SCRIVENER REVIEW

The Must Have All-In-One Writing Software for under $75

​I love love love SCRIVENER

This is the #1 tool I recommend for writers and educators. It's an affordable piece of software that allows you to brainstorm, organize research, draft, organize, revise, revise, revise ALL IN ONE PLACE.

​I first bought Scrivener​ in 2012 to write my dissertation.

I brainstormed, drafted, revised, revised, and revised that dissertation (and various offshoots: articles, conference papers, writing samples) on Scrivener.

I quickly realized how powerful this tool was and I started using it for everything: poetry manuscripts, job applications -- even wedding planning!

Read on to learn more about how I use Scrivener, to see Scrivener in action, and to discover how YOU can use Scrivener to transform your own writing life!
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Here's a peek at what Scrivener can do:

Scrivener's Core Concepts from Literature & Latte on Vimeo.

I've used or am using Scrivener for the following projects:

Teaching

• Curriculum & Lesson Planning

Creative Writing & Publishing

• Poetry Chapbooks (Words or Water and Nuyorico, CA): drafting, (re)ordering, & compiling
• Creative Writing -- poems, essays, picture books, blog posts: drafting, revising, organizing (drafts, submitted, published)
• Submissions: cover letter templates, bios of different lengths, call for submissions, lit journal information, log of submissions & decisions

Scholarly Writing & Publishing

• Dissertation: research through completion
• Scholarly Articles

Professional

• Website: drafting, organizing, storing materials featured on my website
• Applications (Jobs, Fellowships, Residencies, Grants, Conferences): organizing materials, drafting, revising
• CV: updating, revising, (re)organizing (imagine moving parts of a CV around without cutting and pasting)
• Board meetings: meeting materials, notes, and reimbursements

Personal

• Wedding Planning​

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​With SCRIVENER, you'll enjoy...

• No more hunting down your word count (there's a word counter on the main screen and you can set target notifications).

 

• No more struggling to organize your documents (with a drag-and-drop interface, you can organize and re-organize easily).

 

• No more clicking back and forth between countless documents (all your files are organized on the left and you can move between screens with ease--no opening and closing needed).

 

• No more distractions from the rest of your computer (hello "compose mode" -- a full screen blank screen so you can focus on writing!).

 

• No more wondering where that one quote you read and wrote down two months ago went (Hello Search Function!).

 

• No more cutting and pasting to move your conclusion section to the intro section to see if that works better (Hello Drag & Drop!).

 

• No more wondering if that earlier version is better than the current one (Hello Split Screen!)

TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE?

I genuinely love Scrivener but it is not for everyone. Below are two downsides that might be a deal breaker for you.

1. It can be overwhelming to learn

For one thing, Scrivener has so much functionality that it can get overwhelming fast. 

I did two things to overcome the overwhelm:

1. I scheduled a few hours to go through the Scrivener designed tutorial. This allowed me to learn the basics and to identify the features that were most relevant to me and my work.
2. I got really good at using the features that were helpful for me and *ignored the rest.* Yup I don't use Scrivener to its full potential and that's just fine.

As long as you are in a position to set aside a few hours to learn the software (knowing it will give you back those hours in the future), it's a solid investment in your writing life.

2. It is not made for formatting

The other thing about Scrivener that doesn't bother me personally, but might be a deal breaker for others is that it IS NOT made for formatting. It is primarily an early writing tool: research, brainstorming, drafting.

​Once you're ready to finalize a manuscript you will want to move your work onto Word or Google Docs or some other word processing program to get the font, margins, page breaks, etc just right. 

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Want to see Scrivener in action? Check out this brief tutorial:

Getting Started - Finding Your Way Around from Literature & Latte on Vimeo.

​I can't recommend SCRIVENER highly enough.

​There is a learning curve, but once you get the hang of this powerful tool, it will be hard to remember how you got things done without it.

​Get your SCRIVENER on today!

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