Two panels I attended at the Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) 2012 Conference & Bookfair – “A Writing Life, After the Workshop” and “Setting Limits: Balancing Paid Writing and Creative Writing” – both provided a number of valuable resources for working writers.

“A Writing Life” is where I found out about Evernote, Web clipper and time tracking apps, and the social media management system HootSuite. It was presented by the Writing Life Collective, a group of five writers and editors.

One tool they shared – an eye opener for me – was “A Writing Life Skills Assessment,” which you use to get real, and I mean real, about the balance in your writing life. When I took it, I found I was strong in Creative and Editing, but extraordinarily lacking in Administrative and Marketing. I’m taking steps to remedy that right now (starting with this blog).

Valerie Due, the moderator of “Setting Limits,” like me, is a freelance marketing writer and editor, and, like me, balances her paid work and creative work on a daily basis. She has a great page packed with the resources she told us about at the conference. So far I’ve checked out a visual tool called The Wheel of Life and downloaded the Wunderlist task management app. There are many, many other resources here that you might find useful too. Let me know what you think.