Software to Keep Me Organized

There is only one reason I care one way or another about software when it comes to writing my books – can it keep me organized?

I am in the process of making my third trans-continental move, and that means I don’t have room to print, hole-punch and binder all of my notes nor multiple drafts of my books. I also don’t have the freedom to keep the notes I write on napkins, church bulletins, and envelopes. Everything needs to be digital and needs to be stored on my computer in a way I can find it again. Sadly, I have lost a lot of notes because I couldn’t find them when I needed them. Other notes I found years after I finished a book. So I don’t care what word processing program I use – I care about organization!

Mac users, sit up and take notice! Have I got a program for you!! It’s called Scrivener and it’s only $39.95 (and is available only for the Mac, sorry PC users). It was developed by a programmer who is also a writer (who uses a Mac), so he created something that was exactly what he was looking for. And it’s great! When you open a new Scrivener file, you see an area on the left where you can add as many files and folders as you want. You can create a file for each scene, then drag and drop to move them around. You can combine files together, or separate one file into multiple files (like a chapter file into separate files for each scene).

I created a folder just for pictures of people who look like my characters, and I can view all the pictures on a “corkboard” on the screen. I can also color code the “push pins” on the corkboard – main characters, secondary characters, recurring characters, whatever. Each little file also can be organized within the whole by using the “Label” and “Status” tools. This is how I color coded each scene by POV. I also coded each scene by whether it was a first draft, notes only, or final. You can also choose which files are included when you print. For instance, I don’t include my notes when I print. And within the print screen, you have a dozen more choices for what prints and what doesn’t. Once you find a system that works for you (certain colors and names for labels and status, font size, etc.), you can create and save your own template to use again for new books.

I can drag other files into this main Scrivener file, too, like Word documents, pdf files, audio and/or video files, etc. (I tried dragging over an Excel file, but it didn’t work. If I’d saved it as a pdf, it would have worked.) Scrivener begins with three folders – Draft, Research, and Trash. I create new folders called Character Pics, Ideas, Backstory, FD30 (where I put all my worksheets from the First Draft in 30 Days book), etc. Then I add files as I go – a pdf of a printscreen I saved from a web site dropped into the Research folder, a couple new scenes into the Draft file, more notes typed into that file.

And if you decide to make a major change to your book, don’t worry about not being able to come back to the way it is now. Just take a “snapshot” of your file. It’s kind of like a backup, but different, and I don’t know how.  (LOL! I just know it works!) You can also type a line or two onto what looks like a 3×5 card for each file and then click on Corkboard view to see all the 3×5 cards lined up. There is also Outliner view and Full Screen view. You can even add keywords to any of your files so you can find that bit of research you’re looking for, or the scene where you planted the red herring or the bit of symbolism.

There are even more wonderful things that Scrivener does that I still don’t utilize or know how to do – but not for the lack of a great tutorial, just a lack of time to learn and use every nuance of the program. Check it out if you own a Mac. You’ll be glad you did!

Don’t have a Mac, but still have problems organizing all of your work (like me!)? I accidentally found another wonderful way to organize – using Word! I have Microsoft Word 2004 for Mac, so I don’t know what version of the Mac Word or the Windows Word first came with this feature – the Notebook Layout. Wow, I love it!! It’s in the “View” menu – you know, where you get to choose Normal view, Page Layout view, Outline view, etc.

When you change your document to Notebook Layout view, you see what looks like a lined legal pad with tabs on the right side. You can rename the tabs (by default, it has three) and add new ones. I organized a book in a similar manner to what I describe above in Scrivener but using this view in Word. I created new “pages” for each character where I stored all my notes about them, a page with all the photos, a page with all the research (or several pages for different kinds of research), a page for all the notes I’d gotten from critique partners, etc. I loved it! (Then I found Scrivener, so I don’t use this as much as I used to.)

When I organized all my notes this way, I only had two files to keep track of – this “Notes” file and the actual “Book” file. {happy sigh} That means when I was searching for something, I only had to open two files instead of 20 or 30 and hit Ctrl-F. Whoever created this feature in Word, thank you!

Aside from reiterating how much I love my Alpha Smart (apparently now called the Neo) for writing first drafts, that’s all I’ve got for you. Organization is the biggest thorn in my side – or was. I hope you find one of these two programs useful to you. And if you have any great ideas for organizing your work, please share them with us!

Note: Checking to make sure I had my facts straight on the Word feature, I found a forum where someone from Microsoft commented saying, “I’m afraid that Notebook View is a Mac only feature. For the PC, there is a separate note-taking/note-organizing application (part of the Office suite of applications) called OneNote, but it’s not part of Word. Sorry.”

Apparently, my blog today is for Mac users, and Stephanie’s and Shonna’s blogs on Monday and Friday are for Windows users.