I had another post planned for today, but a comment from a blog reader yesterday got me thinking about that dirty little secret that we all face but no one likes to talk about - Writer’s Burnout. I am a professional writer.  I get paid to write.  I spend my days in front of the computer writing (when I’m not shuttling my kids back and forth to school and activities).  Articles, brochures, strategic plans, website content, books.  You name it, I’ve written it.  I even manage to sneak in some time for my fiction projects on a good day.

When I see friends, family (especially family), even my kids’ teachers at school, the first question I get is, “How’s the writing going? What are you working on?”  When I fill out the forms at my doctor’s office, they always ask for profession.  When you put “Writer” on that little line, it generates interest.  I know for a fact that when my husband writes “Sales Management” on his form, the doctor doesn’t pepper him with questions about the employees he’s managing and how the sales pipeline is looking for this quarter.  But put “Writer” on that line, and you’ll get questions.  I guarantee it.  And once people know that you’re a writer, they always have an easy opening question.

Part of me loves this. It makes me happy that I have a job that fulfills me and a job that is sometimes good for cocktail party conversation.  But it also pains me because…  sometimes I don’t write.  Sometimes I don’t WANT to write.  Sometimes I hate writing.  There I said it.  Sometimes I get burned out, and the last thing I want to do is plop down in front of the computer and write.  And then the guilt kicks in.

The guilt is two-fold for me.  First off, as much as I just admitted that some days I hate writing, that’s not entirely true.  We’re more like “frenemies.”  I love writing, I hate writing, I love to hate writing, I hate to love writing.  Writing is like my third grade pal who always knew just what to say to make me feel great about myself, but in the next breath could reduce me to tears.  Frenemies!  Yep, that’s me and writing when I’m burned out.  There is nothing better than a day when the words are flying onto the page and I make myself laugh or I write a sentence that I want to swirl around in my mouth a few times because it sounds just right.  But, when I’m not doing what I love/hate, I feel guilty.  I feel like I’m letting myself down.  I feel undisciplined.

Here’s the other kicker, I feel like I’m letting other people down when I’m in the midst of writer’s burnout.  Lots of people want to know about your job when you’re a writer, but many people don’t actually think it’s a REAL job.  I don’t go to an office.  I can sit around in my pajamas all day (although that might look a little strange at preschool drop-off). And I may or may not ever get paid for some of the stuff I write. So when people ask, “How’s the writing going?” am I really going to say, “Oh, I’m burned out.  I’ve been watching reality TV and trolling the aisles of Target. I need to refuel.”  Even I roll my eyes at myself when I hear the words, “I need to refuel,” almost come out of my mouth.  So, instead I smile and say, “Oh, I’m juggling a couple of projects right now,” and I try my best to change the subject.  I’m the person with the interesting (albeit, slightly fake) job, and I don’t have a good answer. What hope does that give people with “regular” jobs?

As much as I hate to admit it (and I cringe at the words “need to refuel”), writer’s burnout is very real.  Let’s not confuse this with writer’s block.  I don’t believe in writer’s block.  Even if you are a pro at avoidance mechanisms (which I am), you can always put words on the page.  Unless someone chops off your hands, you can always pound out a few sentences.  (Even then, you could dictate a few words.) They might be uninspired drivel, but they are words nonetheless.  And once your brain is working, more words will come.  You might have to edit and rewrite 20 times instead of five times, but you can always complete a writing session.

Writer’s burnout is different.  Burnout is when you are making the conscious choice to NOT write.  You recognize that you could and should write, but you choose not to.  Why?  Because you are tired, drained, uninspired, unmotivated, lazy – or my personal favorite – passive-aggressively trying to ignore writing because what has writing ever done for you?  (Side note: When writing becomes an animate object against which you are protesting, you’ll know you are in the throws of writer’s burnout.)  And believe me I’ve been there.  But there is hope.  Here are some ways to combat it:

1.  Admit it.  This is the hardest step for me.  Sometimes you have to admit that you’re burned out.  For me this usually begins with a plea to my husband.  “I will pay you one million dollars if you write this article for me.”  This is followed by a lot of pacing and staring at a blank computer screen.  And then finally, after much prodding from my level-headed husband, I am forced to admit that I’m burned out.

2.  Give in to the whims – but set a time limit.  It’s okay to give in to the whims of burnout.  Get your brain to a place where you can admit that watching reruns of House Hunters International for an entire evening doesn’t make you any less of a writer.  Go shopping, eat soft pretzels, prune your rose bush.  BUT… set limits.  The danger of giving in to the whims of burnout is that it’s hard to get back on the work wagon.  After the final sentence on a short project is polished, I give myself two evenings off.  Most of my quality writing takes place before my family gets up or after my kids are in bed.  After that short project is complete I sleep until 7 a.m. for two decadent mornings and I watch television or movies for two decadent evenings.  I still work during the day, but two days off from my workhorse writing sessions seem to recharge me.  After a big project is signed, sealed and the check is received, I usually give myself two full days of whimsy.  Sometimes even a week. No writing is allowed.  I read all the novels that are stacked by my nightstand.  I take myself out to lunch.  I clean my house.  Somehow, a self-imposed hiatus from writing seems to prevent writer’s burnout from creeping up on me.

3.  Writer’s groups.  Writer’s groups or even just writer friends are the AA of a writer’s world.  A group with fellow writers is a safe place where you can admit, ”I’m Sara. And I’m suffering from writer’s burnout.  It’s been six days since I’ve written anything.”  Your fellow writers can commiserate, relieve some of that guilt you’re experiencing and even spark new ideas that will get you excited to jump back into your writing.

4.  Read. Reading always recharges me.  When I’m burned out, I literally drink up the words of other writers.  Remember, we were all readers long before we were writers.  Pull out that stack of books that’s been calling to you from under the bed and dive in.  Reading great books makes me want to be a better writer.  And then the little slave driver inside my head makes the valid point that I can’t be a better writer until I start writing again.  The whip is officially cracked and I’m back on the wagon.

Until the next time burnout rears it’s ugly head!

What about you? How do you combat writer’s burnout?

I have two things to share by K.M. Weiland this week:

1. Writer’s Manifesto.  I especially love “Embrace the Ecstasy of Writing.”  So true.    K.M. Weiland is a novelist and a short story writer who blogs at Wordplay and Authors Culture.  Check both of them out for inspiration and tips.
2. The article Three Character Archetypes in Fiction appeared on K.M. Weiland’s blog, Wordplay.  The post was written by Joe Bunting, a professional ghostwriter and fiction editor.  Bunting presents an interesting argument about using traditional fictional archetypes but layering upon them to make them uniquely your own.  “Shakespeare didn’t settle for archetypes. He recreated them for his own purposes. And so should you.”  Bunting offers up a useful Characterization tutorial at The Write Practice.  It’s packed with practical characterization advice.
3. I don’t know how it took me so long to find The Bookshelf Muse, but it is one of my new favorite sites.  The site was founded and is written by Angela Ackerman, a Calgary-based writer and Becca Puglisi, a Florida-based writer.  These two women have created the Character Traits Thesaurus.  In my opinion it’s genius. Scroll down the sidebar and find your favorite character trait.  Let’s use ”Shy” as an example.  Ackerman and Puglisi will fill you in on the definition, causes of shyness, characters in literature or popular culture who display this trait, negatives, common portrayals of the trait and my favorite – cliches to avoid.  At the end of the entry they offer up some ideas for twists on the traditional shy character.   Try it out with your favorite traits.  While you’re at it, check out the emotion thesaurus and setting thesaurus.
4. Finally, the Book Pregnant blog was launched this month.  I discovered it just the other day and love the concept.  You can read the first post here.  Debut authors (you know I love debut authors) Sophie Perinot and Lydia Netzer met on Twitter and decided to launch a blog about and for debut authors.  The now have a cadre of 18 authors who contribute to the conversations about selling and nurturing the sales of your first novel.  The format is cheeky – with each entry placed in a category: one of three trimesters, delivery or postpartum.  Each author provides an honest look at the process of winning a book deal and seeing it through to the birth of the book.

Happy writing!

I use mind maps for everything.  In spite of the fact that I love fancy software and organization techniques, some days I feel trapped by the confines of my computer screen.  I need to break free – really give my right brain some room to move around.  Remember that group work that you did in junior high? When your English teacher forced you into a group with four other people and said, “On the count of three create a list a of all the things you could use this tongue depressor for.  And remember, there are no wrong answers!”

These old-school brainstorming sessions are the genesis for a mind map.  The difference is that rather than creating an outline or a simple list, you are going to create a visual representation of your ideas.  Here are a few examples:

 image via Mind Tools

or

image via Wikipedia

OR

image via Mind Tools

When you are mind mapping for a novel, it’s just you and the page.  You don’t have four other pimple-faced middle schoolers offering up suggestions. Instead the different parts of your brain take the place of all five people in the group.  And it’s your job to let all those areas of your brain take over with ideas and to prevent your inner editor from censoring anything.  Let’s say you’re creating a mind map about a scene which takes place at 3 a.m. in a deserted pizza parlor.  The frontal lobes might throw out very logical descriptions like: benches, pizza ovens, cash register.  All very useful things to help you add detail later. Bracca’s area of the brain takes over and allows you to translate those thoughts to words on the page.  Then the Parietal lobes jump in and throw a bunch of sensory words at you: the cheese smells like burnt toast after your neighbor walked on it with his bare feet, the light shining on the water glass looks like sunlight reflecting in the glassy eye of a taxidermied trout.  You get the gist…  All of those things need to go down on your mind map.

Then the fun part begins.  I use the 5 W’s. Who, where, when, why and What if?  What if the MC character wasn’t alone in the pizza parlor? I create an idea bubble and put down emotions, actions… anything that comes to mind.  What if the mysterious person in the pizza parlor was the MC’s driver’s education teacher moonlighting as a pizza chef? Why does the teacher need to moonlight? What if he lost all of his wages because he has a gambling problem? Where did this gambling take place? What if he started an underground cock fighting club in the basement of the school? Who would attend? What if the other teachers were involved? What if the physics teacher lost her prize rooster in the last fight? What if the driving teacher was secretly in love with the physics teacher?

You get the idea.  By using a mind map, I’ve created lots of bubbles that make up a key scene in the story.  By looking at my lines I can see that the physics teacher bought her rooster from the rural route bus driver whose chickens have been inbred over time to create a race of super roosters.  I can see that our MC takes classes from three of the teachers involved in the ring.  How will these connections play into our MC’s goal of saving the school and making sure that the driver’s ed. teacher and the physics teacher find true love?

Or maybe you’ll find that everything you’ve written down is rubbish which won’t ultimately contribute to the good of your story.  Until… you glance over at that bubble in the left side of the page.  You’ve created another character in your mind map notes.  A teenage girl who comes in to clean the pizza ovens in the middle of the night.  Using the 5 Ws, you’ve speculated that maybe she comes in at 3 a.m. because she spends her days taking care of a sick mother.  Hmm… Now this could interesting.

The point is that after less than 10 minutes throwing some thoughts down on paper, I have several reasons that my main character could be in the pizza parlor at three o’clock in the morning.  I have the makings of several interesting characters, and I have some sensory items I can weave into my scene.

Next time you’re stuck in your writing, grab a blank sheet of paper.  Maybe even some markers or colored pencils if you want to get really fancy.  Start in the middle of a blank page, writing or drawing the idea you intend to develop. This could be a scene, a character or simply a theme you want to build upon.  Let your mind wander and see where it takes you.  You just might end up with a “map” that leads you in new directions.

**Don’t forget to enter the giveaway for the Scrivener for Microsoft Windows software.  I have three (3) licenses up for grabs.  Visit this post for more details.**

Happy writing!

Any man who keeps working is not a failure. He may not be a great writer, but if he applies the old-fashioned virtues of hard, constant labor, he’ll eventually make some kind of career for himself as writer. – RAY BRADBURY

The reason 99% of all stories written are not bought by editors is very simple. Editors never buy manuscripts that are left on the closet shelf at home. – JOHN CAMPBELL

Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any. – ORSON SCOTT CARD

Books aren’t written, they’re rewritten. Including your own. It is one of the hardest things to accept, especially after the seventh rewrite hasn’t quite done it… – MICHAEL CRICHTON

One of my standard — and fairly true — responses to the question as to how story ideas come to me is that story ideas only come to me for short stories. With longer fiction, it is a character (or characters) coming to visit, and I am then obliged to collaborate with him/her/it/them in creating the story. – ROGER ZELAZNY

1. Natalie Aguirre.  Natalie is revising a middle grade fantasy and starting a YA urban fantasy.  You can check out her blog here.
2. BookLover.  BookLover is working on a short Regency romance.  You can check out BookLover’s blog here.
3. Lisa B.  Lisa has a novel in progress that doesn’t get enough of her attention (mostly because of two kids, 4 and 2, who get most of my attention). Check out her blog here

Thanks again everyone and as always, happy writing!***

With all the buzz about Scrivener on my blog in the past few days, the very kind people at Literature and Latte have offered to provide three (3) copies of the Scrivener for Microsoft Windows software for my readers.  In honor of President’s Day weekend in the U.S., I’m offering up these three copies to my readers.  The prize is a digital licensing code which will allow you to instantly license your trial version of Scrivener and use it forever and ever. I will provide the code after I select the winners.  You might want to check out this post for more details about why I’ve fallen in love with the program.

• PRIZE: One (1) licensing code to activate your own copy of Scrivener for Microsoft Windows from Literature and Latte. (3 prizes are up for grabs.) (The licenses are only for Scrivener for Microsoft Windows. Not the MAC OS X version.)
• TO ENTER: Comment on this post with the words “I WANT TO WRITE LIKE A PRO…”
• BONUS QUESTION: … what are working on? … what work-in-progress will Scrivener help you complete? (Answering the bonus question doesn’t get you an additional entry. I’m just curious about what my readers are writing.)
• OTHER WAYS TO ENTER:

1.  You can find me on Twitter.  Become a follower and you’ll automatically be entered again. (If you’re already a follower, just let me know.)

2.  Tweet about the contest  and you’ll receive one additional entry.
“I’m trying to win my own copy of @ScrivenerApp over at @samill1: http://wp.me/p1Ticw-95 You can enter, too! #writing #writetip”

3. Become a follower of the blog.  See that follow form on the sidebar? Yep – that’s the one. (Already a follower? Just let me know in the comments.)

4. Go “Like” my Facebook page and you’ll receive one additional entry. (Do you already “Like” me – blush, blush – just let me know.  Otherwise I’ll track new “Likes” only.)

That’s five entries total including your original comment on the post.

• GIVEAWAY CLOSES: Wednesday, February 22nd at 8pm MST
• NUMBER OF WINNERS: Three
• PRIZE SHIPS: It’s digital, so you can live anywhere to win it.
• FINE PRINT: One entry per e-mail address is permitted. The winners will be selected using random.org and announced on Thursday, February 23, 2012, as an update to this post. That’s right, come right back here on Thursday for the announcement of the winners. Good luck…

Note: I wasn’t paid or perked for this giveaway, I’m just doing it to thank you readers for stopping in. Pictures are courtesy of Scrivener by Literature and Latte. 

I love research!  As a little girl, I used to dream of being locked in a library overnight surrounded by all of my favorite books – fiction and non-fiction.  The makings of a horror movie, I know.  But I was confident that as long as I had light and no scary spirits or monsters, I could indulge my love of reading and research all night. Along with hours spent at the swimming pool and playing “Smear the Queer” with my older brother, I spent my summers writing reports.  Nerdy! I know.  I prefer the term “Intellectual Badass” when referencing my self-admitted nerdiness.  The reports were handwritten pages filled with facts about unicorns or Armenia (not sure where that idea came from) or the humpbacked whale.  I got great satisfaction out of popping my dime into the Xerox copy machine and watching the green-glowing light glide slowly underneath the lid. I’d cut out my grainy black-and-white pictures of medieval triptychs depicting unicorns and paste them on my lined notebook paper.  The final step was gathering up my fact-filled pages and inserting them into the acetate report cover.  Ahhh… such satisfaction for a nerd intellectual badass.

My love of useless and useful facts has continued as an adult. It benefits me greatly in my non-fiction writing life.  Digging up remote facts about the mountain goat pictographs in the Sierra del Presidio area of Mexico, is often just what I need to bring interest to a magazine or newspaper article.

The realm of fiction is where research gets a little dicey.  Many writing teachers and writers will tell you to, “Write what you know.”  If I only wrote what I know, my stories would be populated with 30-something mothers who attend endless PTA meetings, shuttle their kids back and forth to ski lessons and have ongoing battles with their treadmills.  Oh… and maybe sneak in a few hours to write after everyone else is in bed.  Not the makings of a best-selling novel.

I’m a firm believer that knowing what you write is just as beneficial as writing what you know – and more interesting.  Research can give you a solid backdrop against which your novel unfolds.  However, knowing when to say when is the key.  You can spend months searching for just one more fact, but in the end all the facts in the world won’t get that novel written.

With that said, I believe some research is vital to any good fiction writer’s repertoire. In knowing what you write, you can write what you know. Here are a few of my favorite research methods:

1.  Interviews: Maybe it’s my background as a journalist, but whenever I need to know something, I go straight to the source.  Maybe you can’t always write what you know, but you can write what other people know intimately.  My historical fiction novel takes place in St. Louis in 1949.  A dear friend’s mother grew up in the late-30s and early-40s in St. Louis.  An hour spent on the phone with Mrs. W. gave me a notebook full of recollections that I couldn’t find online or in any books.  I spent hours poring over history books, but none had information about the horserace track which was two blocks from my character’s house in University City, Missouri.  Mrs. W. not only recalled the details of the racetrack, but she could describe the ice cream cones she used to buy at the corner drug store on her way to the races. Through interviews with others I was transported back to a time almost 25 years before I was born.

2.  Social Security and Census Records: Did you know that the Social Security Adminstration and the U.S. Census Bureau make their records available online? These are great resources for placing you squarely in a particular time or place.  Let’s say your story takes place in New Orleans.  Your protagonist’s father needs a job. You could guess at iron worker or musician.  OR, you could visit the U.S. Census Bureau’s records for 1932.  The records will give you population, nationality and employment statistics for each ward of the city.  You might stumble upon the one person, an Italian immigrant who was the city’s agricultural manager, supervising the shipments of soybeans and hogs that were exported out of New Orleans to Asia.  What a fascinating job! Just what you need to bring your story to life.

Maybe you need a name for a main character.  Your story takes place in 2012, but your antagonist was born in 1983.  Visit the Social Security Administration’s records and sort by birth year.  You’ll discover lists of the top 20 names for boys and girls in 1983.  Jennifer or Jessica might be just the name you need for your snooty retail clerk who is sucking up for the management position.

3. Newspapers: My favorite!  Newspapers chronicle the daily life of people, providing a glimpse into the everyday minutiae that make our world interesting.  If it were possible to preserve microfiche for millions of years, future anthropologists will have riotous fun studying our daily and weekly newspapers.  Head out to a library and dig in to some issues from the correct time or location.  My 2010 NaNoWriMo novel takes place in a small farm town in central Illinois.  In reading local newspapers, I discovered a pumpkin carving contest that was the perfect setting for my MC’s first paranormal experience.  Thanks to one photo published in the Daily Chronicle in DeKalb, Illinois, an entire scene took shape within minutes.

Newspapers are good for more than just the articles.  I needed products to populate the shelves of my corner drug store in my historical fiction novel.  Old copies of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch provided plenty of advertisements for Amident Toothpaste and the introduction of Cheer no-rinse washing detergent which helped bring my MC’s place of employment to life.

4.  Prospector: My inter-library loan uses Prospector. This program provides access to over 10 million titles from around the U.S.  Books that I can often have shipped right to my local library.  And true to its title, Prospector really is like digging for gold.  Searching by keyword might only produce 40 or 50 titles on a particular subject at my local library.  However, when I push that Prospector button, it’s like waiting for Christmas morning.  I have been rewarded with some of the most obscure titles – dusty, old books read by only a few and shelved away for years.  Those are the books that give me insight into particular time periods or cultures.

5.  Library Archives: Sometimes books and records are too precious (or flimsy) to survive the transport of inter-library or cross-country loan.  that’s when a trip might be in order. We’ll talk about that more in Part 12 of the Novel Writing Prep Series (“The Setting – To trip or not to trip?”).  There’s nothing more fun than squirreling yourself away in library stacks for a day and discovering hidden gems for your story.

For example, one of my characters, Ivy, was taking a train from St. Louis to New York City in 1949.  I could stick her on any old train, but what did I really know about trains and routes in the late 40s.  Instead I was lucky enough to visit the John W. Barringer III National Railroad Library within the St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri – St. Louis.  I stumbled upon an old issue of a railroad magazine.  As a result I could put Ivy on the NY-STL Express (Train #11 which left St. Louis at 7:40 a.m.) or  I could put her on the STL-NY “National Limited” with air-conditioned carrier sleeper cars.  These facts might not be important to some, but I never would have assumed that sleeper cars had air-conditioning in 1949.  This fact turned out to be key to the scene.

In case you were wondering, I didn’t make the research trip just to determine which train Ivy should take.  Two days at the Merc Library gave me pages of facts and figures and the base of research I needed to launch Ivy’s story.  It is this type of research that helps me feel like I know what I’m writing so that I can write what I know.

What about you?  Do you research your subject matter or your characters before you sit down to write? How do you conduct your research? How do you know when enough is enough?

** I’m hosting a Scrivener giveaway.  You might want to check out the giveaway post and enter to win your own copy of Scrivener. The contest closes on Wednesday, February 22 at 8 PM MST. **

When I’m drafting my fiction or my long non-fiction projects, my go-to software is Scrivener*.  Let me preface this discussion by saying that I’m not perked in any way and I don’t receive any freebies from the people over at Literature and Latte, the company that created Scrivener.  I plunked down my own $40US (very reasonable in my opinion) to buy my own version of the program just like the rest of the world.  So no freebies – I just love the program, because it has brought a new level of organization to my writing life.

For a long time Scrivener was only available for Macs, and believe me I didn’t need yet another excuse to buy a Mac.  However, I use a PC and in early 2012, Literature and Latte finally released a full-version of the program for PCs.  You can bet I jumped on board.  Here are the top five reasons why:

1.  Brainstorming with the Corkboard: When I’m brainstorming for a novel, I have a million ideas jotted down on napkins, notebook, iPhone notes, etc.  Scrivener gives me one place to store all of them.  We’ve already established that I’m a visual person (I love Pinterest).  Scrivener’s corkboard gives me a visual way to see and rearrange my scenes and ideas.  I can include notecards, photos and sound clips, and rearrange them to my liking.

2.   Writing Templates: Scrivener comes with writing templates built in.  When I start a new project, I can easily pull up a template for a novel, short story, research proposal or screenplay, and be ready to roll in minutes.  You can even create a file of your recipes using Scrivener’s templates.

My favorite part is the ability to customize my own template.  Yesterday we talked about the 4-part structure which many people use when drafting a novel.  I’ve created my own 4-part Template complete with notes by famous writing craft-gods (like Larry Brooks and Anne Greenwood Brown) to give me reminders of things to think about when I’m drafting my scenes.  I also included templates for characters sketches, sheets on which I can trace my character’s arcs, and even a place for setting descriptions.

3.   Scene Ideas and Keywords: Do you ever have a brilliant idea for a scene, but you don’t know where it will fit in your story? In the Novel Template I created, I have a folder for Scene Ideas.  The folder has two sections: “Ideas to Be Placed” and “Ideas Not Placed.”  The Ideas to Be Placed are scenes that I know will appear in the story at some point.  I just don’t know when and where when I come up with the idea.  The Ideas Not Placed is the folder where I dump all of the other scene brainstorming that doesn’t make the final cut of the novel.  These scenes are sometimes useful during rewrites, might make their way into another book, or might never see the light of day beyond the “Ideas Not Placed” folder.  I can code the cards with keywords (which appear as color bars on the side of the notecards) so that when I’m searching for that perfect scene I dreamt about three weeks ago which applies to the romantic sub-plot, I can sort by keyword and instantly find the notes.

4.  Scene Manipulation: Let’s take the organizational function a step further.  Let’s say your scene ideas are fully fleshed out.  You’ve been hopping around, writing scenes that appeal to you when inspiration strikes - rather than writing in order.  It’s time to place one of your “homeless” scenes.  Open your Scene Ideas folder and drag the appropriate card to the right Chapter folder.  Rearrange your Chapter cards until the scene is in just the right place.  The brilliant part?  Scrivener reorders your manuscript for you.  If you were to print the manuscript, the new scene would appear right where you put it.  No cutting and pasting.  No copying and then hunting for the right spot in your 200-page manuscript to insert the new scene.  Drag and drop the card and the entire scene appears in the right spot.

5.  Research: I love Evernote and Pinterest and my Internet Explorer Favorites folder, but it’s tough to toggle back and forth between five things to find just the right fact or figure.  That’s where the Scrivener Research folder is helpful.  I can save images, PDF files, movies, web pages, sound files—right inside Scrivener.  The split screen option allows me to look at one file while typing in my manuscript simultaneously.  This was hugely helpful when I transcribed hours of interviews for my non-fiction book last summer.

I even have a Scrivener Project file for my Writing Project ideas.  It contains folders for Long Fiction, Short Fiction, Theatre, Children’s Fiction, Articles and Non-Fiction.  This is where I store all of my notes and ideas when I’m in the thick of a project.  Never fail, you’re hard at work on Draft #2 of a magazine article, and an idea for a new novel pops into your head.  I open the Long Fiction folder and start a new file for the novel idea.  I can spend 15 minutes jotting down notes and saving some research links, and I know it will all be waiting for me when my work in progress is complete.

If you haven’t tried Scrivener, Literature and Latte has a free 30-day trial.  Feel free to download my 4-Part Novel Template.  It might just give you the push you need to finish that novel you’ve been dreaming about or reignite your enthusiasm for a floundering project.

FYI – There are a few other free templates (here and here) out there for Scrivener.  One even uses the 4-part structure. Mine is a little different because it includes lots of writing tips from professional writers who are also craft gurus.  It also includes different scene cards, notes on scene development, etc.  Pick and choose the one that works best for you.  Or better yet, create your own to fit your writing style and brainstorming needs.

Click here to download the Scrivener Template zip file. You’ll be prompted to save the file.  Save the Zip file to your desktop or another convenient spot.  Unzip the file and copy the entire folder to the same location.  You must own a copy of Scrivener or have the free trial version to use the template file.

Open Scrivener –> File –> Open –> Open the Folder “Novel STM 4-Part Template.scriv” –> Open “project”.

Once the project is open, you can save it as a reusable template.

File –> Save as Template –> Name the file “Novel STM 4-Part” –> Select Category “Fiction” –> Click OK.

The next time you start a New Project, the template will appear on your list of template choices. Be sure to spend some time playing around in the template.  Expand all of the folders to see the built in options I’ve created (scenes, character sheets, plot point cards, writing tips, etc.)

Hopefully Scrivener will bring you as much joy and organization as it has for me.  Happy writing!

*Some images in this post are from the Literature and Latte website to illustrate the features of Scrivener.

We try to avoid the crowds and we love to cook, so we stay in on Valentine’s Day.  Tonight on the menu:

Cheddar, Garlic and Zinfandel Fondue

INGREDIENTS

• 12 ounces (4 1/2 cups) extra sharp Cheddar cheese (finely grated)
• 2 ounces (1/2 cup) Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (finely grated)
• 1 cup Zinfandel (or another hearty red wine)
• 1 tablespoon corn starch
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup roasted garlic puree (recipe below)
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper flakes

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium saucepan, bring wine and vinegar to a simmer over medium heat.

2. Toss the Cheddar, Parmigiano-Reggiano, and cornstarch in a mixing bowl. Slowly stir in cheese mixture in small handfuls until completely melted. Stir in roasted garlic and season with pepper flakes.

3. Transfer to a cheese fondue pot and keep warm with burner. Serve right away.

Roasted Garlic Puree

DIRECTIONS

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 2 large garlic heads in half, while trying to keep the cloves intact. Pour a teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil over the cut surfaces and put the two garlic heads back together.

2. Wrap in aluminum foil and bake until the garlic is softened (40 to 50 minutes depending on size). Cloves should be a deep beige. Unwrap and let cool completely.

3. Squeeze garlic into a bowl, discarding the hulls. Mash with a fork until smooth. Use for seasoning for fondue or spread onto bread.

We dip french bread, fresh vegetables, steak and chicken in this stuff.  And then we eat the rest right out of the bowl – it’s that yummy! Here’s a link to the actual recipe.

Take a break from your writing tonight.  I’ll be spending some time in the real world with the people I love instead of time inside my head with the characters I love.

How are you spending your Valentine’s Day?

I have learned that there are rules to the acceptance of these awards.  Each award has slightly different rules, but for the purposes of this blog, I’m combining, morphing and creating my own set of rules.

Rules to these awards:

1. Thank the person who gave it to you.
2. Share 7 unusual things about yourself.
3. Share 7 of your worthy posts under the following heads- Most Beautiful Piece, Most Helpful, Most Popular, Most Controversial, Most Surprisingly Successful, Most Underrated, and Most Pride Worthy.
4. Nominate seven other bloggers and notify them.

So… here goes.

Thank you, thank you to Kay at a2realhousewife. I gave you a little bit of information about her above.

Share 7 unusual things about yourself:

1. I was raised in the suburbs of Chicago. As a result of this, I used to say Wis-cahn-sin and even “melk” (milk) and “pellow” (pillow). If you’re from the Chicago area, you’ll get the reference.
2. We lived in St. Louis for two years. While there, we bought a historic house built in 1900. We renovated and restored it ourselves. It was beautiful. It had a wrap-around front porch and a sleeping porch off the master bedroom. Those are two things I’ve always wanted in a house. This house (complete with wrap-around porch and sleeping porch) is Ivy’s house in my 2011 NaNoWriMo historical fiction novel (still in progress).
3. I have a crazy texture aversion that doesn’t allow me to eat anthing that dollops (i.e., mushy things) – mashed potatoes, pudding, sour cream, creamy icing, soft ice cream. These things make me gag.
4. While in college I spent time working on medical teams in the jungles of Argentina and the mountains of Bolivia. I got to pull teeth and perform toe surgery.
5. I once played Veruca Salt in a community theater version of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. I think it was the highlight of my acting career. I play a really good spoiled brat.  I’m not a brat, but I was definitely spoiled. Being the youngest child, and a girl, my parents always let me make the decisions about where we went on vacation, where we went out to eat, etc.
6. I belong to the Dog and Cat Writers Associations of America. I didn’t even know those existed before I started my freelance writing career.
7. I delivered my second son myself in the car on I-70 (the busiest highway in America) while my husband was still driving the car 85 mph. I was in the front seat.

Nominate seven other bloggers and notify them:

1. Crazy Bloggin’ Canuck by Amber.  Amber makes me laugh everyday when she describes her travels and her family’s adventures across the world.
2. I Do Not Like Green Eggs and Ham, I Do Not Like Them Sam I Am by my dear friend Susan.  Susan’s blog takes you on the journey of her infant son who was diagnosed with congenital heart defects.  Today Sam is happy and healthy and getting ready for surgery #2 in 2012-13.
3. One Mom in Maine by Emilie.  I started reading Emilie’s blog when I got into running.  She is more than just a runner.  She is a mother, a teacher, a writer and an inspiration.
4. Kiera Photo by Kiera Dubach.  Kiera is a personal friend and an amazing photographer.  She blogs about her experiences as a photographer specializing in weddings, families and senior portraits.  Love you, Kiera.  (If you live in or near Indianapolis, give Kiera a call.  She also travels to shoot destination weddings.)
5. How About Orange by Jessica Jones.  Jessica is a graphic designer in Chicago.  Her daily posts offer up cute craft ideas and highlight her fabulous eye for design.
6. Proud Living by Natalie.  I already bestowed the Liebster award upon Natalie, but I think her blog deserves a second award.  Natalie is a mother and a brilliant writer.  Her posts make me see my own life and family in a new way.  She makes me want to live more intentionally.  And she makes me laugh, too.
7. Four Obsessions by Kate.  I used to work with Kate years ago in Ann Arbor.  She is a mom, a knitter, a reader, a chef and a writer.  She has wonderul suggestions for books to read and recipes to make.

Many thanks to all of you who make the blogosphere that much more vibrant.  Happy writing, everyone!