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| One project synced across three devices—laptop, iPad, phone. |
by Julie Tollefson
Writing on the road—or anywhere, anytime—just got easier for this Scrivener fan.
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My office at the Seagulls Resort, Townsville, Australia.
The addition of a full-function external keyboard makes
writing and editing on the iPad a breeze.
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This summer, Literature & Latte released the long awaited Scrivener app for iOS, freeing my favorite writing program from the confines of my laptop and unlocking new possibilities for mobile writing. Now, wherever I am, I always have my manuscript-in-progress with me. No need to scribble bits of dialogue on random scraps of paper. I can open Scrivener on my phone and type directly into my manuscript. No need to copy and paste chunks of text from a note-taking app on my iPad when Scrivener now lives on that device, too. When I do return to my laptop, any changes I’ve made on one of my mobile devices syncs there through the magic of cloud storage.
My first experience with syncing Scrivener projects across phone-iPad-laptop—during a mostly unplugged week in Louisiana in 2012—involved a clunky process, two apps, a couple dozen scenes divided into individual files, and a lot of patience. At the time, I thought it was awesome, life changing. I wrote about it for a now-defunct tech blog at my day job: “I now know I can move back and forth between my iPad and laptop almost seamlessly to finish this project, making it much more portable. Whenever I have a few minutes—track meet, orthodontist, wherever—I’ll be able to continue writing.”
Such wide-eyed innocence! Such optimism!
Now, though, the possibilities I envisioned four years ago are realized in Scrivener for iOS. And because these days my iPad is also my go-to e-reader, my writing projects and books travel with me on one slim device, a little more than half the size of my laptop. When we traveled to Australia this summer, I carted along more than a dozen books and a couple of in-progress manuscripts and still kept my luggage to one carry-on bag.
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| The view from my Louisiana bayou cabin office, 2012. |
Technology has sure made it easier to write anytime, anyplace. I wonder what the future holds. In four years, will we look back at this post and marvel at its naïve optimism?
How has technology changed your life as a reader or writer?
Oh, how wonderful. I'm a Scrivener addict, but I haven't tried moving the program to either my tablet or my phone. My concern? So many early good ideas don't work well during the early days. Now, I'll have to try it. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteTechnology is such a mixed blessing. I can be much more productive in some ways and waste such an incredible amount of time when a piece of software breaks.
ReplyDeleteWe’ve become more productive and more anxious.
I use Scrivener for my early drafts, but in the end convert to Word for the final editing and formatting as I am more comfortable with that program.
~ Jim
Kait - It's early days yet, but so far I have not had a problem with syncing my manuscript across all three devices. I'm optimistic!
ReplyDeleteJim - I love how easy it is to move scenes and bits of manuscript around in Scrivener. My early drafts are so messy, I can't imagine how I would ever finish a first or second draft in Word. But I use Word for final editing and formatting, too. It makes sense when a Word doc is required for most submissions.
ReplyDeleteIdeas for the future. I'm learning how to take photos on my new phone, though I need a way to do close-ups.
ReplyDeleteHi Julie, I love your vacation offices. You know how to live! I used Scrivener for the last novel I wrote and had problems when I converted it to Word. That spooked me, so I went back to using just Word for Book Two and now I really miss Scrivener! My takeaway has been that using a new program when you are on a tight deadline is not a good idea. I'm looking forward to some down time so I can really dive into Scrivener and explore its functionality.
ReplyDeleteJulie, I have moved from longhand writing to the computer except for my poetry, but I find I can only write in my library. I've tried it on vacations, at a writers retreat or a writing class, but my mind freezes up. I've never tried Scrivener. Like Shari, I don't want to take the time to learn something new. I don't have enough time to commit to writing as it is.
ReplyDeleteOnce upon a time, long, long ago, I used to enthusiastically embrace technological advances that were to make my writing easier.
ReplyDeleteEventually I realized that by the time I mastered each new development, it was outdated and replaced by something "better." Now I only make the changes I absolutely need to, and that reluctantly.
I'm glad other people are keeping up, thought.
I just got another 400 Error bad request when I posted a comment. Technology is a mixed blessing. I saves and wastes our time. Good luck with going back and forth. I hate typing on my phone. Fat fingers, I guess.
ReplyDeleteMargaret - When you find a good way to do close ups with your camera, let me know!
ReplyDeleteShari - I still don't use even a fraction of Scrivener's features. I love being able to move scenes around and see the structure of the document. I like to color-code scenes (different colors to indicate draft, revised, ready for CPs, dumbest thing I've ever written...). I've had a few issues with converting to Word, but most of them have been easily fixed.
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ReplyDeleteGloria - I usually write in my library. That's where I'm most productive. But if my husband comes in to work at his own desk while I'm writing, I suffer the same brain freeze as you. Yet I also write in coffee shops surrounded by strangers and that doesn't bother. Isn't it funny how our brains work?
KM - Your story reminds me of a time a few decades ago when I worked as an editor in a technical writing department. At the time, Word and WordPerfect were competing to be the writing software of choice, and every year, one of them came out with a new version that had all the bells and whistles a writer could want. Our department flip-flopped back and forth between Word and WordPerfect every year. I remember it as a nightmare: Learning new software every time we switched, converting old documents from one to the other and then back again the next year.
ReplyDeleteEB - I'm not a fan of typing on my phone, either. It works in a pinch, but I wouldn't want to use it as my main writing tool. I have friends, though, who have composed huge chunks of their novels on their phones. Whatever works, I guess. :)
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