#Masterwriter vs scrivener software#
#Masterwriter vs scrivener plus#

There was always a positive, you can-do-it vibe. Unchained Writer members became my cheerleaders and I revised the manuscript. When the manuscript came back, I had work to do…good work. Add in the fact, I was “un-furloughed” and had money coming in again, I sent my child off to lose weight. But as I jogged in place at this milestone marker, a holiday promotion from BookBaby for editing arrived in my inbox: twenty-five percent off. Don’t give up your day job.” I felt like I was sending my ten-year old child off to fat camp. Not only was it expensive (Line Editing is $10 per page), but also what if the editor said, “This sucks.

Not just edited by me or an acquaintance or beta-reader, but by a “I do this for a living, so I’m a pro, pay me” editor. No projectiles taking my vision here either. I got in the grove and wrote the final draft of the first book.Īnd it happened. If getting furloughed was the ignition switch, this group was the gas pedal. I had to meet people daily and be accountable.

It is an online writer’s group that met daily, got your butt-in-chair, and made you write. An advertisement from Joseph Michael (the guy who had the Learn Scrivener course) caught my attention: Unchained Writer ( ). I got up at my normal OR nurse time (3:45…yes…3:45 AM) and wrote. At the perfect time, I heard an interview with the comedian Adam Carolla ( ) Regarding furloughs and being out of work, he said, “You can do the time or the time can do you.” Meaning, use the time in a positive manner. And with the lockdowns, my writers group couldn’t meet.

#Masterwriter vs scrivener plus#

I worked in a busy operating room, but we went from 40 plus cases a day down to 5 to 10 emergency cases a day. Even though I was a nurse, I got furloughed. I languished in the world of second guesses and loss of confidence. It was my own fears of failure and even success that goaded me into putting my tongue (my writing voice) on to the cold metal. But it wasn’t some other kid “triple-dog-daring” me. No, I didn’t “shoot my eye out.” Fear of failure created a procrastination monster that slowed, then halted my progress. I decided I would use BookBaby ( ) and go for the deluxe package. Hey! Who doesn’t like a trilogy? I saved money religiously. I re-wrote said draft dividing it into three books. I wrote an impossibly long rough draft (War and Peace ain’t got nothing on me). I even lead an ill-fated writer’s small group at my church on Saturdays at the local library.

I studied publishing options, marketing strategies, editors, writing coaches.

I went every Saturday and Sunday and days off to a local coffee shop (ironically called Local Coffee now Merit Coffee() and wrote and researched. I joined a local writer’s group here in San Antonio called the Alamo City Writers Group ( ) I brought my meager attempts to them and learned.

#Masterwriter vs scrivener software#

I invested time and money into learning this software (especially Joseph Michael’s Learn Scrivener Fast ( ) I invested writing software packages like Final Draft ( ) Scrivener ( ) and Papyrus Author ( ) I subscribed to an online thesaurus: MasterWriter ( ) My browser bookmarks and history became filled with references and resources. I answered the software’s two-hundred plus questions. I bought software to build a good plot (Dramatica – ). I felt like Ralphie in “A Christmas Story,” save my published novel being my version of his “Red Rider BB Gun with the compass in the stock.” Like poor Ralphie, I schemed, calculated, and worked toward that goal. As an aspiring novelist, I dreamt of the day of seeing my work in the soft colorful cover of a book.