Episode 026 | Choosing Your Writing Tools

NaNoWriMo is as good a time as any to really pay attention to your tools. It’s a month-long challenge that deliberately pushes most people to write a little faster than they would like. As a result, it’s great at helping writers shut their inner critics up for a little while (or at least turn the volume down on their nagging). It’s great for that. It serves that purpose well.



However, it’s a lot of writing, and it’s not a great time to have your systems working against you! Even though you’ve created more time and thought about some things to try to make the most of the time you’ve had, and maybe you’ve even put together a bangin’ outline, you still don’t want to be out searching for notes that you took or fighting with your computer program.



This week, ahead of our November 1st start date, I’d like for you to make a few decisions.



1 Decide What You Want to Use to Store Ideas, Notes, and Research. Whether you prefer to go old school and use post-it notes, notecards, notebooks, or binders or whether you make use of your digital options (apps on your phone, files on your computer, etc.), figure out your way and then stick with it. I mean STICK. WITH. IT. Ideally, you’ll have everything in one place so you don’t have to go chasing across a variety of platforms and methods to find where you put that great name you came up with for your antagonist or what year the protagonist’s grandmother (and mentor) was born. People do everything from keeping a notecard in their pocket (a la Anne Lamott) to keeping a single notebook (tabbed or otherwise), like Judy Blume, who goes through it at the end of every book to make sure she got everything important, to sending themselves emails to being the world’s greatest Evernote or Bear user. Some people might choose to take all their notes in a google file. Or choose a specialized program like Story Planner or Campfire. Or make great use of the research organization features in Scrivener. Again, there is no one right way, just your right way. Go find it. And consider checking out the options listed in today’s show notes, with links to a variety of programs.



* Analog* Post-It Notes * Notecards (Anne Lamott is a fan of this method.)* Notebook (Judy Blume is a fan of this method.) – easier with tabs! * 3-Ring or Disc Binders – easier with dividers!* Digital* Voice Recorder Apps: BrainToss * Digital Post-In Notes: Post-It Plus (App)* Index Card Apps/Software: Story Skeleton/Google Keep * Web Highlighters: Diigo (Can also pull from Kindle)* Note-Taking Apps/Software: Bear/Evernote/* The 10 Best Note-Taking Apps in 2019 * Plotting Apps/Software:

Visit the podcast's native language site