Despite the stereotype of the unshaven, chain-smoking Luddite typing away on an old Smith Corona in a darkened room, most writers I know are pretty tech-savvy. For all the writers out there who are happily moving along with the times, here are 5 great gifts for writers.

Livescribe – who says you can’t have your Moleskin and your smarten too?

Livescribe created the original smartpen. If you haven’t met Livescribe, it’s time to! I use mine to write stories, scenes, blog posts, and more in a physical notebook. The Livescribe app then translates all that garbled handwriting into actual text that you can download to Evernote and elsewhere. It’s the closest thing to magic I’ve seen in accessible tech.

Read my original review of Livescribe.

Livescribe has teamed up with Moleskine to make this highly efficient process even more beautiful. Write in your Livescribe Moleskine notebook (which has the feel and classic beauty of your old Moleskins), and watch your words magically appear on your iPad screen. Better yet, everything you write can be synced automatically to Evernote, so that your handwriting can be searched in the same way you would search typed text. Amazing, right?

Online Writing Classes with The The Book Doctor

Stuck in your novel? Want to brush up on craft? Need deadlines to help you finish your novel or stories? Get serious, get inspired, and rev up your writing practice with an online writing class. Try Master the Short Story, a five week online course in which you will learn how to write a short story using the fundamental elements of narrative craft.

WPEngine – savvy web hosting for author sites and everything else

Every author needs a website. Only those with lots of expendable income should pay someone to do it for them. WordPress is, in my my mind, the best way by far to run an author website. It’s super easy to add new books, interviews, pages, posts–anything your heart desires. Endless options for free and premium themes make WordPress a no-brainer for authors who want to present their work to the world. From pay portals to social sharing to press kits, a WordPress site can do it all. And no one does WordPress better than WPEngine. WPEngine hosts sites of any size and provides top notch security and support to keep your website looking and feeling professional.

Now, WPEngine is offering 30% off your first month’s hosting