My Writing Toolkit for the book project

I’m in the middle of writing the first chapter of my book. I’m not just ready to announce the working title yet. I’ll probably wait until I finish the 5th chapter (total of 10 chapters).

I thought it would be fun if I open up my writing process so that you could ride along with me in this journey. Hop in!

Let’s start with the tools. In my recent post, I’ve shown you some of the tools that I use to study SQL Server. I’m using the same tools for this book project.

What I’m going to share this time is my writing toolkit:

Technet Subscription Pro

I need full versions of the software I use for development for one reason – to make sure that everything in the book will work in your development and production servers.

One year of Technet Subscription Pro is not cheap (Retail Price of $349). But I think it’s all worth it. I have access to critical Microsoft technologies – Windows 2012, SharePoint 2013, SQL Server 2012, Office 2013, etc. Real tools, real experience.

Of course, I can’t use them in production but I have the privilege of using the greatest and latest software as they become available.

SkyDrive

I am using SkyDrive as my cloud storage for this book project. DropBox might be a better option but I’m OK with SkyDrive for now. As long as I can sync my local files to the cloud, I’m fine.

Office 2013

I haven’t upgraded to Office 2013 yet as of this writing but I am planning to. I cannot just ignore the improvements in Office 2013. Cleaner and less clutter in the interface? Yes, I’m in!

OneNote

I love OneNote. You can argue that EverNote is better in more ways than one. But I like OneNote’s simplicity and its, again, clutter-less interface. It’s just clean. And it automatically and seamlessly syncs to my SkyDrive.

SnagIt

I use SnagIt for convenience. The publisher has some requirements on the size and quality of the images I need for the book. SnagIt just works every time. I can set different “profiles” for different projects.

What’s your writing toolkit (for blogging if you haven’t written a book)?