Easy Notes For Authors

 

Easy Notes is simple and easy to use. Authors can use Easy Notes for story notes, plot bunnies, and marketing tips. Just jot down anything that comes up. With the microphone feature, you can record a story idea hands-free.

So what’s different about Easy Notes versus other note apps?

In my how-to post, I mentioned the drawing element and the emojis. Each of these pieces can assist authors to quickly get ideas down or create a reminder for later. You could make a string of emojis to represent a key plot point or an emotional breakthrough. As I noted before, you could use the icons to mark certain feelings in the scene or even note the setting. Emojis are a quick way to express big ideas.

In the drawing element, even with only two pens, you can sketch a quick storyboard of a scene. Perhaps you need a visual representation of an object, a room layout, or a character’s look. The available pens are perfect for creating those visuals for your books.

The widget is a great addition to the usual note app. Now your to-do lists can be on your home screen, reminding you of what needs to be done for your novel. Or maybe the widget has an inspirational background with a quote to remind you why you love to write. Or perhaps it has a picture of your hero/heroine.

Easy Notes has some great features to help authors with their writing tasks. Unfortunately, the free version has limitations. I’m not just talking about the two pens in the drawing app or the tease of displayed backgrounds that you can’t use. Easy Notes wants you to upgrade. They ask ad nauseam for users to upgrade. Also, there are ads for games and other apps that interrupt use. For me, that’s a deal-breaker. I don’t watch TV because of ads. I won’t play phone games with ads. And I certainly won’t use an app with tons of ads.

Easy Notes is a good app, but there are other, better, free apps available.

How to Use Easy Notes

 

Note: This app is only available for mobile android devices. The developer is working on versions for other devices.

Easy Notes tracks tasks, reminds users of deadlines, and provides space for writing.

 

Getting Started

1. Click on the three lines on the top left to open the menu.
2. Choose Notes. This will open a blank page (or your previous notes if you’ve already been playing.)
3. Press the Plus sign button at the bottom of the page. A new note will appear.
4. Choose the style/content of your note. The bottom of the page has icons for text, check boxes, recording a voice note, drawing, taking a picture/adding a pic from the gallery, adding emojis, and adding a backdrop.
5. Press the check mark on the top when finished to save the note.

Each of these is self-explanatory about adding content. I wanted to point out the drawing, emojis, and backdrop.

• Drawing—Two pens are available with the free version, and more can be added with an upgrade. The marker, highlighter, and eraser allow users to draw concepts. Colors can be changed to one of the 120 available with gradients. You can also add a few backgrounds to the drawing, including comic book squares. It’s not a robust drawing app, but the basics are substantial.
• Emojis—There’s a great list of these guys in the app to use freely. Sometimes it’s just easier to click the crying-laughing face than to explain the joke.
• Backgrounds—I like Google Keep has colors to keep me organized, but I love the beautiful images on Easy Notes. There aren’t too many under the free membership. But it’s nice to see clouds and gradients rather than a solid color sometimes.

Organizing Notes

Click and hold a note to get a pop-up menu. You can lock or pin a note here. You can also change your main category, share the note, or delete it. Last, you can add it to the widget on the main screen of your android phone.

Calendar

Every time you make a note, the app notes when you created it. You can go back to any date on the calendar and see the notes created on that day. Hit the plus sign to make another note. Click the Time and Date stamp to adjust them. Click the three dots on the top right to add a reminder for the note, pin it, archive it, add it to the widget, or delete the note.

The Widget

A widget is a mini-app found on the home screen of an android phone. Easy Notes has several options.

• One is a small line of the icons for the app, 4x1 sized. Add this to your home screen, then you can click on one icon to make a quick note or calendar item.
• The other option is to display a note on the screen with a cute background, size 3x2. You can choose what note to display with the background.

Easy Notes provides a basic note device for the phone with some cute options. Next week, we will discuss uses for this app specifically for authors.

 

 

Easy Notes

Welcome to the 2022 Apps for Writers Blog!

It’s going to be a good year with new apps, refreshers on old favorites, and tips and tricks for writers at any level.

Per my usual style, I’m starting us off with a note-taking app. We all feel the stir to get organized in January. Note apps on our phones are essential for keeping us on track with tasks, chores, and writer’s stuff.

Easy Notes

Easy Notes is a note-taking app for mobile devices and tablets only. Its features include color-coded notes, a Rich Text editor, and a calendar with a reminder feature. It also includes a widget for your home screen to keep all your notes handy.

Notes can include checklists, recordings, drawings, photos, and cute templates. Notes can be shared outside the app as images, text, or shared as a picture.

The initial download is free, but it contains ads, unlike some of the other apps we’ve played with. To remove the ads, join their premium VIP level. It’s $3.49 a month, $15.99 yearly, or $29.99 for lifetime. These costs help programmers keep apps up to date and available for all devices.

Also, this app automatically sets up notifications on your phone. You may need to curb its access to location, camera, and contacts.

Next week, we’ll look at the features and how to use them.