It took me three attempts to learn to use Scrivener, what is now my favorite drafting software.
I tried to read the instructions and bailed.
I bought Scrivener for Dummies and was too dumb.
What finally got me over the hump was the LinkedIn Learning class.
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And thank goodness I got there. Because I needed it today, as I started what is the fifth draft of a piece for Vox, a story that has changed and morphed since July. I feel like I can barely handle the facts, let alone organize them into a story.
Scrivener helped me crawl my way there. With Scrivener, you don’t have have to just have one big document, you can make individual sections for scenes, paragraphs, whatever, and I used these rearrangeable text tidbits to think through my story one step at a time.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/scrivener1-1.png)
Here are 3 of my favorite things Scrivener does:
1. Through Linguistic Focus, it isolates all the parts of speech, so I can look at just the adverbs, for example, to get rid of most of those, or focus on my verbs to beef them up as much as possible.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/scrivener2-1024x395.png)
2. It has a name generator so that, for example, I can try to finally figure out a last name for my character.
![](https://welcometothewriterslife.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/scrivener3-1024x781.png)
3. It has this pop up that makes an oh-so pleasing sound when you reach your writing goal for the day. There’s nothing I love more than that do-do-DO!
In a thousand ways, Scrivener helps me organize my brain and get the words down.
But it takes commitment.
Now, my novel is in Scrivener. All my research is in Scrivener. I am a Scrivener fan girl.
I tell people it’s like a tank. The first time you get in there, all you see are a lot of buttons and levers. It looks confusing and overwhelming. However, once you know how to drive it, you’re driving a tank. You can bust through anything.
Just like it wasn’t until I learned Adobe InDesign did I realize how rudimentary Microsoft Word was for layouts, you won’t realize how much you’re missing with other word processors until you learn Scrivener.
Plus, I feel really proud of myself for sticking with it. I feel like it’s the professional’s tool, and in dedicating myself to learn it, I have become more of the professional I want to be.
If you’re in the writer’s life for the long haul, I highly recommend it. Especially since, unlike tanks elsewhere in the world, you’re going to use yours for good.