Essentially letting you open, edit, and create Microsoft Office document files (Word, Excel, and Powerpoint) on your iOS device, Documents To Go – Office Suite ($9.99, Universal) makes writing from the road a breeze. Laying down mobile prose rocks, but the fact you can easily transfer projects to and from your desktop gives this app serious versatility.

A good dictionary and thesaurus are two of the handiest tools available to writers, and the Advanced English Dictionary and Thesaurus (Free, Universal) rolls both into one super useful app. While there are other similar apps that require an internet connection to use, this one works offline. It’s a great resource when you’re writing without 3G or Wi-Fi.

Because letting piles of hand-scrawled notes on scrap paper accumulate everywhere leads to utter chaos, Evernote (Free, Universal) is a crucial app for writers who like to be organized. Notes, voice recordings, photos, and other tidbits can be easily created, catalogued, and searched for quick reference. Even better: it syncs across other devices too.

Talking to yourself might give passersby the wrong idea, but Dragon Dictation (Free, Universal) is worth the risk of people thinking you’re crazy. This cool speech-to-text app lets you take notes without typing. It’s a little finicky at first, but it works, and you can also send your notes via Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail with a few quick finger taps.

Whether you’re a professional writer or a hobbyist, reading other peoples’ work is equally important as creating your own. The Kindle app (Free, Universal) turns your iOS device into a sassy e-reader with no fuss, muss, or the expense of buying another piece of hardware. Downloading books from Amazon is easy, and there’s a nice variety of viewing features.

My Writing Spot ($2.99/iPhone, $4.99/iPad) is geared towards fiction writers working on book-length projects, but it’s useful to anyone who wants some extra organization built into their writing program. This manuscript app combines feature-rich word processing with a straightforward system to let you skip around between chapters you’re working on.

When browsing the internet for fun or work, we often find longer articles we want to scope out but simply don’t have time to read right away. Instapaper ($4.99, Universal) is an awesome app that captures web articles so you can read them later when you’re offline. It’s perfect for the times when you want to read specific pieces online but don’t have access to Wi-Fi.

Sometimes efficiently brainstorming ideas for articles, stories, and other writing projects is harder than it should be. SimpleMind+ (Free, Universal) adds a little creative flair, organization, and fun to the process. This mind mapping chart app lets you weave intricate webs of color-coded ideas to help get the word juices flowing.