Tools for Writers: The Benefits of Writing With Scrivener

For this post, and the next few posts (and whenever I learn about something new I think will be useful), I will share some of the tools I use, or that have been recommended by other writers, that make it easier to be creative. I won't give you detailed information on how to use these tools or everything they can do for you--for that you can follow the links I provide to learn more.


Disclaimer: I do not get paid for my recommendations or referrals. I do not claim to know everything there is to know about any particular tool, nor do I claim a perfect knowledge of all the tools available for use. If you have suggestions or corrections, please leave a comment or contact me.

Today I want to tell you about Scrivener for Mac (they now also have a Windows version) from Literature and Latte. (All the images in this blog entry are from Literature and Latte's Scrivener site.)

One Key to Increasing Creativity: Improv

Years ago I took an acting class. I had this weird idea that it would make me a better writer, and it did. It enhanced creativity by expanding visualization skills. (It also cemented the knowledge that public performance is not my natural forte.)

Anthony Robbins, a popular self-help guru and author, has explained that tests prove a person's ability to sink basketballs into a hoop can be improved by the repetitive visualization of successfully doing just that. In fact, visualization practice is actually more effective at improving the number of balls sunk into a hoop on a court, than physically practicing shooting hoops. Visualization practice while physically mimicking the activity movements (sans ball thrown toward hoop) is even more efficacious.

So when it comes to improving creativity, maybe improv is one of the answers.

Books Have Signatures - Should Writers?

I heard the most wonderful quote recently, from Benjamin Zander: "My job is to awaken possibility in other people." It came from a video of a talk he gave at a TED conference. As Dr. Matt Bernard Mullins, author (Three Ways of the Saw) and professor at Ball State University's English/Creative Writing department, pointed out (in a link to Zander's video), "what Zander has to say (he says more in the video) about classical music applies equally well to creative writing."


Which causes me to question: Why do we write? Why do we want to write? Do we have any obligations to readers? Are we obliged to be entertaining? Educational or informational? Uplifting? Empowering? Inspiring? Truthful?


Is our writing life divorced from our human life? Do we have obligations (practical or moral) as human beings who are interdependent with other human beings, and how do those obligations or responsibilities inform our writing? Do we have a "job" as humans and as writers?

Prioritizing Tasks & Activities: Sometimes the Boring Stuff is the Container of the Well of Creativity

There's an old saying. "It is easy to see what a person's true beliefs are--simply look at their behaviors."

The same logic applies to determining what a person's true priorities are. It is easy to see what one's priorities are by watching what one does. For example, I say creative writing is my priority. But how much time do I actually spend (creative) writing? Am I "Facebooking" instead? Am I frittering away writing time with other non-important time wasters?

Occasionally time wasting activities are helpful. For example, when I'm stuck on a plot problem, I can engage in a computer game that doesn't require much intellectual energy, while working on my plot issue subconsciously. However, if I want to accomplish writing goals, I need to monitor time wasting activities to ensure they don't eat up all my writing time.

That's the obvious. Everyone knows this, right?

What may be less obvious

Being There for Your Dreams: Organizing the Creative Life

I have learned if I want to succeed in pouring energy and time into my creative dreams and goals on a consistent and sustained basis, I must first organize. It sounds contrary to that unruly middle-of-the-night flash of inspiration that gets pegged as creative genius. Certainly I have often worked at a messy desk in a messy study, burning with inspiration for thirty-six hours straight before passing out for two days. In retrospect, even those creative binges were supported and mused into being by previous disciplined, organized, sustainable endeavors.

So what do I mean by organizing?