The Traveling Writer: Best Mobile Apps

I'm going on a cross-country trip next week and will be gone for more than two weeks, which means I'm thinking about the best ways to keep up the momentum on my current draft.

Here are some mobile apps that come highly recommended by other writers. I'm going to check out at least a few of these!

1. Scrivener for iOS
If you've been following this blog for a while, you've probably learned that I puffy-heart love the computer program Scrivener, the best drafting and organization tool around. They recently released a much-anticipated mobile version that syncs seamlessly with the desktop program. It looks like a great way to get a few hundred words in here and there in airports or before bed.

2. Evernote
Because I'm still in the ideas phase of my draft, you can bet I'm going to be using this mobile note-taking application frequently. Evernote saves notes, pictures, sketches, lists, and other items all in one place. It's then easy to access them on your main computer later.

3. Freemind
I haven't tried mind mapping as a way to organize a story, but it sounds really interesting. This app lets you easily create a mind map, or system of points branching out from a central topic. I used to like this method when it was mandatory in my English classes, so I might give it another try!

4. Pomodoro Timer
What writer doesn't have trouble with time management? This app follows a traditional pomodoro method time schedule (25 minutes working with a 3-5 minute break), which seems like an ideal short stretch for writing on the go.

What are your favorite mobile writing apps?

Writer's Resource: Scrivener Help and Tricks

I've gushed about Scrivener enough here that you might know it's my writing software of choice. (See my Ode to Scrivener post here.)

But since Scrivener is absolutely packed with features, it's easy to get overwhelmed--or just overlook many of its uses. I was surprised to discover recently that there are all kinds of things I can do in Scrivener that I had no idea about.

Here are a few resources if, like me, you're just scratching the surface of this amazing program:

1. Literature and Latte, the company that puts out Scrivener, has a video tutorial section on their website. The tutorials range from simple to esoteric. Bonus: you get to enjoy the narrator's British accent.

2. My good friend Dee has a great series on getting the most out of Scrivener as part of the Write a Book series on her blog, I Write for Apples. She delves into things like labels, comments and annotations, and project targets.

3. If you really want to get into nitty-gritty details, the Everything Scrivener blog has loads of posts on just about every aspect of the program. The author of the blog isn't affiliated with Literature and Latte--he's just a fan, like me.

4. Gwen Hernandez is the author of Scrivener for Dummies, which I haven't read myself, but I've heard is really good. She also has a series of tips on her blog, The Edited Life.

Hopefully these links will help you get the most out of Scrivener!

2013: Baby Steps

This has been by far, one of the hardest posts to write.  

Is it because the subject matter is deep and dark?

Or that the topic is dear to my heart?

Sadly, I'm afraid not.  I am quite simply suffering from New Year's fatigue.  

So having said that, the light bulb flickered (ever so slightly) and I've decided to devote this post to four little things I've done to try and get me out of this rut.  

The first was easy.  I read this article by indie editor Lorin Oberweger.  Instead of five hours in a spin class, this article on writer's hubris is like starting the year off in a warm bath with a good book.  It's food for thought to savour and kick start a productive (and positive) writing groove.    

The second was ordering this:

Am I embarrassed that I have the computer skills of a twelve year old (actually, that's probably an insult to those smart little people).  Maybe a tad, but I'm determined to make this year as productive as possible.  If it takes a little pain to get a lot of gain, sign me up!  

The third is something most of us do at least once a day, if not more.  I checked my Facebook account. After copious "Happy New Year" status updates and celebratory photos (some more kosher than others), I clicked on the link to my very supportive writers group who wrote words of encouragement and notes on what they're goals are for 2013.  It's great to know that I'm not the only one swimming uphill to kickstart the New Year. 

Finally, I set a short term goal.  I signed up for the Novel Gurus workshop.  Actually, this is a bit of a lie as I booked the event prior to Jan. 1, but since it's less than two months away, I darn well better get hustling!  

Now if only I can get myself to the gym....   

An Ode to Scrivener

If I were asked which tool I find most important for writing, my answer would be my laptop. Duh, right? But my second most important tool, the one that makes it possible for me to happily plan, outline, draft, and revise, isn't such a duh.

It's Scrivener, a word processing program from Literature and Latte.

Scrivener is for writing, first and foremost, but it's also a management system for research, notes, and drafts. Like many people, I used to make notes and outline on paper or on my computer and then type my pages and do my editing in Microsoft Word.

Now my writing process has changed. I do all of my drafting in Scrivener, and then I export my work to Word.

Scrivener has virtual notecards, so the first thing I do when I outline a new story is to enter a brief description of each scene. Here's a screenshot of the notecards for my current novel:

From this screen, I can move the cards around and check out the flow of the novel before I start writing a word.

Then comes the writing. Scrivener lets you break down the draft into bite-size chunks or scenes, which works fantastically well for me. Each scene has its own notecard (visible on the right side in the drafting view), and each scene can be grouped into a chapter folder.

I find this chunk-by-chunk method a great deterrent to writer's block. Knowing I'm sitting down to write a finite scene is so much easier than trying to face endless blank pages.

Scrivener is also great for editing. Before, I would save each new draft with a name like "LongTimers v3.28." I ended up with dozens of files and the job of remembering which one had that descriptive paragraph I cut but wanted to put back. But Scrivener has this awesome feature called snapshots. When the little camera button at the bottom right of the screen is pressed, it saves a draft that's linked to that scene. I can switch to other incarnations of the scene easily from the same page.

The program also has folders and files set up for notes and research, which is fantastic for speculative fiction writers. I have all of my character and worldbuilding notes organized in one place--alternate timelines, character bios and backstories, continuity notes, and science notes. I even have a file of ideas for possible future books.

My Notes section of the current novel. I've got a lot of stuff in here!

There are tons of features I haven't mentioned (the ability to set word count targets for daily writing, outline view, flags and markers that can be used to indicate character arcs or multiple POVs, to name a few).

But in the interests of space saving, I'll close with this: Scrivener is only $45, it's available for both Mac and PC, and there's a free 30-day trial offered on the Literature and Latte website. I don't have any affiliation with the site, but I'm a very satisfied user. Try it. I have a feeling you'll like it.