My New Scrivener, Version 3

I wrote my first novel, Inheriting S.O.F.I.A., using Scrivener Version 2 software. I’d considered using a standard word processing program like Microsoft’s Word ® but after doing some research, I found that many writer’s loved Scrivener.

Scrivener was created by writers, for writers. That’s the tag line, but it really shows in how the program is set up. Both my old Scrivener 2 version and the newer 3.0 version give you the areas you need to Outline, have your character sketches handy, location information, research information, and of course, your actual manuscript. Everything is just a click away so when you need to remember what you called that thing-a-majig or what was the name of the town your main character was raised, it’s all just a click away. It is also allows you to customize the category folders as needed. In my last novel, that came in handy as I needed to keep track of quite a few different inventions so I made a special folder I could quickly go to to keep them all straight.

Here’s where I have to admit that I never really considered myself a Scrivener 2 expert. I’d use it’s features fairly well, and even go to the point in the end where I could compile my manuscript into a novel, but some of the functions weren’t as intuitive as I’d like them to have been. So when it was announced that they finally were going to offer a new Scrivener version 3,.. I was definitely interested. When I’d heard they’d done a lot of work on the interface to make it more intuitive to use, my interest was peaked, and so I bit the bullet and bought the upgrade.

Initially, this was a little nerve wracking as I already had my first novel and a lot of the second novel I’ve been working on in the version 2 software, and this was a major version change. Once downloaded, though, it converted the old files perfectly and I breathed a sigh of relief.

In Scrivener 3.0, I did find the same familiar feel to things so my writing efforts weren’t slowed down a bit, but I also did enjoy an improved interface. New features like the writing history function and a better compiling process really have made the upgrade worth it for me. They also have a lot of how to videos to walk you through the new version on their Literature & Latte site.

While I’m loving the new version, it’s not so much of a change that it’s distracting from my work, as I haven’t mastered version 3 by any stretch of the imagination yet, but I do think this will be easier to learn its many features than the older version. I’ll write more about it as I discover and utilize more of its options, but for now, I”ll just say I’m a Scrivener 3.0 believer.

Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published

“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline:  19,416 words  (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)

To Write,.. or Bike,.. How About Both?

With this new year comes a new way of furthering my writing aspirations while also benefiting me in another way as well. Part time novelists need to find creative ways to make their time count as it’s a constant battle to balance the demands of your day job, everyday life and the need to write.

One of those everyday life components is to take care of one’s health, and unless you work in a job where you get plenty of exercise, many of us need to seek this out intentionally. That’s often the rub as needing the time for other things, like sleeping, eating and writing, often competes with the need to exercise. This also provides a convenient excuse to put off exercising, if I’m honest about things, which I always am on my blog.

Enter an idea that I first looked at as somewhat goofy,.. again, being honest about it,.. but the more I thought about the concept, the more ingenious I thought it could be. What if I could exercise AND write my newest novel at the same time? Game changer,.. I thought! Two driving motivations at the same time. That early morning hour could be filled with the exercise I need for my body to be healthy, and the writing time I need to work on my next novel. One effort to preserve my health, the other to explore my creativity. Both fulfilling life needs and both motivations helping to support each other.

So off to Amazon I went, and after much consternation over which would be the right purchase for me, I settled on the Excerpuetic ExerWork 1000. I’m sure there was a 2000 version that would be even better to use, but I haven’t optioned any novel to Hollywood yet, so the 1000 version it would be. With some minor assembly required, I found a small spot in a room to set it up, with plenty of plug access, and I was in business. Apart from a small detour when we had relatives come over for the holidays, this has become a functional alternative that allows me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Now that I have things put back in order again I’m going to do my best to make this a normal routine so that I can get both benefits at the same time. Another positive motivating factor to get me from point A, to the point of this whole exercise, which is to complete my next novel, Burt’s Bots. Here’s to my goal of success for me in both of these areas in the coming year.

Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published

“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline:  19,416 words  (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)


Yikes!,…. 3 Years Almost Here!

Amost 3 years in the making

“The bad news is time flies. The good news is,.. you’re the pilot”
Michael Atshuler

Well,… it appears I’m approaching the 3 year mark of working on my first novel “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” which isn’t a milestone I was looking for.  True, my second draft and proofreading process is getting closer to completion, but this is much longer than I’d anticipated to finish this project.  Yes,.. I do write part time, and do have periods where I’m not actively working on the project, so that’s likely the main culprit, but there’s another problem too.

The process of the first novel took so long that my idea for the second novel got me interested in diverting some time to that.  So here I stand with one novel approaching the finish line and the second novel outline about a third done.

But three years is far too long.  I’m motivated to complete this so I don’t go over this period by very long at all.  I’m about 166 pages away from completing the second draft and then must decide if I’m ready for self-publishing while looking to obtain an agent, or do I go to the expense of hiring a professional proofreader.  While I’ve tried to be very careful on the 2nd draft to find any typos and grammatical errors, I’ve no doubt probably missed some things.   Spell Check and Grammar check have helped as well, but I’m not sure if I should risk putting out the book when there still might be issues.  But the old term, “analysis paralysis” comes to mind and I’m feeling I’m more likely to run with what I’ve produced than to come up with another excuse not to publish yet.

Being my first novel, it’s highly unlikely to be perfect anyway, but I think I’ve gotten it to a point that I feel good about it, so I think it’s time to soon give birth to my book.  I hope I did my job well, but only time will tell.  I’ll be praying strongly that I’ve written a book that people will enjoy and honors my faith as well.  Hopefully my next post will be not too long after September 9th, 2016, which will be exactly 3 years since I started this journey.  “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” needs to become a novel.  Stay tuned.

“Burt’s Bots” Novel progress at Camp NaNoWriMo:
Outline:  17.816 words
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)

“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress:
1st Draft Novel:  78,198 words
2nd Draft Novel Rewrite: Up to page #213 of 351

Results: Crash,… but no burn here

Crash Test DummySo the Camp NaNoWriMo event is done and my modest goal of 30,000 words wasn’t quite met, but I still count it a success.   At 17,816 words, I didn’t complete what I’d planned to accomplish, but given the life events I was dealing with, I made progress, and that’s what really counts in the end.  While I won’t be giving myself any participation awards, nor be able to tout winning at the event as an accomplishment this time, I did make some good progress on the next novel’s story.

I did have angst, once again, about starting on the next novel before I have completed the first novel’s rewrite, but this time I’d decided to use the camp time to write the novel outline instead of trying to wade in directly to the second novel itself.   I think I’ve resigned myself to knowing that creating the novel outline first works best for me as I can let my imagination go wild during that process.  Once I have the story down, and have imagined all the twists and turns that the plot will take, I can then use that outline as my guide to do the real work of making the novel come to life.

Let’s face it,…writing a novel is a lot of work, and doing it part time, after working a full time job, is a challenge at times.   I found that in this Camp NaNoWriMo event, I was disappointed that I didn’t make my goal, but I also cut myself a little slack as there were a number of things going on at work and home that needed to be dealt with.  I’ve started to realize that this is the reality of my situation and I just have to do the best I can.  It may take me a bit longer to write novels, but I’m not doing it full time, so that’s just the way it is.  I’m not going to allow this to be a reason to procrastinate, as that’s not acceptable, but completing each project is going to take some time.

I’d love, someday, to be able to write full time, as an occupation, but you need to have some measure of success to get to that level.  As I haven’t even gotten my first novel out there yet, that’s nowhere in my reality.  Even when I”m able to release “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.“, the odds of it becoming a worldwide best seller are pretty slim, but I’d be happy with even modest sales for my first work, God willing.  Now I need to finish the first novel, so I”m switching back to finishing the 2nd draft re-write, beginning with page 159.  Only about  120 pages left, and then I’ll need to decide if I’ll use a profession proofreader or not.

So I don’t consider my time at camp a total crash and burn, just a crash with no casualties, after I’d driven for awhile and gotten closer to my destination.  My next post will be on the re-write progress, as that’s my only writing job until it’s done.

“Burt’s Bots” Novel progress at Camp NaNoWriMo:
Outline:  17.816 words
Novel 1st Draft:  13,367  (no work done on this at camp)

“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress:
1st Draft Novel:  78,198 words

Camp NaNoWriMo Time!

Camp NanoWriMo
Okay,… I did crash and burn for the November National Writing Month event, but I think I have a handle on why.  I was rushing to get into my second novel before completing the rewrite of the 1st,… and I was trying to do it in a different way than I’m comfortable with.  I don’t think I really figured out why that didn’t work out well until recently.  I’ve been coming up with new ideas that I really like for the new novel just this last week, so it really helped me to know that I do best when I outline my story first.

I think I use my outline to really dig into the possibilities of the story, and then flesh it out during the actual writing process.  I work best this way as my writing, in actual practice, is done in fragments of time, sometimes separated with small, and sometimes large spans of time.  Given this, the outline allows me to get my bearing again when returning to the story.  To remember where I’m going and the ultimate direction I want to take the story.  I don’t think my stories are extremely complex, but some components need to fit together, even if my audience won’t necessarily be engaged in the nuances.

So hopefully I won’t embarrass myself again, and will have some better progress in this Camp NaNoWriMo experience this April, but I’m looking forward to it.  I’m going to continue to work on my new Novel, “Burts Bots,” but I’ll be backing it up a bit and will start with my outline first, then when done, will take up the novel where I left off.  I’ll count all the words I write for the outline and add those for the novel beyond where I left off to get towards my 30,000 word count goal.

I liked the previous year’s Camp NaNoWriMo with it’s cabin mates that you can touch base with about your progress as it’s very motivating since others are participating in your writing experience with you, and you in theirs.  If you are an aspiring writer yourself, and have an idea you want to work on, I’d invite you to get on board as it starts tomorrow.  Check out the website at: http://campnanowrimo.org/

So wish me luck in camp.  I hope to make some good progress and have some fun in my new story.  Here’s the project at hand, and where I”m starting from.

2nd Novel: Burt’s Bots
Outline:  1,283 words
1st Draft Novel:  13,367 words

The Best Laid Plans,…

My poor under-worked MacBook Pro.
My poor under-worked MacBook Pro.

The great line from a poem by Robert Burns which John Steinbeck used for his novel ,.. “the best laid plans of mice and men, often go awry,” comes to mind as I look at my lack of progress during the NanoWriMo event this November.  I’d planned to be on fire to complete 50,000 words into my new novel by month end, but given that I’m only at 13,366 words, it’s not likely.

I’m liking the new novel and story very much, so that’s not really the problem.  I’m thinking there are a couple of things that have gotten me off track.

First and foremost is the guilt factor.  I have all the edit points noted on my hard copy of my first draft novel, ‘Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.’ that are ready for me to start working on my second draft, but I’d put that aside to do the NanoWriMo event.  I feel that I compromised on this as not finishing what I started makes me feel bad.  I’m into the new book already while leaving my first project to languish, thinking that I needed the NanoWriMo event to spur me on to get more writing done per day, but it just doesn’t feel right.

Secondly,…in my rush to ready myself for this month long event, I also compromised the way I write in that I normally complete an outline first, hashing out the plot details and discovering new twists I want to add in the process.  While I started my outline for my second novel, and have an idea of where it is ultimately going, I don’t have it completely fleshed out yet.  I probably don’t even have it completed enough to get to the 50,000 word mark, if I’m honest with myself, and that’s not usually how I’ve worked in the past on writing projects.  In fact, the times I didn’t have my outline envisioned were when I created long, rambling stories that didn’t come together all that well.  I like to envision the story in the outline process, but this new novel isn’t completely envisioned yet, so that’s been bothering me.

Throw into the mix that in November I had a very tense day job work event to deal with and a little holiday called Thanksgiving as well, and there was even more distractions than usual to keep my from writing.

So even though there is some guilt as well in not finishing the NanoWriMo event as planned, I’m pulling back on my overly ambitious plan for novel number two, and am going back, for now, to finish my first one.  Definitely a crash and burn situation on my NanoWriMo plan, but I think it’s best for my writing style that I deliver my first baby before working on the second.

In thinking about my outline first preference, I know that some writers don’t work this way.  They like to compose things by the seat of their pants and use the actual process of writing their novel as their way of exploring the possibilities of their imagination.  I guess I do this as well, to some extent, but I put that in the outlining process of dreaming up the whole story.  I never follow the outline religiously, as you’ll always come up with things in the process to make your story better, but it helps to keep me on track otherwise during the actual writing process.  This also seems to help me keep track of the details, which can be considerable in a novel, and allow me to concentrate on the creativity of the story details.  I think for my personality, it’s the best way for me to work, and actually allows me to extend the creative process out farther, in both the outlining and writing stages.

So that’s my elaborate excuse for failing at my plan to complete 50,000 written words in November.  Instead, I’m hoping to have my second draft of my first novel completed by year end, and then I’ll send it off to a proofreader and continue work on my second novel’s outline first.  To me,…that’s the right way to do things

2nd Novel, 1st Draft:  Burt’s Bots
November 29th, 2015:
Outline:  Partially done for the first part of the story
Novel Word Count:  13,366

 

 

November’s NanoWriMo is On!!

November's NanoWriMo Event

I shouldn’t even be writing this post as it’s November and I’ve committed to write 50,000 words by month end, but I thought it would be right to publicly state that I’m in it to win it.  I’m into my second novel now, making progress but I’m only a little over 10% there, on my fifth day, so I need to pick up the pace.

For some reason today, I’m not firing on all cylinders, so I didn’t get that much done.  I’m hoping I’ll gain more ground during the weekend.  I have a troubling work week ahead, so that might be weighing a little heavy on my heart right now, but I’ll keep plugging away.

So here I go, on my way,.. I hope, to a 50,000 word count by the end of the month.  Yikes!!

November 5th, 2015:
2nd Novel, 1st Draft:  Burt’s Bots
Word Count:  5,493

To Rewrite, or Write,…That Is The Question

A question I think I’ve largely answered in my mind, but will admit publicly here now.  I’ve already poured through the 1st Draft of my novel, “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” and have all of my notes down, but I still need to go through the second draft and do the rewrite on paper.  Sounds like a plan, you might say, but then enters the possibility of a new idea for my next novel that came to me shortly before completing the last one.  Add to that, the NaNoWriMo event in November, which challenges writers to complete a 50,000 page novel in the month of November.  I suppose I could use the NaNoWriMo event to do the rewrite, but considering I won’t be really writing 50,000 words in the process, it doesn’t seem right.

So I’ve decided to take a non-traditional route and use the November event to begin writing my second novel, even before completing the rewrite of the first.  Now this is the point where you might expect me to hang my head in shame,..but it’s not.  I fully intend, and am quite anxious to complete my first novel, but the NaNoWriMo event is quite motivating and I want to get the most out of it.  If I don’t have 50,000 words to rewrite on my 1st draft, I fear I’d waste some momentum.

So here I go, doing the nontraditional move and trying to get my outline together for book number two, before one is even completed.  Yes,…there is guilt involved.  My first novel isn’t even born yet and I’m looking forward to the creative process of writing the next one.  Admittedly,…rewriting your first draft isn’t as exciting as getting into a brand new story.  Realizing that you had characters start in one scene, then they just disappeared entirely, or finding sentences you’d written that you can’t figure out what you were trying to say.  These are the mechanics of rewriting your first draft, which still involves creativity to make the book  a hopefully good read, but isn’t as exhilarating as getting into an entirely new story.

But here I promise,… to the world and myself,.. that right after this NaNoWriMo event, I’m going back to the rewrite of my first novel to finish what I started.  And when that is done, I’ll find a good proofreader to make the final polish, and will then self publish “Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” while also looking for an Agent to get it to a traditional publishing house.  From there, I can then work on finishing the first draft of my second novel, which won’t be completed even if I am able to write 50,000 words in November.  God willing.