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Kay Kukoyi is my guest today.

Kay has spent over a decade as a software delivery specialist, including mobile apps, web apps, and websites.  She has a passion for translating ideas into professional software used by businesses and consumers worldwide.

Like me, Kay joined the Self-Publishing School during 2016, both of us with a view to publishing our books. My EDITING The RedPen Way was published in September and, in the past month, Kay published her two books:

• Don’t Hire a Software Developer Until You Read this Book: The handbook for tech entrepreneurs (from idea, to build, to product launch and everything in between)
• Develop your Idea, a book for entrepreneurs with step-by-step exercises for safely researching and testing out new business ventures.

As one ScrivenerVirgin to another, I invited Kay to be my guest on this blog.

Thanks for being my guest, Kay. When did you first discover Scrivener?

Thanks for having me!

During the Self Publishing Success Summit in June 2016, I watched a Scrivener demonstration led by the Scrivener Coach, Joseph Michael. At this point, I had already written 15,000 words of my book in Word and was fairly happy using Word as a tool for writing.

What made you switch from Word to Scrivener?

I wasn’t planning to ‘invest’ in any tools of the trade but, as I took notes during the demo and started to think about the benefits of approaching the task like a professional (and saw some of the things that Scrivener could do), I began to feel that I could really benefit from it.

Excellent! So, having now used Scrivener for a while, what are the biggest benefits for you?

The biggest benefit is compartmentalism. The ability to segment off and work on ‘just this piece’ of writing is a joy, as your manuscript grows. Word would be creaking and groaning with a 100,000 word book like my first one and there’s the threat of RSI on the doorstep with all the constant scrolling up and down to find what you need.

Good point. Any other benefits?

When I have ideas, they tend to hit me all at once, and in no particular order. Scrivener allows me to capture these quickly, assign a title and icon to them and get them out of my head and written down.

How do you organise these thoughts?

I have a folder for business quotes, a folder for book quotes, a folder for writing best practices, and a folder for my writing to do list, which I positioned above the manuscript to help me to stay focused.

You mentioned assigning an icon?

Yes, I use the yellow warning sign for things I need to remember to do. Then, the blue warning sign which to me means ‘Ugh – there’s some ugliness in there, go back and take another look!’.

I also like the eye symbol. It helps to remind me of my ultimate goals – otherwise, it’s easy to get sidetracked. I use it to symbolise ‘Hey, you need to keep one eye on that!’. It’s mainly for strategy, keeping an eye on my big picture, ideas for book marketing and important inclusions, but also the wider strategy of spreading the word and being able to coach and train people.

Brilliant idea! You clearly like the visual cues Scrivener provides.

Yes, and I use the various coloured flags to reflect how mature each folder is in terms of how many times I’ve read, checked and edited it and how satisfied I am with the quality of writing in that particular section.

I’m on a Mac. What platform are you using?

Windows. Although we Windows users do not have the range of functionality enjoyed by Mac owners, there are still plenty of benefits to be had. Looking back over 2016, I’d include Scrivener as one of my top ‘tech’ discoveries.

I’d have to agree: Scrivener is a life-changer.

More about Kay Kukoyi

Having set up several business ventures from scratch, Kay understands exactly what it is like to start businesses from scratch with limited time and on a budget. With a diverse background in sales, business analysis, performance coaching, consulting and market research, Kay aims to demystify key topics and to help readers to gain clarity so that they can achieve their personal goals.

Check out Kay’s website here.

If you write using Scrivener and would like to have a guest blog, contact me!

The ScrivenerVirgin blog is a journey of discovery:
a step-by-step exploration of how Scrivener can change how a writer writes.
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