Everybody can use a little help when it comes to writing.  After the Deadline is a plugin for WordPress, that is like your own little sixth grade grammar book, living inside your content management system.   They use artificial intelligence and natural language processing technology to find errors in your writing and to offer smart suggestions to correct them.

So, what all does After the Deadline do?

• Checks for Spelling Mistakes
• Detects Misused Words and Common English Errors
• Checks the Style of Writing
• Checks for Common Grammar Errors

To install and use this plugin, you must first register for an API key, and then you can download the plugin.  Once installed, After the Deadline adds a button that lets you check spelling, style, and grammar in supported applications.

Another feature of the plugin I really enjoy is that it explains the errors to you, so you know what you did wrong.  By explaining the problem, you learn how not to do it again – and in turn, that makes you a better writer.

Is There a Demo? If you want to try the service, before you add it to your own WordPress installation, visit PolishMyWriting.com. All you need to do there is paste or compose your message there, then click the button labeled Check Writing.

After the Deadline has earned a spot on my list of WordPress plugins I can not live without.  Play with the demo, give it a shot in your own WordPress installation.  It will save time on editing, and help you become a better writer.

Searching around for various plugins and scripts to add onto the already pretty great Windows Live Writer I stumbled upon a tiny program that will let you do that.  Windows Live Writer System Tray is a small application that lives in your system tray giving you quick access to these Windows Live Writer features:

• Start a New Post
• Open an Existing Post
• Show Options
• Exit

This is the system icon that will be placed in your system tray when the app is started.  You can grab the free download on the Windows Live Writer System Tray web site.  If you enjoy Windows Live Writer as much as I do, I know you’ll appreciate being able to keep it handy in the system tray at all times.

First Step?  Get Paint.NET!

First step was to pickup Paint.NET.  This is an awesome free image editor with all the bells and whistles of your hundred-dollar programs.

Paint.NET is free image and photo editing software for computers that run Windows. It  features an intuitive and innovative user interface with support for layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. An active and growing online community provides friendly help,  tutorials, and plugins.

Grab the Paint.NET ICO Plugin

Well worth having, just as a backup image editor if nothing else.  Since Paint.net does not have .ico support built in by default, I picked up this page:

http://paintdotnet.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?f=16&t=1152

To use it, all you need to do is unzip and then put it in the “FileTypes” folder in the Paint.NET directory.

Startup Paint.NET and try dragging and dropping an .ico icon onto the canvas.  Thanks to this neat plugin, it will open just as any other image would open.  With saving as an .ico, I had a few errors at times but doing it again or changing the name of the file seems to have helped.

So there is a totally free way to edit and create custom desktop icons for your next design project or desktop redecoration.

Once activated, this plugin will automatically slip related links after all of your stories, articles and posts on your WordPress powered blog.

To your right here you can see what the admin interface looks like for the plugin.  Pretty simple stuff.  If you wish it will also add related posts to your RSS feed too. 

If you want a simple way to keep people on your web site a little longer – related links to other stories they might be interested in is one of the best ways to do it.  This WordPress Releated Posts plugin is hands down the easiest of the many out there that do this sort of thing to get up and running.  On the web page for it, it says it is only for WordPress 2.3, but it has given me no problems at all on WordPress 2.5.

Since then I got a lot of good advice from a lot of people. The thing that seems to have worked the best was the RSS Signature plugin for WordPress.

Here is a little more about the plugin from the developer:

That’s a great question. Sig2feed’s primary goal is to provide a simple administration interface to allow the addition of a custom tagline, signature or © copyright message to the wordpress generated rss feeds. You can add any kind of message, tag, or even images — as long as it can be displayed in an RSS feed, it’s up to you. Cool huh?

After installing it on all my WordPress run web sites I have noticed the feed scraping has died down again to a minimum. When all is said and done, it just works. The plugin gives you an easy to understand options page where you can insert any copyright message of your choice – and then places it at the end of each of your RSS feed items.

If your looking for a suggestion to tame down the content stealing bandits – give the RSS Signature plugin for WordPress a shot.