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Faced with the prospect of editing five NANO novel drafts, all written in Word, all in various states of chaos, I found myself pushed towards adopting a better, more organised approach this year, using Scrivener.

This time, the planner in me was determined to have an outline in place before I started. And she did. But the pantser in me, who lets my characters have free rein, has been having fun, pouring out thousands of words with scant regard for my planner’s outline.

Am I (the typist in the team) panicking, caught between the pair of them? No! Scrivener has allowed both parts of my creativity – the planned and the chaotic – to breathe. I am (all three of me) having the best time ever … Am I in heaven?

This morning, I started writing a ‘planned’ scene:

Mother is to die (not before time) and Harry will tell Sally (CatAmongThePigeons) that she will inherit a house in Ballycombe-by-the-sea, a house high on the hill, with magnificent views of the town and the harbour below.

I storm ahead, the words flying and soon find I’ve gone beyond my (arbitrary) target of 500 words for this scene. I stop to look for a sensible scene break and then let Scrivener split at that point for me.

Scrivener adds a new card on my corkboard, for the text I’ve written beyond the split position.

I cut and paste my synopsis from the original card to the new one, and rename it. I still have to write some of what I’d planned. I’ll leave worrying about the final wording for that card until after I’ve written the scene.

Finally, I review what I actually wrote for ‘Mother dies’ and write the synopsis for that original card. Now I am ready to move on. Organised. Creative. Using Scrivener and loving every minute of this NANO.

My tag line on my email signature reads:  I don’t know what I think until I’ve read what I’ve written. Ain’t that the truth?

The NANO KICKOFF webinars seem an age ago, the MIDWAYs too. For my free TGIO webinars on Tuesday 1 December, there are three-time slots:2pm,

2pm, 6pm and 9.30pm.

On the agenda:

• Celebration time
• What to do after NANO
• Editing!
• Self publishing?

If you would like an invite,  click here.

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a step-by-step exploration of how Scrivener can change how a writer writes.
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