Now, you can of course write a novel with any bit of software that allows you to type letters. Microsoft Word works. Mariner’s own Mariner Write works. Even Apple’s TextEdit works if you’re some kind of glutton. Personally, I prefer to work in software designed for the specific task. And of all the novel formatting software I’ve used—free and otherwise—StoryMill continues to be my favorite.

Everyone has a story to tell. That story is likely quite boring, but you can throw in some sword fighting skeletons to jazz it up, if necessary. There has never been a story told that couldn’t benefit from sword fighting skeletons. And to help you get there, Mariner Software has announced StoryMill 4, the latest version of their novel writing software for Mac OS X.

Adding even more functionality to their suite of programs for the creative writer, Mariner today announced Narrator. Using the voices built into Mac OS X, Narrator offers a collection of tools that enable you to take text to speech. Just paste your text into the window or import an RTF, .txt or .doc file into Narrator and your letter, story—any text—is brought to life using voice synthesis.

Mariner Software has turned 20—quite an achievement for a software company that started out competing against Microsoft with Mariner Write and Mariner Calc. They’ve since added numerous more proprietary programs, such as Montage, StoryMill, and MacJournal. And this weekend, the majority of their Macintosh products on sale for 40% off.

MacJournal has been one of my favorite writing utilities for the Macintosh pretty much since its release. Although its main strength is its support for various blogging systems, my use has been more basic; I use it store notes and ideas for my various writing projects. The only significant drawback to this is that I don’t always have my computer with me when I’m hit with a good idea. That’s no longer an issue.

Contour is a great program for helping you organize your thoughts at the beginning of a script and for keeping you on track throughout. It’s incredibly easy to get started, and just as easy to make changes along the way. Contour will prove indispensable for new writers, and would likely be useful to those with some completed projects under their belt. And who knows? With it, perhaps my next novel won’t take me eight years to finish.

Every now and again, it seems a software company sells you their product not just because they want your money, but because they’re genuinely interested in what you’ll do with it. I’ve always had that feeling with companies such as Toon Boom, Boinx and Corel (specifically with Painter). Now, add Mariner Software to that list, as they’ve just announced the launch of writerspub.com.

At Macworld Expo today, Mariner Software, announced the acquisition of ReceiptWallet, Mac OS X software that allows the user to scan, store and manage receipts and documents. The application will make its public debut under the Mariner brand in the near future, but will first be renamed.