As authors, we all have our favorite tools. It’s not that I’m old or old-fashioned (would I have a blog if I were old-fashioned?) but I just prefer doing most of my writing with pen and paper. I have a spiral bound notebook for all my characters (well, I have six so far – poor people have to buy supplies in lumps, lol) and I have a 3-ring binder in which I keep all my notes.
The pen and paper works best for me for a variety of reasons: 1. not-so-awesomesauce vision means after an hour or two at the computer, I have a hard time focusing; B) I like to be able to just open up a notebook and reference a character trait or background story rather than opening 18 million files; and 3) when I start with pen and paper, I find I’m able to edit as I enter it into a Word document. Like I said, this is just what works best for me. And we all know I’m a freak, so take it as you will…
There are, however, a great many who use one of a variety of computer programs such as Scrivener or Y-Writer. I’ve downloaded Y-Writer today, although I can only use it on the desktop and not my net book which is for traveling. It takes me a while to learn new programs, so I am really hoping I can pick this up sooner, rather than later.
What about you? Have you a program you like?
On a side note, the reader in me is feeling neglected so there might come a read-only break soon. Also, this week we are focusing on our villain, Harald the Druid. You’ll meet him this weekend. He’s looking forward to it.
Laura Michaela Banse, Author 