In Which Microsoft Improves My Life (Again) by Nancy L. Eady

 My sister often wishes for a specific sarcasm font. Today’s title would be a good place to use it. 

I have a Microsoft 365 subscription at home and a separate one for work. The subscription is now the only Microsoft Word option available. Once upon a time, you could purchase the program and own the right to use it for as long as you like. It wasn’t cheap, but once you got it set up like you wanted, you could use it that way forever (at least until Microsoft stopped supporting that version of the program.) With the 365 subscription, Microsoft updates Word periodically, changing the program whether or not you want it to. 

You used to be able to avoid the update for a while by saying you didn’t want to do it, but Microsoft wised up to that tactic and now forces the updates on you automatically by catching you when you turn the computer off. One day I was trying to leave my office to head home, and my computer gave me the dreaded “updating” messages, including the exhortation not to turn my computer off. I did it anyhow. I felt so brave and bold defying the universe that way. The computer took it in stride, picking up immediately where it left off when I turned it back on. 

Microsoft’s latest Word version has a most irritating option called AutoSave which automatically and continuously saves everything I am working on while I write. It sounds like a great idea, unless, like me, you tend to start most of your writing using something else you wrote as a template. Because AutoSave comes on automatically, if I pull up a blog post from two years ago because it has the format I want, before I know it, the computer saves whatever I am currently writing over the post from two years ago, leaving me without a copy of my original. 

There are two work arounds to this that I know of. One is to disable AutoSave in your preferences, which is supposed to keep it from popping on without your knowing it. It helps, but certain documents still open with AutoSave due to some super-secret code hidden somewhere in the system. The second work around can be used if you store your files on Microsoft OneDrive. In that case, if the stars align correctly, right click on the file icon in the Internet Explorer window (the window that lists all your folders and files) and select properties and go to “previous versions.” If you’re lucky, the old version of the file (the one saved last before you opened it as a template) is listed there and you can click on it and restore that version. That doesn’t always work; I’m sure there is an explanation as to why sometimes I see versions and sometimes not. I just don’t know what it might be. 

What word processing program do you use? What changes to your word processing program irritate you? Which ones have you found to be helpful?

Tools of the Trade, by Kait Carson

When I find a writing tool that works, my first thought is, how cool, my second thought is, alert the media and tell the world. I consider it a public service.

 

One of my favorite tools is Scrivener. It’s a fabulous program from the Literature & Latte stable that has turned me into a plotter from a pantser. I do not pretend to know all the bells and whistles of the program. There are any number of fabulous classes, Facebook groups, and YouTube videos to teach the finer points for those who want to master the program. When I sing its praises, I suggest that writers learn the basics and then drill down into the aspects that work for them.

 

Initially a pantser, I discovered that the index cards in the inspector are fabulous plotting tools. With the Inspector open, the index cards are displayed on the right-hand side. Because I’m visual, I’ve attached a screen shot of my current WIP as a shorthand explanation. I use the color function for the 

 

index cards to indicate whether the scene is a clue, red herring, red herring resolution, inciting incident, twist, or grand finale. I can see my plot at a glance. This card is red to indicate it is the inciting incident. There are several prompts on the card to describe the content of the scene. All I need to do is connect the dots. Hah, not that simple.

 

Liz Milliron, a fellow writer and former blogmate at Mysteristas, introduced me to the missing Scrivener link. Scapple is another Literature & Latte product. Full disclosure, I’ve had it on my computer for years. I think I bought it in 2016. Never used it as a writing aid. I played with it. It’s a fun program and creates documents similar to mind maps. Until this WIP, I failed to see how it could be used in writing.

 

The events of this year have discombobulated me. I’ve become a full-time writer. Yea! But I’m also a news junky. Boo! Writing has been steady but distracted. Current event distractions and the interruptions of life in general meant I was having a hard time remembering who did what to whom, with what, and why. By the end of each writing session, I’d spent more time scrolling and searching than I did writing. That’s when I remembered Scapple.

 

My stories are puzzles and they revolve around the victim. To solve the puzzle, I have to know my suspects. Then I must know where the clues are going to fall in the story and where the red herrings will lurk. To avoid loose ends, red herrings must be accounted for and my killer revealed by the clues. Ever play the game of Clue? Then you know it can be a challenge to reveal Ms. Scarlett as the murderess in the library with the wrench while Col. Peacock clamors for attention in the hall with the knife. Scapple provides an easy way to organize my suspects, clues, and resolutions in a clear format. 

 

In a perfect world Scapple would integrate with Scrivener via keystrokes. Until it does--or I learn how to use the drag and drop function--I simply print my charts and keep them handy with my notes. Thank you Literature & Latte. Writing made simple. Well, sort of.

 

Do you have programs and tricks that help you keep track of the many moving parts of a story?