Monday, October 31, 2011

Novels and Scrivener

Tomorrow, NaNoWriMo begins. I'm a bit nervous about it since I have NEVER tried this before. I've been writing my entire life, I've started numerous books and novels, and I have been working on the same book for six years running. I finally decided to buckle down and get one done.

It's not the book I've been working on for six years... Instead, I am going to start a new one to slam out in one month. This is going to be an interesting exercise for me. I have to keep up with an average of 1667 words per day to meet the 50000 word count goal. I want to do it. But will wanting be enough?

Likely not. However, I have to admit that I finally caved and went to a novel writing software to help me. I ended up with Scrivener (they're offering a special trial through December 7th for NaNo writers) and I have to admit... I'm in love. For someone with ADHD, one of my biggest stumbling blocks are the several different documents I have to have open to track characters and settings or scrolling through the story to remind myself how I want things to go.

Scrivener keeps me in one program and flipping through the items is as easy as clicking a mouse. It even comes with a "corkboard" to place idea cards. It keeps my attention focused on the scene I'm writing, preventing me from scrolling through everything I've written to try and revise. I know better than to revise as I write, but I still attempt it anyway. Not anymore! Tomorrow begins a new writing dawn. A novel writing dawn one might even say... (how droll).

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