Writer's Café 2 is a cross-platform software program that provides a workspace, resource centre and organisational tool for writers of all disciplines. Writer's Café aims to be the place you go to compose, develop, organise and brainstorm.

On installing Writer's Café, you arrive at the program's home space, newly integrated and smartened up for version 2. Here you'll find links to tools such as a digital scrapbook for your ideas and notes, a journal where you can keep track of your progress and set deadlines, and a dictionary.

Other improvements to Writer's Café 2 include OpenDocument support, tweaked formatting facilities and support for multi-level story structures, as well as the Pinboard and Name-generator tools mentioned below.

Despite installing locally on your computer, Writer's Café 2 feels like a Web app or even a browser. Writer's Cafe will run on just about any computer, including Linux-based netbooks.

There's an option to integrate that cross-platform productivity favourite, OpenOffice.org, by including a clickable link to its word processor Writer, conveniently accessible from the app's workspace. Note that you will need to install OpenOffice separately though.

Writer's Café certainly provides a comfortable, supportive workspace for authors. Suffering from writer's bock? The Writing Prompt will set you a simple timed task to get your juices flowing. An interesting little widget helps you generate character names. Perhaps an inspirational quote from the Cookies tool might help? Or simply click through to the Yahoo usergroup to discuss your blank-page issues with fellow scribes.

If you wake in the night with a blinding idea, you can jot notes down on your Pinboard, and then arrange them into coherent strategies. The Writer's Café Storyline tool helps gather your thoughts as you map out a tale, and the Scrapbook is a repository for all your random digital detritus, be it Web link, text or image. It's all beautifully laid out and blindingly intuitive.

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Events
Gloucester School Board regular meeting. 7 p.m. Tuesday; Colonial Courthouse, Gloucester. E-mail Christi Lewis, clewis@gloucester va.info, for more information.

Bethel Elementary School Spirit Assembly. 1:30 p.m. today for grades 3 to 5 and 2:35 p.m. for grades K to 2; 2991 Hickory Fork Road, Gloucester. An assembly to recognize Bethel student achievements. Both sessions will be in the school's gymnasium. Family members are encouraged to attend. Information: hwhitson @gc.k12.va.us or call 693-2360

Gloucester Department of Community Education. Gloucester County Public Schools Career and Technical Education, in partnership with Gloucester Community Education, have joined to provide various adult learning opportunities for the spring. Classes begin Feb. 24 and will be held Tuesday or Thursday evenings at Gloucester High School. Deadline for registration for all classes is Feb. 17. Cost: $45 or $60, depending on the number of instructional days and hours. A minimum of eight participants will be needed for each class. Visit www.gloucesterva.info/commed/services/adulted.htm, or call 693-5730 for more information.

• Basic Drawing. Students will learn shading techniques, texturing, blending, proportion, contrast and dimension. Students will be taught how to use charcoal, pastels and India ink. Tuesdays and Thursdays, Feb. 24-April 2; 6:30-8:30 p.m. Cost: $60

• Beginning to Intermediate Sewing. The course will begin with basic instructions for operating a standard sewing machine. A special sewing project will be completed during the course. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-March 31; 8:30 p.m. Cost: $45

• Computer Basics. Students will learn the basics of computer operation, including hardware, Windows operating system, e-mail and Microsoft Office. Thursdays, Feb. 26-March 19; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Digital Photography. This class will teach basic camera functions and explain the differences between point-and-shoot cameras and those with single-lens reflex. Also discussed will be uploading pictures to a computer, an introduction to GIMP, movie recording and movie editing basics. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-March 17; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Financial Public Administration. Students will plan, illustrate, design and promote a hypothetical community. Also during class, students will propose a revenue strategy and compare and contrast actual actions taken, proposed or under consideration by the real locality. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-April 14; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost $45

• History of the American Presidency. The class is an in-depth study of the history of the office of the president through examining its changing roles, powers, functions and traditions. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-April 14; 8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Computer Aided Drafting and Design (CADD). Learn fundamental drafting design techniques using AutoCADD 2008 software. Learn how to navigate and draw using CADD software, principles of design and layout; and produce various drawings. Thursdays, Feb. 26-April 16; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Home Inspection and Appraisal. A look inside the real estate world at two important functions. Learn the differences between home inspections and appraisals, and what purposes they serve. Learn how each is performed and what decisions are made. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-April 14; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Introduction to Digital Scrapbooking. Learn how you can create beautiful digital scrapbook layouts in this introductory class. Learn how to build an all-digital scrapbook page. Create layouts that you can print, e-mail or post to your blog to share with family and friends. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-March 17; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

• Introduction to Photoshop. This course is designed for those who either have no experience with Adobe Photoshop or those who want to further their understanding of the necessary tools and techniques that a Photoshop user should be familiar with. Tuesdays, Feb. 24-March 17; 6:30-8 p.m. Cost: $45

Newsmakers
• Hampton Roads Academy student Caleb J. Rinderer of Gloucester is the 2008 winner of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Patriots Pen contest for VFW Post 8252, Gloucester. Rinderer was presented a certificate and $100 by Post Commander Warren "Grizz" Davis. The 2008 theme was "Why I Am an American Patriot." The theme for 2009 is "Why America's Veterans Should Be Honored." The VFW Patriots Pen is an essay contest of 300 to 400 words on this subject and is open to middle school students. The grand national prize is a $10,000 savings bond. To enter or for more information, call Davis at 693-6222. Contest entries are due Nov. 1, 2009 for judging.

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HUDSON, Ohio, Nov. 20 /PRNewswire/ -- Digital imaging has gone mainstream and the main target is -- Moms. Not surprising, considering they have always had the role as memory keepers for the family.

Moms love their digital cameras, but they need help getting beyond the tech hurdle of working with computers to enjoy those digital files. Moms would agree that they don't care about the pixels, they just want the pictures. StoryLife.com places the power of digital imaging directly in the hands of the Mom -- where she can easily create photo cards and complete scrapbook pages with a few clicks of the mouse.

"It is time to get those pictures off your hard drive and start enjoying them! Your kids deserve to have their own shoeboxes full of pictures of their childhood," says Cynthia Heigold, founder of StoryLife.

"Think of them as your 'new negatives' -- the easiest way to make sure you can get a new print in the future. Secondly, start enjoying your pictures again," Heigold says.

StoryLife.com has hundreds of borders and designs for photo projects. Can't find one photo with everyone smiling? No problem. You can put up to four photos in your StoryLife card or scrapbook page.

For more information, call 800-421-8539.

About StoryLife

StoryLife offers a convenient online service for consumers to create and order custom printed photo products such as cards and scrapbook pages. The website inspires women to tell their stories with easy-to-use tools, compelling artistic designs, and high quality printed products.

Website: http://www.storylife.com/

Triscape, Inc., makers of the award-winning FxFoto Creative photo organization and digital scrapbooking software, has partnered with Shutterfly, Inc., the leading Internet-based social expression and personal publishing service, to promote Digital Scrapbooking Day, held this year on November 3rd. Shutterfly is offering educational and creative resources via the event's website, www.DigitalScrapbookingDay.com. Shutterfly's partnership with Triscape speaks of their commitment to provide premium solutions that allow the digital scrapbooking community to present meaningful, customized photo gifts for their friends and family.

In support of Digital Scrapbooking Day, Shutterfly will provide Photo Book printing services as prizes to event participants via random drawings throughout the day - each site visitor who participates in a digital scrapbooking activity as specified on the event blog at www.DigitalScrapbookingDay.com will have the chance to win an award-winning quality Photo Book printed by Shutterfly.

At the end of Digital Scrapbooking Day, one participant chosen via random drawing will be awarded a Grand Prize package of one of each size of a Shutterfly Photo Books: 12x12, 8x8, 8.5x11 and 5x7.

Other Shutterfly resources available for Digital Scrapbooking Day:

• Holiday Card Templates - Designed by Shutterfly's Digital Scrapbooking Advisory Team, and available exclusively at Shutterfly, these free, downloadable Holiday Card Templates are found at http://www.shutterfly.com/digiscraptemplates Customers can download these templates, personalize them with favorite photos and greetings, and then upload them to Shutterfly for easy, high-quality card printing.

• Digital Scrapbooking Advisory Team Holiday Blog - Shutterfly and its Digital Scrapbook Advisory Team are providing inspiration, ideas and surprises through its new Holiday Blog, http://shutterfly.typepad.com On the blog, consumers can discover how the Advisory Team is celebrating the holidays, get inspired by creative ways to scrap for the season, and read advice from the experts.

• Scrapper Savings - To thank its loyal digital scrapbooking customers, this holiday season Shutterfly is offering a special discount on its new line of square-format, archival-quality Scrapbook Pages. When customers order three 12x12 or 8x8 Scrapbook Pages, they will receive an additional page of the same size free in the same order. Offer valid through November 15th.

Shutterfly recently announced three new additions to its digital scrapbooking services, establishing itself as the industry-leading source of printing solutions for digital scrapbookers. In addition to creating Photo Books, Greeting Cards and 4x8 Photo Cards from their digital creations, digital scrapbookers can now upload their designs and print individual 8x8 and 12x12 Scrapbook Pages, 5x7 photo cards and 12 and 18 month personalized Calendars. Shutterfly's position as the premier digital scrapbook printing solution makes them the ideal partner for Triscape in promoting this event.

For more information about the entire line of Shutterfly digital scrapbooking products, visit http://www.shutterfly.com/digitalscrapbooking

About Digital Scrapbooking Day:

Triscape created Digital Scrapbooking Day to encourage scrapbookers, photographers, crafters and genealogists to set aside some time to preserve, document and archive their memories digitally. Crafters of all experience levels can expect to find a wide variety of inspirational and educational resources at http://www.DigitalScrapbookingDay.com Digital Scrapbooking Day is an annual reminder to make sure your memories are documented and archived safely, creatively and more efficiently.

Wondershare Photo Collage Studio is a fun and easy-to-use application that enables you to make high-quality collages and scrapbooks featuring your own family photos and personal phrase Take advantage of Wondershare new Photo Collage Studio available in English, French and Spanish Do you know how to put your creativity in your digital photos and combine them to perform your full stories in your life? With the explosion of digital device and the wealth of accompanying digital images, photo collage and digital scrapbooking have emerged as an activity that inspires people to put photos together with described words into an artwork to show their stories, preserve their memories, and perhaps share a little gossip over the fabulous prints of their artwork. Wondershare Inc, now release such a photo collage and digital scrapbook application-Photo Collage Studio 4 in English, French and Spanish to enable people color their memories much easier. Variety of professionally designed templates for family, love, cartoon, travel, wedding and other occasions make you get the beautiful result in a little time. Just choose your favorite template, drag & drop photos, customize your text, and then decorate with beautiful photo frames, cliparts, word arts or special effects. You can also fully present your inspiration by using magic doodle drawing tool to create your own elements for perfect your story. In addition to digital scrapbooking, Photo Collage Studio allows you to print the high-quality scrapbook, make personalized desktop wallpapers, even share with your families and friends via email. What’s more, except collage and scrapbook, you can also DIY your calendar, create personalized greeting card, invitation card, poster and more you can think of with the program. Some of the major features in Wondershare Photo Collage Studio: 1.Easy to use: Specially designed for digital scrapbook green hands. Intuitive interface and clear workflow enable you to create professional-looking photo collage without any scrapbooking knowledge. You need nothing but collage ideas! 2.Theme templates: Variety of ready-made templates for wedding, family, holiday, sports, baby and other occasions help you ideally memorize your precious events in your whole life. 3.Photo editing tool: Offer you useful options to do with your photo such as change the size, rotate, crop and add shadows. Besides, special effects give you more creativity such as turn your photo into an old picture, watercolor, or embossment. 4.Embellishments: Amusing cliparts like mustache, pig’s ear, mask, sunglasses let you express your story absolutely unique. At the same time, multifarious style of photo frames make you pause every moment. 5.Text Support: Simplifies the process of adding descriptive text to your creative collages and provides the option to wrap text into thought bubbles or retouch them into word arts with simple click. 6.Doodle drawing board: Expands your imagination and accomplishes them with pen, brush, magic stick, eraser and other fun tool offered by program. The content of your drawing can be embedded into your collages. 7.DIY calendar: With the preset beautiful calendar templates and calendar edit tool, owning your made calendar for any year or any month is easier. The font, color, mode of year, month and date can be adjusted separately. What’s more, you can add your digital photos, journals to the template and decorate with other embellishments like clipart, frame, stamp and effect to make it look perfect. 8.Print & Share any where: you can print them out on photo paper and have them bound and you have a very professional looking album! Or you can make wallpaper or save in almost all common graphic formats and send it via email. What’s more, you can also share it through your mobiles, webpage, blogs and any other item you enjoy! Thanksgiving, Christmas holiday and New Year is around the corner. Have you ever thought of keeping your memories in these holidays and relive them in future? Don’t let your happiness disappear into thin air. Pricing and Availability Photo Collage Studio is priced at $29.95 for Single-user personal license of the electronic versions. Multiple-user license is also available. Besides, upgrading is free for existing Photo Collage Studio users. To get more information and obtain a free trial version, please visit: http://www.photo-collage-software.com,