Paper and pen. When I'm ready I type it into LibreOffice Writer, but my daughter has been trying to convince me that Google Docs is better. I might give it a try, but right now I'm still working on the first draft of my current project.
On my own, I outline and track word counts in Excel, and write in Word.
With a co-writer, it depends on their preference. Sometimes we write in Word and email chapters back and forth. Sometimes we write in Google Docs (either writing together in real time or "okay it's your turn, let me know when your chapter is done").
I'd probably use GD more than I do, but I travel a lot and don't always have access to WiFi. I don't like the idea of being unable to access my WIPs when I need them.
You can work offline in Google Docs and it will sync your changes when you're back online. There's a box you have to check in Settings to enable it, then you're good to go.
I start out the rough draft word salads with pen & paper. It's terrible, mostly illegible, and since I'm left-handed it gets physically painful after a time. Then I recopy into my old pirated copy of Word 97, or more recently Libre office to revise and expand. I like it cause it's not very efficient, making it easier for me to recognize the worst bits and revise as I go. It's still terrible but slightly less so.
Being left-handed makes it painful for you? I'm left-handed too, but have never run into any issues with pain while writing longhand.
Yeah, maybe it's just me but after about three pages it feels like I'm holding my pen in a death grip. I get finger cramps and I have to stop for a bit. I've seen some people hold the pen kind of like curled around from the top down, but I never learned to do that.
Yeah, maybe it's just me but after about three pages it feels like I'm holding my pen in a death grip. I get finger cramps and I have to stop for a bit. I've seen some people hold the pen kind of like curled around from the top down, but I never learned to do that.
I'm right-handed but for a while I had the same problem. It's just because you are holding your pen, from the very beginning, too tight and with time it just becomes painful. At least that was the reason for me, and my nails, when they were long, duge into my skin leaving marks. I just learned to hold without too much strength the pen.
My handwriting's horrible. I can barely read it. If I had to write a book by hand I'd be in trouble. Plus all that writing would hurt my fingers!
WHEW...l DLd the trial version of Scrivener and the tutorial says it will take "several hours"?? Yikes...
WHEW...l DLd the trial version of Scrivener and the tutorial says it will take "several hours"?? Yikes...
I agree with Kjbartolotta that one can form a working familiarity with the software inside an hour.
I usually bang on about starting off by using the blank template, as it has Draft, Research and Trash folders. Nice and simple.