#AtoZChallenge - scriVener

Here at OA, we're talking about writing motivation for our A-to-Z Challenge: what motivates us, how to get motivated, and - according to me, at least - what apps are useful to keep motivated!

Today I'm talking about Scrivener, the program that many writers consider a one-stop shop for all things manuscript-related.

How it works

If you've spent any time in writing circles, you know that Scrivener is extremely popular; subscriptions are often given out as prizes for writing competitions. Once you buy Scrivener, you can use it for your entire writing process, from draft zero to ready-to-query. It allows you to outline and notate your manuscript as you go, comes with templates for various styles of writing, will let you export your work in various document types, and can even be used to prepare your work for self-publishing.

I don't personally use Scrivener, but I downloaded a free trial and played around with it a bit. I can definitely see why people rave about it so much. There are so many options available to make it your own and along with ways to help stay on-task, like fullscreen mode. I particularly liked the feature that lets you go back to previous versions of the manuscript, which is always a struggle for me and my Word documents because I want to recover that one sentence and I cannot find it between Draft 1, Draft 2, Draft 3, Draft 3.5, Draft 4, Draft 4 The Real One, Draft 4 Final...anyway. I also appreciated how easy it was to drag and drop big sections around, since reorganizing a manuscript is such a bother.

Pros

• Many options for customizing your use
• Widely-used; lots of other writers to ask for help
• Can be used to set up a manuscript for self-publishing
• Basically it has all the features you'd need to write a manuscript from beginning to end

Cons

• Pay to use
• Not supported on Android
• No way to get feedback, share, or collaborate with other writers

Final thoughts

Scrivener is really cool, but it's not for me. There are a lot of other users and a lot of features available. If you struggle with organizing your manuscript and its many drafts, Scrivener might be right for you! Give the free trial a download and see what you think. You can also find a learning course here.

***
J here! Check back tomorrow for a counterpoint post on this program from me, a long time user.



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#AtoZChallenge - Pomodoro

Here at OA, we're talking about writing motivation for our A-to-Z Challenge: what motivates us, how to get motivated, and - according to me, at least - what apps are useful to keep motivated!

Today I'm talking about the Pomodoro Technique. There are a lot of apps and websites that use this method, so it's up to you to figure out which one is best for you - I recommend Marinara Timer for web use. As far as apps go, I haven't found one that works better for me than the web versions, but you might be different!

How it works

The Pomodoro Technique is a 25-on, 5-off method for task management. You set a 25-minute timer, do the task until the timer dings, then set a 5-minute timer and take a short break during that time. Applied to writing, you simply write for 25 minutes, take a break for 5, rinse and repeat as necessary. It can be extremely useful for getting yourself to just sit and write because 25 minutes isn't too long of a time to commit to, and you may find that the rhythm of these half-hour blocks helps get you into the writing groove.

I've had mixed success with this method. When I write short stories, I find that this works really well because I like to do flash fiction and this is just the right amount of time. With longer projects and full novel manuscripts, it's a little trickier. If I'm really struggling to get words onto the page, Pomodoro helps a lot because I can think of it as "okay just write until the timer goes off and hopefully something good will come out." But if I'm doing well and the writing is really flowing, it's not helpful for me to take a break because I'm worried that I'll lose my mojo. Of course, it's not absolutely mandatory that I take a break when it tells me to, but as someone who needs to follow the rules, it can be hard to ignore that "ding."

Pros

• Free!
• Lots of options, so you can figure out which version works best for you
• Short amount of time to stay on-task, plus breaks!

Cons

• Hard to take a break in the middle of a sentence/scene
• Might spend a lot of time testing various apps and web-based timers to find the right one

Final thoughts

The Pomodoro Technique can be really helpful if you struggle to stay on-task when writing for long periods of time. Breaking up writing time into smaller chunks may work for you, or it may not. Whether this will be useful for you depends on your writing style.

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#AtoZChallenge - OneTab

Here at OA, we're talking about writing motivation for our A-to-Z Challenge: what motivates us, how to get motivated, and - according to me, at least - what apps are useful to keep motivated!

Today I'm talking about OneTab. OneTab is, in all seriousness, one of the most useful Chrome extensions I have ever used. And, it's totally free.

How it works

Always have fifty tabs open? Can't figure out where the music is coming from? Computer speed reduced almost to zero? You need OneTab. OneTab is a tab condenser - all you have to do is install the extension for Chrome, and when you want to close a bunch of tabs without losing the links, tap the OneTab icon. OneTab then converts all of your tabs into a list on a separate OneTab tab, delineated by the date and time they were OneTabbed. When you want to open one of those sites again, you can select them individually or restore all of the tabs in a group at once. If you decide you don't want those links anymore, you can easily delete them. OneTab will also let you lock a set of links to prevent it from being deleted, star it to find it more easily, rename it, and even share it so you can access it from another computer.

I have used OneTab for a few years, but hands down I use it the most for writing resources. I'm a completionist, so I have problems when I'm given a long list of resources like "Here are 20 websites to check out if you want to write female-female romance!" You can bet that I'm going to look at every. single. website. And of course, I get distracted in the middle, or I wear myself out, and those remaining 10 tabs just stay open forever, the tabs getting skinnier and skinnier as I open even more tabs...it's a vicious cycle. With OneTab, I just condense all of those sites into a list and give it a name, and then I can come back to it with fresh eyes. It's much faster than copying links into a Word document or something, and all of those resources are there are my fingertips when I need them.

Pros

• Free!
• Easy to collapse links and search through them later

Cons

• History metadata for sites is lost - you can't go to the link and hit "back" to go to a previous page on the site
• Can't convert links directly to bookmarks
• Only for Chrome

Final thoughts

OneTab makes it so easy to collapse tabs and manage your writing resources, you'll be kicking yourself that you didn't start using it sooner! Writers who don't use Chrome may be left out of this one - sorry about that. Give OneTab a try and let us know how it goes!

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#AtoZChallenge - Forest

Here at OA, we're talking about writing motivation for our A-to-Z Challenge: what motivates us, how to get motivated, and - according to me, at least - what apps are useful to keep motivated!

Today I'm talking about Forest. Forest is a fun little app you can find in the Google Play store, the Apple App store, and as an extension for Chrome. It's free, although it also contains some paid content.

How it works

Forest blacklists sites that you might use to procrastinate and motivates you to stay on-task by growing a tree! You can set how long you want the app to run, from as little as 10 minutes to as much as 2 hours, and if you navigate to an app or website you blacklisted during that time, your tree dies. You get a few seconds to navigate away from the blacklisted site, so there's a bit of wiggle room if you forget that you put IMDB on there. The blacklist automatically contains some common procrastination sites at initial install (like Facebook and Twitter) and is also open to customization, as is the whitelist.

The longer you set the tree to grow, the more coins you earn, which you can use to unlock new varieties of trees like ginkgo and palm trees, along with some seasonal items like scarecrows and flowers. Plus, every tree you successfully grow appears in a little forest plot that you can visit! Forest also has a short quiz you can take to customize your use of the app, but all it really did for me was "unlock" a new type of tree and told me that I work best in a study group in a college library.

Pros

• Free
• Easy to use
• Can be used on a computer as well as on a smartphone
• Timer doubles as a way to commit to a length of time to write

Cons

• Have to pay to synchronize the forest across devices
• Relies on the user to adjust the blacklist
• Error time is very short

Final thoughts

Overall, Forest is easy to use and a very cute app in general. As long as you can actually commit to putting websites or apps onto the blacklist, Forest will probably work well to keep you on-track while you're writing. Don't let your tree die!

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Why a Day Off Can Make You a Better Writer

I once read an article about how the CEO of a large company takes a day just to think, maybe walk, do low-impact activities, but mostly think. There are many articles like this, and I think more creatives should follow the pattern.

As writers, our 'work' is more like play and it's a lot of fun, but it's also a lot of concentration, planning, brainstorming, and you know, work. Since I entered the online writing community, I kept hearing the same advice about how writers succeed. Write. Write everyday. Write on the toilet. Write in your sleep. Eat, sleep, and breathe writing. Only then will you become a good writer. But not all advice works for all writers, and not all writers can write everyday.

Whether you're in the 'write everyday' camp or the 'write when I can steal a moment' camp, we can all agree on one thing: we need downtime. You can't write every moment, and you shouldn't. You need time to recharge, to stir up those brilliant ideas that keep the words flowing. You need time to read other writers' books. Even your dream job can cause burn-out if it's all you do.

Vacations from writing are okay. Taking a few weeks to read, to paint, do pottery, travel, and do anything else is fine as long as you can spare the time. If you're on a deadline, you might only be able to afford a day or even a few hours, but you should take it. Make time for thought and reflection, for turning over those plot problems and looking at them from all angles.

Most of our writing problems aren't solved by writing. Considering a scene, talking out a character concept with a friend, and stepping away from the keyboard awhile can help us avoid a lot of pitfalls in our final draft. We need to grant ourselves 'free' days to gain perspective.

Schedule yourself so your free day feels like a treat. If all your days are free days it won't seem so special, and you'll waste it. (Writing days are not free days.)

During your free day, do fun things, relax, but be sure to think productively over what the rest of your week will be like. (Hudson's Productive Thinking model might help with that) Inspire yourself with art, books, music, and especially your own project. Get yourself motivated so when you go back to the keyboard, you're ready to work. It'll be easier when you do.

So, give yourself a day off. Relax, have fun, but most of all, think.

Maximizing Productivity on First Drafts: The NaNo Way

Katrina did a great job of covering how she does first drafts. I'll expand by how I get through my first-draft explorations by maximizing productivity. Keep in mind, my way isn't the right or only way; it's just what's worked for me.

Like Katrina, I begin with Save the Cat beat sheets, but add a Fiction University twist on the Three-Act Structure. And, because characters don't always come as quickly as my worlds and plots do, I also draft character profiles on a master sheet, including a character poem for the protagonist.

I borrowed the character poem idea from author Shelley Coriell.  It works great for figuring out a character's likes, dislikes, weaknesses and flaws early on. And whenever I add a new character while writing (I'm more of a pantser than a plotter) they also go on the master sheet. I'm also playing with the idea Stephsco brought up on Katrina's last post because a character arc beat sheet would better show how characters grow and develop as a result of story events. It's not just about what happens, but how the characters react and change throughout their journeys.

Once my beat sheet and character profiles are done, I usually dive in full force. I borrowed a NaNoWriMo spreadsheet from a fellow writer back when I wrote my second novel and have used it ever since. The first column is for minimum word count per day required for a NaNo win (50,000 words in one month), the second is for actual word count, and the third is to measure the difference between the two (all Excel formulas have been calculated beforehand, so the spreadsheet automatically determines the differences between counts). I don't fill out the sheet daily (just during each draft session), but it encourages me to get words out as often as I can. I also do virtual writing sprints with people to motivate me to keep working when the going gets tough.

Here's a word-count sheet from my last (fifth) novel (notice I expanded the formula from 50,000 to 80,000):

Green indicates when my word count exceeded the NaNo measurement, and dashes show when I broke even. Luckily, this last go-round, I went above and beyond the minimum more often than not. This is rare, but shows I'm getting better (and quicker) at drafting which each new novel.

But I also need to point out the dramatic down-side to this method, one I've seen in my writing after the fact. Paying too much attention to word count causes my first drafts to be too skeletal. Things happen way too quickly (or are inconsistent throughout the story), and transitions are often rushed and forced. So just be cautionary if you choose this method--don't be afraid to take your time, flesh out details, and let the novel romp around in the mud as much as it wants to. See where the words take you!

What about you? What has helped your productivity during a first draft?

You Tell Me....

Are you a night owl, or early bird? When is that perfect creative time for you?

For me, I'm a definite night owl. I do, however, love being awake early in the mornings when everyone else is asleep and the day is just beginning. Unfortunately, the two don't combine well. And I end up a little like this:

:D

Also, my prime creative time has shifted over the years. I used to love late night writing. Now I find myself more productive during daylight hours. Late morning/early afternoon specifically. This might have something to do with the fact that my kids are both in school full time now LOL

But I'm curious - how many other late night vampires are out there? :) Or do you like to rise with the sun?