My favourite writing tool

For the past four drafts of my book, I've written and edited directly into Word. But for the fifth, and hopefully the final, draft I'm using Scrivener to help me scrutinise each and every scene, both in isolation and within context of the whole. You can do this in Word, of course, but somehow the visual nature of Scrivener makes it so much easier. It also organises all your research material within the same screen or window so everything is to hand. No more scrabbling through folders to locate something important. I love this tool and highly recommend it to anyone writing a book (fiction, non-fiction, academic) or a research paper.

I've been working on this book for nearly two years. When I first started writing it, I thought I'd finish within eighteen months at the latest. But I didn't count on three things: 1. Distractions. There is always something else I need to be doing (or others need me to be doing for them). 2. Fear. Fear of completing it because the next draft may be better; fear of completing it and sending it out into the world for fear of rejection; fear of being so stymied by rejection that I don't write another book. 3. Childcare. Looking after little R has been a wonderful experience. I rushed back, by my own choice, to fulltime work when she was just 10 months old so I feel blessed that I've been able to take care of her this past year and a half and experience her life and growth and personality to the full. Now she's four years old and at school fulltime so I can no longer use her as an excuse for not writing. That leaves distractions and fear, which I now have to resolve to ignore. Wish me luck!

PS This is not a sponsored post for Scrivener. They don't need me.