Microsoft Excel without math: Five ways writers can use spreadsheets

If you’re a writer (by which I mean that some major part of your personal or professional life involves putting words together), you probably spend a lot of time in a word processing program such as Microsoft Word.

If you’re like a lot of writers I know, you’re also probably somewhat math-averse, and as a result you probably stay away from spreadsheets such as Microsoft Excel. Well, you shouldn’t.

Excel is a powerful tool for all sorts of mathematical and quantitative tasks, but you can do a lot more with it than number crunching. Thanks to Excel’s power to sort and filter, it can be a very powerful tool for writers and editors.

Here are some ways you can use Excel:

1. Record daily word counts.
2. Write a list of ideas (for articles, blog posts, etc.).
3. Keep track of your to-do list.
4. Create an editorial calendar.
5. Keep track of project tasks and their statuses.

So, how do you use spreadsheets?

Related posts:

• How to overcome blogger’s block (aka writer’s block)
• Links Worth Reading – Sept. 27, 2009, edition
• 12 things to do when you don’t feel like blogging
• Nine Proofreading Hacks
• 10 ways to generate ideas for blog posts

Tagged as: Microsoft Excel