My Writing Tools

In response to Donna Fobert's Facebook question about what writing program I use, and a great post by John Scalzi on his technological makeup, I thought I'd run through all my writing tools. 

Laptop: I write on a MacBook Pro that just celebrated it's third birthday. It's my first Mac, and I am a total convert. But it's full - I'm talking barely 8 GB left. So I've just bought a Mac Mini, which hasn't arrived yet, to be my desktop. It will be a back up, a surfing computer, and I'll be eliminating the Internet as much as possible from this laptop. When this one goes, I'll get a MacAir, though I'm debating between the 13' and the 11"

Browser: I used to be a complete Firefox evangelist, but something happened and they've really crashed and burned. I spent some time on Chrome, which is great, but I use Safari 99% of the time. My quibble is it won't show the favicons for websites in the toolbar, but that's not a biggie. It's quick and reliable.

Mail: Gmail, and Sparrow. I'm a Gmail fanatic, love how organized I can be on it. Sparrow is lovely too, so easy to categorize and file my stuff.  

RSS Reader: Reeder for Mac on the laptop, Mr. Reader on the iPad. Both can be found in the app store.

Website and Blog: Squarespace - I love the CMS here - it's straightforward and easy to use, and I'm not a fan of Wordpress, because it's just too complicated. Squarespace is great for people who are tech savvy but don't have programming skills.

Twitter: I use Hootsuite for the analytics, posting to multiple accounts, scheduling etc., and use it to check my Facebook pages, but for a quick surf of Twitter, Tweetbot is my go to across all my devices. Elegant and simple.

Facebook: Hootsuite and web version, I'm not a fan of the Facebook app. I have two accounts and five pages I manage, so I try to keep it as simple as possible.

Tablet: iPad 2 - I use it for everything - mail, web, movies, music and reading. I'm surprised by how much I like reading on it. I use Barnes and Noble Nook Store for my ebook buying needs, and the Nook app on iPad is great. I also write on it - using Documents To Go, which allows me online cloud access to my files in Word. They sync together with my Dropbox perfectly, making my work ultra portable. I just pair a wireless Apple keyboard and boom goes the dynamite.

EReader: Nook Glowlight - mostly for outside reading that the iPad isn't good for.

Phone: Currently an iPhone 4s, about to be upgraded to a 5. I debated long and hard about doing away with a smartphone entirely, but it's too useful for travel, so I guess I'm stuck. It's in airplane mode a lot.

Online To Do List and Project Management: Wunderlist. I love being able to dump all my projects in one place and add steps to each. Gets it all out of my head.

Note Taker: Evernote. I've been using it for years, and I'm especially excited about their new integration with Moleskine.

Distraction Blocker: Freedom. Turns off my Internet for as long as I need to focus. I'm a Pomodoro, writing in long chunks of time with breaks - usually 120 minutes at a go, so Freedom makes that process very simple. 

Backups: I use Cloud support for everything (hence the Mac Mini winging its way to me - I want something hard and local). Dropbox resides on my computer and I write everything out of it instead of out of My Documents. I have Carbonite, which backs up my Dropbox, I email my working manuscript to myself at the end of every work day, copy it into Scrivener, add the file to a thumb drive, and print every 50 pages. I'm paranoid about losing my work.

Word Tracker: I like metrics, and this is the way I track my fiction word counts.

Paper: I use Clairefontaine spiral bound notebooks for each book - so I can capture all the ideas, outline, whatever I need. A Circa organizer gathers all my research, and I prefer Moleskines for journaling and idea capture. But I always have a stack of 8"x11" yellow legal pads nearby - they're handy and cheap, and I have a weird tic about ruining good paper, so often the lovely notebooks I buy sit unused whilst I scribble all over the cheap stuff. Weird, I know.

Day Runner: I use Google Calendar synced to iCal for everything, but I also have a Quo Vadis Space 24 in red leather that I use as a backup, plus its great for yearly and monthly planning. I like being able to see my year in one place, and I love the week on the left side and notes on the right. My To Do list goes there.

And now to the Writing Software:

I use both Word for Mac 2011 and Scrivener. Word is a throwback from my PC days, one I can't seem to shake. I wrote 9 books in it, and it's still my go to. Now, Scrivener is the newcomer to my system. It took three tries to figure it out, and I finally wrote an entire book in it last year. I've never been a sectional writer, instead looking at the whole. If you write in chapters, or scenes, Scrivener is the way to go. Also, it makes it brilliantly easy to move stuff around. Word's copy and paste function is a handicap when you see how easy it is to restructure chapters and scenes in Scrivener.

For a great series of essays about the practical usage and applications of Scrivener for storytelling, I highly recommend reading David Hewson's blog. He's done a great job demystifying the hows of this awesome software.

When I start a book, I open a Scrivener file. I accumulate research, journal the book, build characters - all the things I used to do on my yellow legal pads. And it's awesome to have it all in one place. But....

I also find myself getting bogged down when I use Scrivener. I think more about structure and less about story. I think about the pieces, and that makes my story suffer. The book I'm writing now, with Catherine Coulter, JEWEL OF THE LION, has moved back and forth between the two programs about 8 times, and now I've given up and am writing in Word again. 

Word's got the new distraction free view which I like a lot. I can shut everything out and just write, which is the point of all this anyway, right?

I still feel like I have too many tools. I'd love to get everything down to just one notebook. But in happy making news, I've managed to actual move into my office, where I'm leaving all these tool (minus the iPad) at night so I can try to shut some of this off! It's strange how attached I've become to my office at last - the creative energy is flowing and it's cozy, so I'm pleased with this big transition upstairs instead of spreading everything out across the living room. 

So that's it, folks. How about you - anything you're absolutely in love with tool wise? And if I forgot anything, feel free to ask. 

(Also, a question. I spent 6 years blogging on Fridays, but have - for some unknown reason - tried to move this blog to Thursdays. I'm debating moving it back - tell me which you prefer, okay? Thursday or Friday?)

Best Links of the Week

9 Unfinished Novels by Great Writers « PWxyz  This is my favorite story of the week.

Thinking in Blocks of Time  A superb way of looking at the marathon that is novel writing. I think new writers get discouraged when they realize just how much time is involved in writing a novel.

From the Terrible Mind of Chuck Wendig, 25 Ways To Plot, Plan and Prep Your Story This is more good advice - the more prepared you are for the journey ahead, the easier you will find your task. Especially useful with NaNoWriMo coming up in November. 

Also from the Terrible Mind of Chuck Wendig, 25 Things You Should Do Before Starting Your Next Novel Just a note from our sponsors, please DO NOT read this if you're easily offended grossed out or otherwise delicate. Chuck's sensibilities are not for the faint of heart, but his premises are incredibly sound.

Kristine Rusch writes a hugely important article why writers should avoid exclusivity situations, Content is King Why would you want to sell in a single channel, when that channel has the power to do whatever the heck it wants with your product? Too much risk, and you alienate multiple other segments.

In the awesome news category, Barbara’s Expands into 40 Macy’s Stores  Any news about NEW bookstores opening, however modest, is GREAT news to hear.

A seriously honest interview on Bryon Quertermous's Coping with Sanity Blog: Frank Wheeler shares the darkness. It consumes us all from time to time, and writing is the lifeline.

The Divine Deanna Raybourn has In which we're talking beginnings - a wonderful example of murdering your darlings. Beginnings are my rough spot too - that first 25,000 words just hates me, as I despise it. 

Don't Try to Hone in on a Copy Editor : The New Yorker  - Heh, heh, heh. Which do you prefer - hone in or home in?

And lastly... remember when you had to go to the bookstore for this info? Meet Edelweiss, Your New Favorite Book Discovery Tool I have to tell you - I sort of miss the whole trip to the store to pick up the latest releases, but since Nashville's kind of lacking in the bookstore department, I turn to online resources too. 

My Favorite Writing Books

A wise woman once told me, sometimes you eat the bear. Sometimes, the bear eats you.

This week, I am being eaten, bite by scrumptious bite, by the bear. So please forgive this rather truncated post.

Earlier this week I was asked what my favorite writing books are. I have several, books that influenced me, books that I read over and over, books I think are vital to the writer's process, and to the craft itself. Here are some of my favorites: (click on the link for more suggestions)

On Writing - Stephen King

The gold standard. When I'm approached by writers who are just getting their start, this is the book I send them to first. I tell them, if it speaks to you, you're a writer. If it doesn't, you may want to think about another path. I didn't read this until 2006, and it was like lightning struck my brain.

Write Away - Elizabeth George

Should the previous book speak to you, this is the next on the list. A perfect nuts to bolts book that gives tips on everything from building story to defining characters and outlining. 

Forest For The Trees - Betsy Lerner

The first writing book I ever read. It changed me in many ways, and showed me the path that I eventually found myself on. Well worth it.

The War of Art – Steven Pressfield

This one is for anyone who wants to be a creative - for that matter, anyone with dreams unfulfilled should read Pressfield's little gem. You hear me talk about resistance a lot. Here's the book I got that from. It's a hugely important book, and one I strongly recommend.

P.S. You will see a consistent path from here on out. Interestingly, books about craft aren't as important to me as books about process.

The Creative Habit – Twyla Tharp

I loved this one from dancer/choreographer Twyla Tharp. It's a great book about creating good habits, organization, and other lovely bits. Some of it I already did, and some I added into my routine. Most important rule of all - build your habits, then stick to them.

Bird by Bird - Anne Lamott

The definitive guide to the writing life, by a woman who's both acerbically funny and poignantly truthful. 

Hamlet's Blackberry - William Powers

A superb book about the history of communication and the ways modern technologies change the world. Also awesome for its tips on ways to unplug from the grid. My favorite of all the productivity books I've read.

The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron 

A little honesty for you. Once the excitement of the debut year is over and the reality of being a working writer sets in, that's when the voices start. External and internal, from reviews and reader emails to editor and agent inputs, everything starts changing. Sales goes up and down, proposals are loved and changed, or hated and revamped. The vacuum we start in, writing a little book in our spare time, mostly for ourselves, to see if we can do it, suddenly turns into the machine that controls your life. it's very easy to get thrown off track when things aren't going perfectly. And this is publishing, folks. Trust me when I say, things NEVER go perfectly. For anyone. So when the going gets tough, the tough do THE ARTIST'S WAY. It changed my world, and I'm sure it will change yours too. But it doesn't work unless you're at a certain point. Heck, it doesn't even apply until you're at a certain point. 

The Writer's Journey - Christopher Vogler

I shouldn't call this one of my favorites, because truth be told, I hated it. I've always just written from my gut, and didn't realize that I was following a pattern that had been developed practically since the first people got together under the stars and told tales of their day chasing mastodons. I adore mythology, and somewhere along the way I think I got a sense of story from that. But realizing it wasn't my own method ticked me off royally, and then I started thinking in Vogler's terms, and suddenly, everything was about the three acts, and the Hero's Journey, and it wrecked me for a couple of years. So don't read it. (But if you do, it's a fantastic journey, and it will help you identify the areas of your story that might be sagging. But you'll never watch a movie the same way again. So you've been warned.)

That should be enough to get you started.

Want to share some of your favorites in the comments? I'd love to hear what you like, too!

"What Is Your Biggest Shame?" And Other Character Tricks

One of the hardest aspects of writing is building deep, complex, believable characters. Characters with meat on their psychic bones, who you care about, root for, cry with. Characters who have relatable issues but rise above - or sink under the surface and are mourned. One-dimensionality is something to be strictly avoided whenever possible with any character, regardless of their place in your story. But for your heroes and heroines, they need even more.

So how do you write these kinds of characters? The ones readers chomp at the bit to find out more about?

Years ago, one of my writer buddies, the divine Jennifer Brooks, came up with a brilliant solution to this quandary. She was writing a book with an omniscient POV and several main characters. The BMW’s (my critique group) were having trouble keeping all of them straight, and we badgered her to do something about our inability to “get” who was who. (Many times, POV problems are a result of not knowing your characters as well as you should. If you know exactly how your character will react in a certain situation, what they’ll say, how they’ll feel, your POV will fall into place.)

Have you ever been sent an email survey by one of your friends, the kind that has a huge list of questions that either you or said friend must fill out? They ask detailed questions that are meant to show how much you really know someone. My friend, in all her brilliant glory, decided to fill out the survey as her characters. Since many of her characters were in relationships or strong friendships, she allowed the characters themselves to ask the questions of their friends and lovers. It gave her a stronger grasp of who each character is and how they could be presented in the story to help us, the readers, keep them straight. It worked wonderfully. The characters came alive for her readers. And, I daresay, for the author herself.

I've used this trick several times in the past, and I know with the internet this advice has circulated a lot. But just the other day, another divine writer, Paige Crutcher, asked about getting deeper into a character, and I suggested this method. She found the Proust interview and sent it along, which I've included here. It's as good a kickoff point as any I've seen to get into your character's head. 

Just FYI, this is a bastardized version of the Proust Questionnaire. Here's a link to the story behind this, and the original interview, too. 

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

What is your idea of perfect happiness?

What is your current state of mind?

What is your favorite occupation?

What is your most treasured possession?

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

What is your favorite journey?

What is your most marked characteristic?

When and where were you the happiest?

What is it that you most dislike?

What is your greatest fear?

What is your greatest extravagance?

Which living person do you most despise?

What is your greatest regret?

Which talent would you most like to have?

Where would you like to live?

What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery?

What is the quality you most like in a man?

What is the quality you most like in a woman?

What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?

What is the trait you most deplore in others?

What do you most value in your friends?

Who is your favorite hero of fiction?

Whose are your heroes in real life?

Which living person do you most admire?

What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

On what occasions do you lie?

Which words or phrases do you most overuse?

If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?

What are your favorite names?

How would you like to die?

If you were to die and come back as a person or thing, what do you think it would be? 

What is your motto? 

I posit that this list is missing one of the biggest, most important, juiciest character building questions of all time, so I will add it here.

What is your biggest shame? What is the one thing you hide from everyone, even, sometimes, yourself?

Know that, and you will know your character's true nature, and their heart.

And just to explain the picture above, my all-time favorite meaty character is the one and only Heathcliff. I know, I know, but I am a sucker for the Byronic hero.

Who is your favorite meaty character? And if you have tips or tricks for building them, feel free to add them in the comments.

Are You Really A Writer?

We are our own worst enemies when it comes to taking ourselves seriously.

We want to be writers. We want to share with people that we're writers. We want to sell a gazillion copies of our books and be lauded for our efforts. But when it comes down to it, to that butt in chair, time to get to work, we ... fall away.

Ooh, look at that! Shiny objects! Magpies! RSS Feeds! So many people out there saying so many things and I might miss something if I don't pay attention to everything all at once and what happens if I really try this and what if no one likes it is that a reflection on me do they hate me why won't anyone take me seriously I better go eat some worms.

Yeah. The writer's mind is an ugly place sometimes. We writers are damn good at finding ways to talk ourselves OUT of success.

So I'll say it again. No one will take you seriously if you don't take yourself seriously.

I read this great essay last week on the Writerly Life blog called Be Proud of Your Writing. It's about the bizarre self-deprecation we do when we share about out art. We talk around it, like our passion for it is a bad thing. But without passion, what else do we have? Passion equals drive equals success.

I think the difference between the one-offs and the glory seekers and real writers is our unique brand of passion. For literature. For books and bookstores and readers. For creativity. For living on the soul-sucking edge of the pit of despair and dancing with fairies on the tips of the Himalayas - which is basically how we spend all of our days, teetering between the two. For the words, man. The words.

I've been on a Hemingway kick lately, and one thing you can NEVER accuse that man of is lacking passion. He lived for his words. His words made his life bearable. Even through the alcohol and the women and the eventual pain that chased him into the grave, the words were what made him complete. And tore him apart.

Done by twelve, drunk by three.

It might not be healthy, but it's a schedule. Find a schedule, and stick to it, no matter what. Schedules become habits. Habits create consistent output. And consistent output allows you to have a successful career. No one can buy your brilliant novel if you don't sit down and write the thing.

I realize this is sort of two topics in one - but I think the two issues are inextricably linked. Passion in and of itself isn't enough. You have to have skills too. And skills are born of good, healthy habits, habits that include believing in your work. Believeing in yourself. Not allowing the brown noise that oozes through the internet to leak into your delicate ears. Tune it out. Tune out the naysayers, and the shouters and the chestbeaters. Don't let them influence you. Write for you, not for the market. Write what you're passionate about. Do it well, and it will find a home.

The next time you catch that urge to demean your writing, or your writing life, or distract yourself because you're scared, stop. Remember the passion that drove you to write in the first place. Embrace it. Give thanks for it. Take it out for dinner. Maybe even buy it a new pair of shoes. Never, ever, EVER, put yourself and your writing down.

Because if you don't take yourself seriously, then who will?