Sep 25, 2024
As I have been preparing for my short story challenge, I have been thinking through the process of what tools I am going to use. There may be some changes here and there, but this is what I expect to start off with on Monday:
Goodnotes: I am not sure I will do any planning for these short stories, but if I feel the need, then I will do so on my iPad mini using Goodnotes 5.
Ulysses: The writing itself will be done in Ulysses, which I can access on my Mac, iPhone and iPad. That will give me the flexibility to pick up a few extra words during the day if I don’t quite meet my daily target in the morning. As well as allow me to write and publish these blog posts.
Pro-Writing Aid: Although Ulysses has built in editing tools, I paid for PWA a couple of years ago and like the process there more. Recently it has been adding more A.I. features, which I don’t use, but if they take over everything, then I may have to reconsider my options. I like it mainly for changing my regular English spelling to US English spelling.
Vellum: For formatting the eBooks themselves. This was an expensive purchase a few years ago, but I’m still getting updates and it makes what used to be a painful process very easy.
Acorn: I haven’t used this image editor much, so it is the thing most likely to change. This will be where I make book covers.
That’s about all of it, really. None of those are affiliate links, by the way.
Dec 14, 2023
I have a natural inclination towards orderliness. I like everything to have its place and to put things away where they belong when I have finished with them. On my computer everything is neatly filed away in the correct folder and the desk where I write is arranged so that it doesn’t get cluttered. It gives me a sense of peace to work in an orderly environment.
For years, I have tried to write in an orderly manner, but I am coming to the conclusion that the process is inherently messy. Ideally, I want a system that I can follow each time, which should generate minimal debris. The way I have set that up is to plan stories using Goodnotes on my iPad, then using the plan I come up with there to write the first draft in Scrivener, to then export as a PDF, so I can do the edits on my iPad again and then type them up and the whole thing should be neat and easily contained.
That’s not how it works, though. Every time I try, I find myself compelled to get out pads of paper to make notes there rather than on my iPad. I jump back and forth between paper, Goodnotes and Obsidian.
It used to frustrate me, but I am coming to the conclusion that doing that isn’t a failure in my process, it is the process. Switching from one medium to another (even between two that are pretty much the same) is where the story comes alive. There is no way to systemize this process and there is no point looking for a single tool I can do everything in.
Planning a story is a messy process, I guess, and I just have to make my peace with the piles of paper that litter my desk. They aren’t a sign of failure, but of a system that has evolved naturally over the years.
