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Once upon a time, setting up a writer's office would have involved shopping for a typewriter, and lots of stationery, like envelopes and stamps. These days a professional writer will do a lot of work on the computer and the Internet, and so your first considerations will be a computer, good writer's software and a reliable Internet connection.

Whether you have a laptop or a desk top computer will be a personal choice, but it is recommended that you have an external drive to take stored files. This external drive, plus a good CD burning program so you can save files on disk, will give you all the back up you need. Software such as Microsoft office may come with your computer, but if not, you can download a free word processing program like AbiWord, which will get you started.

If you intend to submit to publications which do not accept email submissions, you will also need a printer and a supply of copy paper. You will still need A4 sized envelopes and stamps to mail your submissions. Self sticking envelopes and a damp sponge for the stamps will keep the nasty taste of gum off your tongue.

However, while it is likely that you will have to use snail mail if you intend to take every opportunity to make money, most of your work will be done on the computer and the Internet. Many publishers do accept email queries at least. To keep track of your submissions, queries and replies, you will need a database program like Excel. If the thought of trying to master one of these fills you with horror, try the old method of a recipe box and index cards. Write the name of your story at the top of the card and keep track of its movements with a pen.

A good email address is essential, a personal website is not. A personal website will give you an impressive mail address but when you are just starting out it is an expense you don't need. A plain email address like yourname@yahoo or yourname@gmail will suffice to begin with. Try to avoid cute tags like hotwriter or iwriteformoney, as editors are not very impressed by these.

To build your profile on the Internet, a blog is better than a website for beginners, because these are free and if you have an interesting blog, you can become quite popular and be seen to be a very competent writer. When you decide to purchase your own domain, yourname.com is the way to go. If that is taken (it does happen!) try adding a drop dash or hyphen.

You will need to set up files on your computer to keep track of completed stories, work in progress and a

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