(Cross posted from Facebook)
I’ve spent the last few years working in scrivener, but I’ve got no particular affection for the software. I use it because the autosave feature is superior to word, and because I dig the word-count features that offer me small alarms when I hit target.
A few weeks back, I launched a few projects in Google Docs after reading about folks who were doing their morning writing stint, then adding things to their manuscript via phone whenever they had some empty time through the day.
It’s also a chance to test a personal hypothesis I’ve been contemplating for a few months now: scrivener’s folder/file structure encourages me to add subplots and new details to narratives because I’m working on things in sections, rather than thinking of them as cohesive wholes that I have to revisit every time I open the file.
I was quietly hoping that pulling things back to a single file will mean that the things that are conceptualised as novellas will stop heading north of 50,000 words of messy, tangled, unfinished draft.
It hasn’t quite done that, but the results have been positive enough that I’m steering clear of Scrivener for a while. How long is up in the air, especially since June is typically a rough month for getting stuff done, but I spend a lot more time working at a desktop at the moment and having the ability to dip into a project file is proving advantageous.
It’s been particularly good at getting the back cover synopsis of a half-dozen projects out the door, when they’re traditionally the part I stall on for weeks at a time. Anything that makes those more efficient is a welcome addition to my workflow.
That said, right now one of my favourite Google Doc functions is the ability to create a hyperlink to the document, which is incredibly useful for sharing files. But it also means I can set up a bookmarks folder for active Works in Progress or create a direct link to a file from an Asana task, which means not working my way through a maze of folders in order to get started.
I’ve been working with a Current Projects folder in the bookmarks bar of my desktop and laptop browsers for a few weeks now, and it’s revolutionary. Just as it’s incredibly easy to duck into Facebook when there’s a few empty minutes of the day, having an open project in a browser means I’ll duck in and add notes, make corrections, or do a paragraph of writing as a break from other tasks. It’s become a bit of a keystone habit for me, and one that I enjoy.
But this weekend I leveled up a little, because Chrome allows you to right-click on a bookmarks folder and *open every link within it in a single movement*. Which means rather than opening one project to dip into, it’s a relatively straightforward thing to open all five that I’ve got running and lay them out. Which means I can have my current long-form project, current short-form project, current essay project, current back cover synopsis and back matter, and current patron/Facebook/blog drafts ready to go in an instant.
Not a great habit for anyone who likes to focus on one thing and get it done, but I’m a bit of a dilettante with writing. I do about 300 words on a project, then pause and cogitate a bit. Having all five projects open means I can quickly duck between tabs and do a little on another project while cogitating on another, and keep the disparate parts of my practice visible.
I’m a very out-of-sight, out-of-mind writer, so I can easily lose touch with projects if I don’t open them and touch the keyboard on the reg, so this is the kind of A+ tool that works for me.