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SmokeAndMirrors · 10-18-2011, 01:31 AM

Great essay! As a young writer who hasn't yet had to deal with the publishing industry and would prefer to never do it at all, it's inspiring to see your middle finger raised high to the powers that be.

I'm also very curious of your Twilight spoof and I think I'll be checking that out. I need a good laugh at Pretty Boy Edward's expense.

I'm wondering if I can pick your brain a bit. If not, feel free to ignore the rest of this post.

I saw in your Tips that you recommend Scrivener. How much is this going to help for a no-outline, "WE'LL DO IT LIVE!" sort of writer like myself?

When I'm doing creative writing, I like writing in Text Editor (WordPad for Linux) or, for the ultimate spartan experience, FocusWriter. FocusWriter is even more feature-barren than WordPad, but in addition to that basically makes the rest of your desktop inaccessible - it's full-screen by default and you can't minimize it. The only way to get rid of it is to actually close the program.

I like these approaches because it limits my temptation to find a distraction, either by deciding I need to check my email for the 8 millionth time, or deciding I need to screw around with the doc settings because "something's not quite right." If I can't get to my desktop, and there are no settings, problem solved!

I don't seem to have any problem task-switching when I'm writing articles - I could have 2 browsers, my notepad, Libre Office, and the main website all open at once and still bang out a thousand decidedly good words in under an hour. But for some reason, not when I'm writing creatively.

But at the same time, for longer projects, which I am trying to cut my teeth on, the straight-through, no outline, start-to-finish approach is really not ideal. So I'm trying to find some organization method that is useful enough for me to do as much as I can in one place, but also not distracting. My fear is needing to open multiple docs or browsers. As soon as I start doing that, I might as well call it a day. But I need some sort of system.

I'd like to know your thoughts.

10-18-2011, 01:31 AM	#2
SmokeAndMirrors Addict Posts: 280 Karma: 2064388 Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: MN, US Device: Kobo Touch, Asus Eee Pad Slider	Great essay! As a young writer who hasn't yet had to deal with the publishing industry and would prefer to never do it at all, it's inspiring to see your middle finger raised high to the powers that be. I'm also very curious of your Twilight spoof and I think I'll be checking that out. I need a good laugh at Pretty Boy Edward's expense. I'm wondering if I can pick your brain a bit. If not, feel free to ignore the rest of this post. I saw in your Tips that you recommend Scrivener. How much is this going to help for a no-outline, "WE'LL DO IT LIVE!" sort of writer like myself? When I'm doing creative writing, I like writing in Text Editor (WordPad for Linux) or, for the ultimate spartan experience, FocusWriter. FocusWriter is even more feature-barren than WordPad, but in addition to that basically makes the rest of your desktop inaccessible - it's full-screen by default and you can't minimize it. The only way to get rid of it is to actually close the program. I like these approaches because it limits my temptation to find a distraction, either by deciding I need to check my email for the 8 millionth time, or deciding I need to screw around with the doc settings because "something's not quite right." If I can't get to my desktop, and there are no settings, problem solved! I don't seem to have any problem task-switching when I'm writing articles - I could have 2 browsers, my notepad, Libre Office, and the main website all open at once and still bang out a thousand decidedly good words in under an hour. But for some reason, not when I'm writing creatively. But at the same time, for longer projects, which I am trying to cut my teeth on, the straight-through, no outline, start-to-finish approach is really not ideal. So I'm trying to find some organization method that is useful enough for me to do as much as I can in one place, but also not distracting. My fear is needing to open multiple docs or browsers. As soon as I start doing that, I might as well call it a day. But I need some sort of system. I'd like to know your thoughts. Last edited by SmokeAndMirrors; 10-18-2011 at 01:39 AM.