WriteNowWorkshop Podcast is brand new and has some amazing information and fabulous interviews already. It’s hosted by one of my very good friends and author buddies, Kitty Bucholtz. This particular interview plays along with the productivity stuff we talk about here on Confused and Terrified Writer. And it’s an amazing story.
In 2016 Tracy Reed wrote 12 titles in 12 months. Wow. Here I was thinking my 36k was impressive. Nope Tracy wrote and published 12 books. In 12 months. Listen to the podcast and hear all about how she did it! Don’t forget to subscribe to the podcast. If you’re not listening to podcasts you should be! Some of the best information out there about writing and publishing is on podcasts!!!!
We’re coming up on NaNoWriMo like a freight train and I know everyone is getting nervous and excited. I’ve launched a free Scrivener class to help get your first document either set up or exported into Scrivener along with tips and tricks on that make Scrivener a powerful productivity tool.
Along with this if you sign up for the class you will have access to my free Confused and Terrified Writer Facebook Group where you can ask questions and get help with your writing projects.
Here’s a quick video overview of the free class! And here is the link to sign up:
I love Scrivener. If the subject comes up I turn into a ridiculous gushing fangirl when describing how much I love it and why. I’d been trying to explain my nerdy love of this particular writing software to a group of writers a while back and they finally broke down and let me show them why. I taught a whole class on the reasons why I love it and how to use it. Shortly after it dawned on me that I should share this information with you, my readers.
Of course, there are way more than five reasons but these are my top five.
1. Setting up your book into individual scenes. When I wrote my first book I did what most new writers do. I wrote it in Microsoft Word. That meant one long running document that made finding what I was looking for difficult and screwing up my document easy. When I discovered Scrivener before starting my second book I was amazed. There was a learning curve but just the idea of being able to break up my novel into scenes and being able to move them around and put them all back together was AWESOME!
2. Importing an existing document. Most times by the time writers find Scrivener they’ve already started a manuscript. Once I figured out how easy this was I was sold. The figuring it out took a little while but now that I know, I’m sold! Easy peasy.
3. Compiling a document. This is one of the best features of Scrivener. You can save your work in many different formats and in many different places. You can put different parts of your document together, add notes, print, and format it all with one little button. I use this for the many ways I back up my manuscript daily. I cannot say enough how many times this has been a saving grace. No joke.
4. Project Targets. Keeping track of your word count, project count and daily session count. This feature is a whiz of a productivity tool. Set your deadline for your project and you can see exactly how many words a day you must write to accomplish your goal. Deadlines are incredibly motivating for me so I adore this feature. And it’s sooooooo easy!
5. Corkboard/Outline View. Putting each scene onto a virtual index card and being able to move them around however you want? Seriously cool. Being able to see a list of your outline with a touch of a button? This feature makes plotting simple, easy to move, add information, change and color code.
These features are only the beginning of what you can do in Scrivener. Can you tell I’m a fan?
A solution to the learning curve
If you’re put off by Scrivener because it’s one more piece of software to learn I have a solution for you. I’ve put together a Free course calledScrivener Basics. The course teaches the bare bones of Scrivener with short videos and in a way that will make it easy to learn. You can choose what you want to know and get started quickly.
Sign up in the box below to get Scrivener Basics for free!
**This post contains affiliate links which cost you nothing additional but make me a small commission to keep the blog going. For my full disclosure statement click here**
When I started hearing about writing fast or fast drafting a novel, as some call it, it never occurred to me that I could be one of thosepeople. I mean sure other authors could write like that and they were crazy productive but me? No way. Being that I’m somewhere between a plotter and a pantser (what I call a plantser) when it comes to plotting that meant that getting the words on the page wasn’t exactly fast.
At the start of every day, I would read through and tediously go back over everything I’d written the day before. Worrying over every word choice, picking each sentence apart before I would even think about moving on to new writing for the day.
What I didn’t know was that this was killing my productivity. Because the editing brain and the writing brain exist on different sides, I had a terrible time switching between the two. The more conferences I went to and the more author friends I spoke to, the more I realized if I wanted to get the books done faster I needed to write faster and stop worrying about editing what had been written the day before. All that editing would need to be done at the end anyway so why bother with it while you’re writing new words?
I know some of you swear by editing as you go and I’m glad it works for you. For me, it was an excuse not to move forward.
So I stopped. (Okay sometimes I cheated but only a little) And it worked. I wrote new words every day.
Next, plotting. My plotting process was slow. I knew the beginning and the end (vaguely) but what came in between was somewhat unclear and tedious to get through. I needed to know what was going to happen in the sagging middles. And they needed to not sag so much. More excitement, more twists, more turns. More.
While I was on the lookout for the more,Jessica Brody spoke about the Save the Cat plotting method at my local RWA meeting. Intrigued, I took her two-day, in-person workshop. It was fantastic. Eight people sitting around a table, throwing out ideas for their books, brain-storming. If you ever have the chance, go. I plotted all of Shimmer in two days and we had a great time.
But even without the workshop, Save the Cat worked for me. Short beats that gave me a direction for each scene. And story structure to make sure I was on the right track.
Just learning that system helped my productivity. Planning what I was going to write for the next beats either the night before or that morning meant I could sit down and write without trying to figure out what came next.
But I still needed to get faster. Even though I knew what came next some days I would spend all my writing hours staring at a flashing cursor. Ugh.
We met in an online author networking group right around the time he started promoting his nonfiction books that were helping authors become more productive. I read his book 5,000 Words Per Hour and Lifelong Writing Habit. Both amazing books that turned my productivity around.
I learned how to organize my time and force my writing brain to cooperate even when I wasn’t in the mood. I practiced until I got into a rhythm of writing every day. I set timers, got faster, stayed accountable, wrote more and accomplished my goals. Woo hoo! It was working.
Then I went on a writing retreat with a friend. Peace and quiet for six and a half days of writing. We focused, put headphones in, set timers, and got to work. When we got stuck we hung upside down to get the blood flowing to our brains, jumped up and down or did yoga when we were tired. We went for walks and brainstormed. We took breaks and gave ourselves rewards for finishing a goal.
And I finished a book. I wrote 36,000 words in six and a half days. I finished a book I’d been trying to write for a year. And it was so much fun.
Now I know that isn’t possible for all of you to go away for a week but you can do most of this stuff at home and figure out what works for you. Try different things, get together on Skype with other authors, be accountable for your word count, set up online writing sprints with your author friends, plan a weekend or even a one day retreat to get your words down.
And if all else fails, listen to Nora Roberts,
“You can’t fix a blank page.”
Make the time, butt in the chair, fingers on the keys, write.
xoxo,
P.S. There are some affiliate links in this post that earn a small commission to offset the costs associated with producing the blog! =)
