WritersTechnology.com issues the second in a series on

The simplest way to track submissions is using a spreadsheet program like Excel. You could also use an online spreadsheet like Google Docs. Create a new spreadsheet and put the following as column headers:
Title of Piece | Length | Genre/Type | Query or Submission? |Market Submitted to | Market’s Address | Pay | Date Sent | Response Time | Response (Y/N) | Accepted? (Y/N) | Due date | Publish date | Pay date | Paid? (Y/N)
Source

Tune in to their site their site for …

OpenOffice.org’s excellent software suite has now release version 2.4. This is available from OpenOffice.org, or get a portable version for toting around on a USB drive or to use on locked-down worked computers. OpenOffice now supports extentions (like FireFox) to extent the software’s features. Here are some of the best extentions for Novelists and Writers:

TestFonts — Reporting for missing font faces, all used fonts and get statistic available system fonts.
OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs — Export and Import your documents to and from Google Docs.
Writer’s Tools — Back up documents, look up and translate …

The OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs extension imports documents from Google Docs and Spreadsheets to OpenOffice.org and exports from OO.org to GDocs so you can work with your docs both online and offline. Works onWindows/Mac/Linux. Also it is a simple way to backup your local documents to the internet.
The OpenOffice.org2GoogleDocs extension is free, works anywhere you’ve installed OpenOffice.org. Web site DocSyncer is looking to do similar things for your Microsoft Office docs, but right now it’s in an invite-only beta. Needs Java 6 to work.

Whether on Windows, Mac, or Linux, the Writer’s Tools extension adds a useful new menu to the popular, open source office suite OpenOffice.org that bakes convenient tools like Google Translate, an online dictionary lookup tool, email backup, remote backup to an FTP server and more directly into the OpenOffice.org free software suite.
If you’re using OpenOffice.org as your main word processor, the Writer’s Tools extension is a must-have. Writer’s Tools is free, works wherever OpenOffice.org does.
Another valuable to is OxygenOffice, also for Windows/Mac/Linux. It adds clip art, advanced PDF functions, and …

Here are some helpful shortcuts for those of you using Writely to compose your works.
FROM THE EDITOR MENU:

Ctrl S to Save
Ctrl K to Insert Link
Ctrl M to Insert Comment

FROM THE BROWSER:

Ctrl B to Bold
Ctrl I to Italicize
Ctrl-Z to Undo
Ctrl-Y to Redo
Ctrl A to Select All
Ctrl C to Copy
Ctrl V to Paste
Ctrl X to Cut
Ctrl Home to go to the top of the document
Ctrl End to go to the end of the document
Ctrl Alt-? to select the next word
Ctrl Alt-? to select the previous word

OTHER TIPS:

To count the number of words …

Need some help creating some character names? Check out these useful sites that have very interesting tools to generate names and do research on names:

20000-names.com
seventhsanctum.com/index-name.php
lowchensaustralia.com/names/generators.htm
rinkworks.com/namegen

Trying to recall a magical quote from your favorite book? Wondering who else has used the character name ‘John Hoggins’? Google’s new Book Search feature allows you to do this and more.
Try it out at Google Book Search

A great resource for any writer. Common English language mistakes or misconceptions are included in detail. Some examples:

oversee/overlook
palate/palette/pallet
ran/run
sail/sale/sell
taken back/taken aback

Much of the content is online here: Common Errors in English

Lot’s of practical tips on becoming a writer, such as:
Stop talking about your novel or short story ideas and start writing. Get in the habit of writing for at least an hour every day, no matter what. One strategy is to get up an hour earlier than you have to, make yourself a cup of coffee and completely focus on your writing.
Read more at 52 Projects

Doing your writing on a Mac? Learn some of these shortcuts to boost your productivity:
Text
?A move to beginning of paragraph
?B move one character back
?D delete character to right
?E move to end of paragraph
?F move one character forward
?K delete text to end of paragraph
?N move to next line
?O insert newline
?P move to previous line
?T transpose characters
?? delete word to left
?? delete word to right
Text Field
?? move one word left
?? move one word right
?? move to beginning of line
?? move to end of line
Text View
?? move up one page
?? move down one page
?? move to beginning of line
?? move to end of line
?? move to beginning of view
?? move to end of view
Read other …