Writing is like Running, it’s all in the mind
I never used to run. I never reallly thought about it, only I assumed I wasn’t the kind of person who would like running, too much pain and sweaty suffering. I suspect that at the back of my mind I...
View ArticleWriting a shadow novel
I really liked this idea, that the amateur writes a shadow novel using their life instead of words and paper. They have a drama filled life, but don’t get the work done. How many people like this do we...
View ArticleEleven Reasons to use Scrivener for your writing
I’ve noticed a lot of writers pop up and ask questions like should I move to Scrivener, why should I use Scrivener, how is Scrivener better? Here are ten eleven great reasons to use Scrivener.
View ArticleRimbaud’s Last Poem
Passage from AphinarRimbaud’s Last Poem One shipment: a single tuskOne shipment: two tusksOne shipment: three tusksOne shipment: four tusksOne shipment: two tusks I have come to enquire if I have left...
View ArticleHow to jump right in and start writing in Scrivener
Scrivener can seem intimidating on first sight – it’s hard to know where to start. It’s a complex software with many tools to help you with your writing. It can be intimidating to anyone who is used to...
View ArticleMaking word count fun
You can track your word count in Scrivener using some funky tools.
View ArticleHow to Sync Scrivener
Scrivener has a function that allows you to set up an external (to Scrivener) folder and ‘sync’ all your Scrivener files there. This is a two way process, Scrivener writes the files out to the folder...
View ArticleNon-linear writing
Scrivener is the perfect management tool for non-linear writing, i.e. you can get the benefits of a non-linear approach without the downsides. In her On Writing blog, Rebecca Blain writes, “When I...
View ArticleResearch files in Scrivener
I like to put research documents right next to the pages that I’m writing. Scrivener likes you to keep them separate. Here’s a way to get round that without making a terrible mess. Keep your research...
View ArticleScrivener Keyboard Shortcuts
⌘ Command Key (Apple Key) ⌥ Option Key (Alt Key) ⇧ Shift Key ⌃ Control Key ↑ Up Arrow Key ↓ Down Arrow Key → Right Arrow Key ← Left Arrow Key ↩ Return Key ⎋ ESC Key (or ESC) ⇥ Tab Key ⌫...
View ArticleScrivener for Dummies
I’m writing it! I thought it should exist so I proposed it. For Dummies agreed and a few short weeks later I’m under contract and under pressure. So what am I writing? Well, a book all about Scrivener...
View ArticleWorkroom: Writers on Writing
I’m a bit addicted to the Workspace posts on John August’s blog (I assume he’s called John August, it’s at johnaugust.com). It’s all about screenwriters, but screenwriters are writers the same as the...
View ArticleHow Punk Rock Led Me To The Joys and Perils of Self Publishing
Yeah, me too.How Punk Rock Led Me Down The Garden Path To The Joys and Perils of Self Publishing – IndieReader Punk was a generation-defining social movement which accidentally gave birth to the...
View ArticleA poem for Xmas
Spent We are spent,our civility undone,desire squirted out,secretions secreted. What was continent isincontinent.Collectively our seed fell on stony ground. Time to discover what we got for our...
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British Library, redux
Last week I had a curiously psychogeographical day in London. It was also curiously satisfying. First, I went to get a readers card for the British Library. When I first came to London, in 1985, I also...
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How to make art
This short passage from BLDGBLOB seems to me a description of how to go about making art (from what is around you) or indeed, to write creatively (from what is around you). Dismantling your...
View ArticlePublishing from Scrivener to Createspace
Ed Ditto (what a cool name!) has written a guide to publishing your book from Scrivener to Amazon’s Createspace – the service that makes actual real printed on paper books. As he points out, you can...
View ArticleBuying books from my (non)Kindle
Kindle. I don’t have one, but I use the Kindle app on my iPad. The sample options is excellent – you can read the beginning of a book to find out how it works. So I’ve got a sample of a non-fiction...
View ArticleFrom Word to Scrivener
A lot of people come from Word to Scrivener … and find it a little confusing. There’s a lot of difference, but once you cast off the historic compromises that Word imposes on writers, you find that...
View ArticleTerror
They say writing is long periods of boredom interspersed with moments of sheer terror. Oh, hang on, that’s war.
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