Scrivener, again...

I'm beginning (yet again) a new/ old project. Just writing that makes me realize why I love to write in Scrivener. There's only one way to tame a New/Old Project.

Here's what I love about Scrivener.

1. I like order (hey, I was a librarian for a long time, and a mostly organized person even before that). I like putting all my notes, research, chapters, thoughts in one place.  I'd dread delving into this if I didn't think Scrivener could tame the notebooks, notecards, ripped out newspaper articles, and false-start chapters I have.

2. One thing I love best about the software is how I can make document notes, all the words I've cut, all my wanderings and musings, right on the side of the chapter I'm writing. Yet, if they get unruly, I can make them disappear with one click.

3. If I mess up, all is not lost. If I remember to take a SNAPSHOT of the previous version, it is there for the asking later.

This morning I followed a link from Facebook and stumbled on this, from a thesis writer.
To to read the entire blog, click here.

Her blogpost is titled Is Your Computer Domesticating You?

It's hard to be messy in a clean way
As I write I have ideas – some of them don't relate to the bit I am writing at that specific moment, so I often 'jot notes' on my documents as I go. At the moment I use the comments function in Word to do this, which makes my documents look messy. In fact, so messy that I often turn the comments off just so I can see what I am doing.
But – out of sight is out of mind and the ideas can easily get lost when they are invisible. In addition, the format of the comments is uncomfortable to read. By contrast each of the Scrivener fragments I write has metadata attached to it where I can jot to my heart's content.

My thoughts exactly.

And that cute little button at the top of this blog? Arranging words is a nice thought. But that's not all it takes. I've arranged these new/old words before. This time, I need all the help I can get- Scrivener is just the beginning, but what an excellent place to re-start.

Now, back to work- all of us!


Related post (with picture and another Scrivener link!): I Love Scrivener, another reason