Since I’ve just finished editing Playing Fast and am working on a couple of other books, writing process has been on my mind. It’s been a while since I’ve talked about my fave writing tools, so I thought I’d update on that. Leaving out my MacBook Air which is my precioussss, here the other technological type things that I use most days writing.
1. Scrivener or Word (I draft in Scrivener, I do any extensive structural edits in Scrivener, I work in word for other revisions, copy edits etc because that’s what my publishers use. Word kind of sucks but I’m used to it. Scrivener doesn’t suck. I write out of order some of the time and Scrivener makes re-0rdering scenes and snippets a dream).
2. Think (blanks out everything else on your screen other than the app you’re using. Scrivener has a full screen mode that does a similar thing but for Word.
3. Write or Die for writing sprints and getting out of your own way drafting. I have the original version. I’m assuming the new one works in a similar way. I don’t use the mode where it eats your words, just the mode where it flashes annoying red when you stop typing.
4. Freedom (for blocking the evil interwebs of eternal distraction) There are similar apps for this.
5. Music (the trusty iTunes or Sonos playlists). Playlists anchor me to my book world, which is handy when one is juggling multiple worlds.
So there you go. These will do me until someone invents the suck the story straight out of my brain device of my dreams for drafting 😀 I also like having a notebook around at all times and I have these bad boys in my shower for those inevitable moments of inspiration where you usually lack the ability to write.
