WIP Challenge Check-in -- Day 16 (Thursday)

[linaewen]

Time for another check-in!  Is today going well so far with writerly pursuits?  If so -- or if not -- give us the details and we'll be pleased -- or sympathetic -- along with you.

 

Does your plan for the day involve any of the following?

 

--Writing

--Editing

--Send to beta

--Posting

--Procrastinating

--Planning/Researching

--Taking a break

--Something else I will describe in comments

 

Any word counts to report as yet?

 

For discussion -- We've had some great comments on whether people use pen/paper for writing or compose on their computer.  For computer work, what's your favorite word processor/online composing tool?  Why do you like it?  (I know some people have been sharing their writing tools already -- to my benefit, I might add! -- but I thought it might be nice to find out what else is out there for writing tools that we like to use.)

 

Comments

[linaewen]

I'm about to leave on a wee trip, so don't have anything to report as yet. But I should be back online later in the day, so I'll reply then with something (hopefully) productive! So far, this week has been wretched for writing due to RL. I'm trying to remind myself that it doesn't matter, because I did finish something earlier in the month, after all! But all the other WIP projects are saying, "What about me?" and making me feel bad. ;-)

[jagnikjen]

I posted the last two stories to the rh archive and then a few more chapters to one fic in particular. So now all my stories are housed at this archive, except for the epic, for which there are still about 20 chapters to go.

I haven't written anything today, though I piddled a bit with my challenge fic yesterday or the day before, but now that half the month is gone, I need to get cracki8ng. Though the fic is probably about half finished, so...

Re-watching Harry Potter and am halfway through Prisoner of Azkaban--will finish tonight...

I am primarily a MS Word user. I use openoffice.org on my laptop, which I HATE WITH A PASSION. But when I format my laptop I will install (I recently learned that I could use my same copy of) Word onto it. Occasionally I'll use Notepad. I also occasionally use GoogleDocs, but only have my challenge fic up there right now. (And I hate the upgrade they did.)

[morwen_peredhil]

I live for Scrivener. My writing (both fanfic and original) has become ten times more productive since I started using it instead of MS Word. I got a discount a couple of years ago from winning NaNoWriMo (I think they do that every year) and I've never looked back. It was Mac-only but now there's a Windows version, apparently.

[littlebutfierce]

I think Scrivener is super awesome! Although I don't use it for actual writing--I've used it to organize my research: saving in reference pictures from manga (what does character X's bedroom look like?) or useful articles from the web. I'm still on my trial period (I love that it's 30 days of use, not 30 consecutive days from when you install & first use it) but will probably cave & buy it once I finish that.

[morwen_peredhil]

I use Scrivener for both the research and the. So good to get rid of all those random folders of images, notes, etc. and have everything right there in once place.

[morwen_peredhil]

both the research and the WRITING.

[littlebutfierce]

I dunno--to me it feels better to have them in two applications! Something about writing in Scrivener makes me want to squinch my face up, hehehe. I tried it for Yuletide & didn't like it v. much, though possibly whenever I buy the full version I'll try it again.

[littlebutfierce]

900 words written today! I know a lot of them will have to be changed around (particularly I need to think more about what it's like to have your hands bound behind your back) but still, progress!

I used to use ZohoWriter (like Google Docs but not as fancy) until someone here persuaded me to use Dropbox, which means I just use OpenOffice now for stuff & get it uploaded to Dropbox, which means it syncs on the desktop, laptop, & phone even.

[lexicalcrow]

Um. More revision, and idk another 2000 words? But I'm rewriting a scene now so it's going somewhere better than where it went before. NFI when this will be finished, but I've still got time, right? XD Even though it's 38k+ now and will possibly be much longer by the time I'm done with it. D: Longest queer_fest fic ever. XD

As for WP programs, I use Jarte and yWriter. And occasionally Word. But that's about it. I like Jarte because it's like a much better, pimped up Word Pad. Also tabs! :D And custom backgrounds. <3 And yWriter is very useful for novels. And it's free, unlike Scrivener and LSB which cost monies that I just can't afford to spend. :( Besides, I know the guy who made yWriter and went on a few NaNo writing retreats with him. So there. XD

[destinyislands]

I haven't heard of Jarte before but that sounds awesome! /goes to check it out

[lexicalcrow]

Awesome. :D It's really small too, and you can run it from a thumb drive. It can save and open Word format too, which is another reason it is awesome. Much less hassle than Open Office and it's ilk. I still use Word for some things, but I do most of my writing in Jarte now.

[destinyislands]

"It can save and open Word format too, which is another reason it is awesome."

That is awesome. I don't care much for Open Office, or Word for that matter.

[lexicalcrow]

Then I think you will find Jarte quite awesome. <3 There is a paid version too, but it's not very expensive, especially compared to Scrivener and LSB. But the free version is still excellent anyway so it does me fine. I alwyas found Open Office clunky and annoying to use. The only thing I use Word for now are mostly assignments for uni. Everything else can be done in Jarte.

[destinyislands]

800 words of writing today, which resulted in a finished draft for one fic that I'll look over/edit probably tomorrow. Forgot to check in yesterday, but a good +1200 yesterday on a different fic.

I'm pretty simple when it comes to word processors. I see all these nice fancy ones with all these nice features, but they just end up making my brain feel more cluttered. When writing, I just use Wordpad or Ommwriter, mostly the latter lately. Since it's fullscreen and hides the menu when I'm writing, it keeps me more focused on what I'm doing. I'm probably in the minority on wanting less of everything. ^^'

[msmcknittington]

More plotting and I wrote all of 10 words. Two whole sentences. But plotting actually takes quite a lot of brain power to do, so I am OK with this. I don't find characterization all that hard, but if I don't actually plan out what everybody is doing beforehand, then they just wander around being moody smartasses.

For writing programs, I use AbiWord (it's just a word processing program like Word) and sometimes Scrivener. I also use Storybook which is awesome for plot. AWESOME, I TELL YOU. It has color coding, so if you have a plot with multiple points of view, it's really easy to keep track of who knows what, when they know it and where they are.

[snowynight]

I'm stuck on research for my new project, so probably no progress on that. It reminds me of how many female characters get killed in my fandom, which's quite depressing.

Previously I used Googledoc, but now I 'm using zoho writer more because of my usual beta.

[lacygrey]

I haven't tried any sophisticated programs, just MS Word, Wordpad or googledocs.

Ive heard both Liquid Binder and Scrivener praised and criticized. Might try them one day.

[pkc_creative]

I got a little writing done but nothing particularly great. Finished and posted an entry for a drabble challenge, was slightly over at 102 words. I made a tiny start on some research on softball and '65 stingrays for my huge WIP.

On my old laptop I had open office and used that mostly for pretty much everything but my new/current laptop came with word pre-installed so I used that for a while but now I use Jarte for almost all my written work. Haven't decided if I'll use Jarte for my uni work when I re-start my course in September, I took a year off to work.