts.

      As for the type of phone, you probably need a “smartphone” but don’t quote me on that. I’m with you on the hand-me-down technology. 🙂 My husband is a super-geek too. But I don’t mind getting his castoffs! Anyway, about the iPhone. A quick search of their website shows it’s available for the iPhone in the iTunes store. Here’s the post I found on it: http://blog.evernote.com/2011/03/01/the-completely-redesigned-evernote-4-for-iphone-and-ipod-touch/

      I hope this helps and wow, Hawaii! That’s a destination that’s on my “Bucket List” for sure!

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