iPad apps designed to ease the stress of writing for a living

If you’re a professional writer who also happens to own an iPad, you’re fortunate: Software developers have come up with a series of apps that can help you do your job better, whether you cover real estate news for a trade magazine, blog about technology or write romance fiction. Here’s a closer look at some of the best iPad apps for serious writers. For those who earn your living with the written word, these applications are must-haves.

Paper by FiftyThree

Just getting started with your novel, short story or non-fiction piece? Consider Paper. This amazing app enables you to make note of your ideas as anything from sketches and illustrations to notes, drawings or diagrams.

iA Writer

Information Architects’ iA Writer forces writers to concentrate on one thing, writing. That’s because iA Writer deliberately doesn’t allow users to mess with fonts, colors or other distractions. With this program, you can do one thing: create and edit plain text files on your iPad.

Google Drive

We all know that writers usually aren’t rich. This is where Google Drive comes in. This app will provide you with 5GB worth of storage for free. It’s a good spot to store your writing projects.

Evernote

You’ve probably heard of Evernote. That’s because the application is among the most beloved note-taking apps available to iPad users. You can use Evernote to take notes, capture photos, create to-do list and even record voice reminders. Then you’re able to store these notes and search them.

iThoughtsHD

iThoughtsHD by CMS lets you easily organize your thoughts visually. Exactly what does this mean? Using this program you can create brainstorming and task lists. You can tackle project planning and goal setting. You can also create detailed meeting notes. In other words, it’s an essential tool for anyone creating a story or article.

Penultimate

To prove how truly skilled they are, the people who developed Evernote have released Penultimate, an app that lets you handwrite notes directly to your iPad. It’s another good way for writers to tidy up their thoughts and brainstorm ideas.

GoodReader

Good.iWare’s GoodReader is the most powerful PDF reader for the iPad. With GoodReader, you can read virtually any document imaginable with your iPad. This holds true for everything from books, movies and maps to pictures and PDF files.

Index Card

DenVog’s Index Card mimics that corkboard you keep hanging in your office. It enables you to organize and list your most important ideas. Writers can jot down ideas, plot outlines, assignment deadlines and all other information on virtual post-it notes that they can then attach to their Index Card-generated corkboard.

Notably

Notably is a powerful note-taking app for the iPad. But what genuinely sets it apart is the way it functions with popular cloud storage app Dropbox. Every time you add a note, plot summary or assignment deadline to Notably, your changes will automatically sync with Dropbox.