It has been quite a few months since I last posted...pretty much right after I published Thistledown for the Nook and Kindle. I've been up to some stuff since then, mainly revolving around the shiny new Man beast in my life who is absolutely spectacular. But I have done work! Lots of it actually.
Until this point, I've been using Google Drive to keep all of my writing data together and in an easily accessible format. That is all fine and dandy, but quite frankly, also too much work. Notes get lost and before I know it I've got more documents than you can shake a stick at for a single title. All of which are far too large for Google Drive to open easily...
I'd taken a few month break after publishing Thistledown in order to get my head back in a good place and prep myself for writing the sequel, Thistletorn. I began half-heartedly working on it, mainly because it was such a hassle switching between Google Drive and Word and Nook Press trying to get my submission into a decent format. That has since changed.
My good friend and fellow writer Alex Gonzalez turned me onto Scrivener and I thought I'd share the bounty. He initially showed me a YouTube video of how it works -
- and I got interested. Then I did the free trial - HERE - and went "HOLY SHIT." They actually make the free trial 30 NON CONSECUTIVE days...read that again. It will only count the number of days you open the program, not 30 calendar days from your initial install. You could seriously space the trial out for over a year and it wouldn't count against you. Amazing! Not only that but you can use Scrivener's compile tool to FORMAT YOUR BOOK TO EPUB! No switching between programs, no stressing in trying to figure it all out through online tutorials. It's all been simplified for you!
It wasn't before long that I was creating project files for all of my stories and importing my accumulated files directly into Scrivener [pics and all]. Organizing your thoughts is easy and customize-able. You can have a single view or double view to work with so you can read your notes while you write without switching between windows. There are visual organization tools like the pinboard. Pre-outlined character sheets for you to fill in if you don't want to create your own. Various formats you can write in such as screen writing, novel, short story etc and each is tailored to that style of writing.
I could literally go on for hours about this program. Suffice to say, it's making my life easier and I've blazed ahead in working on the sequel to Thistledown. My notes are finally organized the way I want to work on them in. I'm saving time and energy flipping between files and programs. And I'm seeing results. I can't wait to use this program when NaNoWriMo comes around again next month. I'm planning on using Scrivener to compile Thistletorn for submission to Nook and Kindle once it's completed.
Do you know the best part about it? IT'S ONLY $40. It's cheap! Completely worth how much I'm getting out of it already times 100.
I realize I sound like some damn infomercial and that your eyes must be glazing over as you read this, but if you write, please do yourself a solid and do the free trial. And then support Literature & Latte and buy the damn program because you're going to use it. And you will actually enjoy the writing and editing process compared to what you're fumbling with now.
For writers, Scrivener is literally the tool that will save you.
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