What Writing Tools and Software Do You Use?

by Wendy Tokunaga

I’ve written all of my novels using Microsoft Word. Before and during my writing I do extensive research on the Internet and print out articles and keep them in file folders. Occasionally I like to get away from the confines of my computer and desk. So, instead of heading out with a laptop, I print out my work-in-progress drafts and bring them and my research to a café. While sipping on a green tea matcha latte and trying to avoid purchasing that oversized chocolate chip cookie in the display case with my name on it, I’ll make corrections and notes on my drafts, brainstorm further, re-read articles, ponder and daydream. It’s important for my writing well being to sometimes get away from my home office and computer screen, my working-from-home husband and my demanding Siamese cat.

But lately I’ve been feeling stuck with a revision of a finished novel as well as the beginnings of two novels-in-progress (yes, I am a Gemini). Colleagues and students alike have been raving about Scrivener for years now and the questions come to mind, “What am I missing out on?” and “Is there something I could do differently with the help of tools that will enhance my creativity in ways I haven’t considered?”

It’s not that I haven’t tried a few programs before. But I’m famous for downloading them and then letting them rot on my desktop, saying I don’t have time to learn them and I’ll get to it once I start my next novel. Or I simply use them once, throw my hands up in the air and then forget all about them.

I finally did recently purchase and download Scrivener (very reasonably priced) as well as the Scrivener for Dummies book. Fellow writers told me that I may not need the book—that the online documentation was quite well done, but trust me, I do usually need how-to books as well. I’ve only just begun to explore Scrivener and I find that it seems best for help with becoming better organized and having research all in one place (though not easy to print out, which I guess isn’t the point). It also has a virtual corkboard and index cards for storyboarding, which was fun to play around with, but I couldn’t seem to print that out either or copy and paste the text and take it to the café unless I wanted to print it on actual Avery 3x5 cards.

Organization is not usually a challenge for me. I guess I’m looking also for help with plotting and brainstorming—something that will help me get the ball rolling. I know how to do this intellectually, but I feel that it’s good to have a jump-start and a way to bounce ideas around that will stimulate my creativity. There are other software packages designed with this in mind (The Marshall Plan, Dramatica, etc.) but I have heard these are difficult to learn and perhaps more complex than they need to be. So I guess it’s good to know up front what you want in a writing software and how it is actually meant to help.

Researching on the Internet I see that some writers like to use a variety of tools instead of one dedicated software package. There’s Pro Writing Aid, which is a writing improvement and editing software; Visual Thesaurus; and Evernote, which you can use for clipping scene ideas, notes, photos, etc. And there are many more.

I also see that Scrivener has a way to set a draft and session “target”—a total word count goal that plugs into a deadline. I think this could be useful, if I do indeed end up using Scrivener but it’s also something I could easily set up for myself.

So, girlfriends, what software and tools do you use, if any? Do you utilize any kind of plotting or story development software? What works for you? What doesn’t? And if you do use and like Scrivener, what are the features that you find the most helpful?

Find me at:

www.WendyTokunaga.com

Twitter: @Wendy_Tokunaga

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wendy.tokunaga

5 Tips to Make it Rain Words

By Malena Lott


Confession: I've been in the midst of a word drought since Thanksgiving 2013.  While I had a good run in 2013 publishing Family Charms (women's fiction), Twin Falls (YA) and even a romance novella Sterling & Sloane, only S&S was new fiction. I'd written the other books in prior years and edited and published them in 2013.

I wanted to kick off 2014 with a downpour of new words and a new story, but nada -  no prose precipitation in the slightest.


I knew I needed a plan to make it rain words and get my creative mojo back, but nothing seemed to be helping.


Or was something working and I didn't know it?


It's important to remember as a creative that your stories are always in progress, even if you haven't put the words down on paper. We get our ideas by living, experiencing, interacting with others, watching, listening. What I found was that I had some things to work on before the wellspring of words would flow again.


Finally in the last few weeks, things started coming together. The forecast calls for a new novel. Here's what I did:

1. Work on wellness. Having a lack of energy to write could mean a lack of creative energy, which needs to be fueled by things like adventure, new challenges, good health, positive attitude, clarity and a number of other things. (Here's a great link to a post on 18 things creatives do differently and I identify with all of them.) If your life is feeling dull, get out and explore, connect with nature, make a new friend, work out, eat better, meditate, whatever it takes to fuel your creativity. Take a look at what's going on with you physically and mentally and make the proper adjustments.
   
2. Find a muse. A muse is the source of inspiration for a creative work. When I wrote The Stork Reality, my babies were my inspiration. For Dating da Vinci, it was the original Leonardo da Vinci (who is still my #1 crush). For Family Charms, it was my sisters. For Sterling & Sloane, it was Rock Hudson (specifically his character in Pillow Talk.) Now I've found a real-life muse for my new project and everything has started coming together. Of course the verb “muse” is also highly recommended: deep thoughts and meditation.
   
3. Try something new. One of the reasons I didn't want to write is because I had no story. That sounds tres obvious, but I have to become obsessed with a story to write about it. The compulsion to write must overcome me. Finally, while absently watching the Superbowl this year, a story idea hit me, but it was only a kernel, hardly enough to run with. Yet it remained there waiting patiently for me to do something with it and recently a few other events (and the muse) watered that kernel to where I'm in the correct obsessive-compulsive place to work on it. It's something very different than what I've done before so the challenge is spurring me on.
   
4. Be patient and make the hard choices. If you've read the The War of Art, you know about Resistance. Often our worst enemy to our craft is ourself. Instead of fighting the resistance, step outside of yourself as a third-party witness and see what's going on. Don't judge it. Examine it. What do you fear? Why aren't you going for it? Decide what has to change to make it rain.
   
5. Go for small, more frequent writing stints. The fantasy of being able to write for long stints is really tough for most writers. If you can't write for big stretches, go small and add in more in a day.  I'm starting this new "rain shower"strategy but it will require absolute silence and no interruptions to make it work. Maybe a few thunderstorms will show up along the way.
   

What on this list resonates with you? Share your ideas for pushing past your limits and improving your creative mojo in comments.

Malena Lott is a brand strategist and author of six novels, three novellas and several short stories. She also fuels her creativity with hot coffee, iced coffee, wine, Zumba and yoga. Learn more about her at malenalott.com.

Something Old, New and Borrowed for 2014

by Malena Lott

It's ordinary time. I used to loathe the "in between" — of holidays, life events. I always wanted something to look forward to 

Every woman needs her own power drill. 

- something BIG and bold and photo-worthy.

Now I relish the ordinary day and finding extraordinary moments within each one and I've tried to stop judging a day, a week, a year as "good" or "bad." Now to jumpstart this year, I give you something old, something new and something borrowed to make our writing year a big success.

Something Old:
I get the rights back on Dating da Vinci this summer sometime. I'm thrilled I'll get to give it a new cover, new pricing and control the marketing. And the cool thing about the Internet is even "old" things are new to someone. And my novel Fixer Upper was the first one I self-published in 2010 and it's my top seller now. Pause for a moment and be proud of your past achievements. 

Something New:
I do like to set my intentions for the year so it helps me to come up with a theme to keep me on track. I settled on Get Real, where I've (probably stupidly) committed myself to a weekly blog post and video about a new topic I (and we) can get real about. I started with time because I'm so tired of how much it slips away and am certain I'm the one to blame for any of it being "lost" or wasted. I want to take bolder action with my intentions this year and that means paying attention to what I do and where my mind goes.

I'm currently writing my second Messengers YA book, Genesis, and I know once I commit to daily work on it, I'll love the story again.) I'd like to finish a mystery I started but don't want to commit to that just yet. It might be 2015 and that's okay with me. I also get to edit and publish other writers' work and that's a fun challenge. The story and strategy are my favorite parts.

I think it's important for writers to be broad with their interests, too. We can feel like we live in a cave in a world of all imaginary people. That's why I started a new media site, Sooner Spaces, focusing on stories about stylish spaces and the people behind them in Oklahoma and it's been a blast. I'm getting out of the house, meeting people and getting to be creative in a new way.

Take a deep breath of gratitude that we get the opportunity for creating something new. 

Something Borrowed:
Well, it's not exactly borrowed, but I have set an intention to not buy anything new the rest of this year for me personally. After a closet cleanse, I realized I have loads of extra clothes and if I do need something, I'll try to shop thrift first or actually borrow a friend's. We'll see! I'm also borrowing lots of great advice from people I admire to include in my Get Real series.

Treasuring the things we have help us to feel we have and are"enough."

I'd love to hear your old/new/borrow for 2014 and I hope you'll get real with me this year. No time like the present.

Malena Lott is a storyteller and strategist from Oklahoma. She's written five novels and two novellas under her name, one young adult book under pen name Lena Brown and an advice book, Dance Mom Survival Guide, with co-author Jill Martin. 

Hey, Chula! Come Watch a Telenovela Conmigo! by Wendy Nelson Tokunaga

I’m a firm believer that keeping my mind stimulated can only help foster my creative juices when it comes to my writing life. And one thing I love to do is learn foreign languages. I studied French in high school and Japanese in college, and later lived in Japan and became conversant in the language. I’ve tried tackling Brazilian Portuguese, at least phonetically, in order to sing bossa-nova. Now I’m learning Spanish through an online course. I don’t know what took me so long! Spanish is everywhere in the U.S.—especially in California where I live. It’s so easy to expose yourself to Spanish in restaurants, on the radio and, of course, television (whether broadcast, cable, satellite or Internet!). There’s really no excuse not to try it out and have some fun.

My latest favorite way of studying Spanish is by watching telenovelas (television novels). These are often compared to American soaps and, according to an article from the PBS NewsHour, they did, in part, come about because of the U.S. soap opera. In the 1930s American soap companies began developing dramatic radio programs aimed at housewives and also created shows for the Cuban market. In the 1950s when it was no longer feasible for the U.S. companies to sponsor shows in Cuba, groups of Cuban producers, actors and writers found work throughout Latin America producing telenovelas, which combined some of the American-style soap storytelling with Latin American culture and traditional literature.

Telenovelas offer one big difference from American soaps: they have a definite story arc and, instead of continuing for years and years, might only last one year, or two, or even less. And they are generally shown in prime time and attract family viewers instead of mainly women. Even the most dramatic telenovelas will usually have some comedy relief and although they can be just as preposterous as some American soaps, we do often see deeper character development, unpredictable events, unexpected premises, gorgeous settings and even realistic social commentary. As a writer, I appreciate and can be inspired by this for my own writing.

My current favorite telenovela is from Mexico, Por Ella Soy Eva (For Her, I’m Eva), which stars top actress Lucero in a romantic comedy-drama that takes its inspiration from the American film Tootsie and makes clever statements about the changing gender roles in Mexico along with the seemingly outdated but ever-present culture of machismo. My previous favorite was Soy tu Dueña (I’m Your Owner, or the English title: Woman of Steel), which also starred Lucero, this time as a big-time rancher, suffering many trials and tribulations (of course!) as well as romances with hot men. Muy caliente!

One thing you don’t find too often on telenovelas, though, are English subtitles, but English-language blog recaps like Caray, Caray can come to the rescue in a big way. I admit that at the moment I can only understand about 35 percent when I watch, and what I do is turn on the closed captioning. This gives me what the actors are saying in Spanish, which greatly helps my practice. If there are words I don’t know, I jot them down to look them up later.

Have you ever watched a telenovela? Have a favorite soap? Studied soaps in a foreign country to learn the language? (I did that with “home dramas” in Japan and my character Midori Saito in Midori by Moonlight watched them in the U.S.). Or have soaps helped inspire your writing?

Hasta pronto!

Wendy Nelson Tokunaga is the author of the novels, "Midori by Moonlight"and "Love in Translation" (both published by St. Martin's Press), and the e-book novels, "Falling Uphill" and "His Wife and Daughters," and e-book short story, “The Girl in the Tapestry.” She's also the author of the nonfiction e-book, "Marriage in Translation: Foreign Wife, JapaneseHusband." Her short story "Love Right on the Yesterday" appears in the anthology "Tomo," published by Stone Bridge Press, and her essay "Burning Up" is included in "Madonna and Me: Women Writerson the Queen of Pop." Wendy holds an MFA in Creative Writing from University of San Francisco and teaches for Stanford University's Online Writer's Studio Novel Certificate Program. She also does private manuscript consulting for novels and memoirs. Follow her on Twitter at @Wendy_Tokunaga, friend her on Facebook and visit her website at: www.WendyTokunaga.com

Writing Down Your Soul

By Malena Lott

Have you ever had a book that screamed at you from the postage-stamp sized cover on the computer screen? That happened to me last month with WRITING DOWN YOUR SOUL by Janet Conner about her process of deep journaling, which she says has the benefits of journaling, prayer and meditation all rolled into one.

As a writer, I’m drawn to anything that will enhance my creativity and clear my cluttered mind to make way for new ideas and guidance and connecting with the Voice – you know, the all-knowing, Higher Self Voice that seems to know what's best for us. What I found fascinating wasn’t her how-to or process on deep journaling, but rather the research and interviews in the book with experts on theta waves. And, get this, artists, when we are deep into our creative endeavors, we’re riding the same theta waves that monks surf when they are meditating. This photo is my little zen spot in the spot where I sit under the tree with my morning cup of coffee and try just to "be," which is hard some days!

I’ve written before about the zen of writing – and am now also writing about zen, period – but Conner’s book had some nice takeaways for writers, whether we’re trying to tap into our books or ourselves, which we know can more often than not be the same thing.

1. On the subconscious mind: She quotes Bruce Lipton, from his book, THE BIOLOGY OF BELIEF, “When it comes to sheer neurological processing abilities, the subconscious mind is millions of times more powerful than the conscious mind.” (See, writers, plenty of room for our characters to roam!)

2. On listening to the Voice: “Listen beyond the story to the story behind the story – the deeper joys, deeper sorrows, the deeper fears.” (A necessary step in our character’s goal, motivation and conflict and determining a story’s theme.)

3. On asking “why” (when whining): “The truth is, there is no one to blame…The sooner you give up the victim mentality, the sooner you can dive into and explore your soul’s truth.” (Something to chew on while we’re waiting for that big break and bestseller.)

My favorite part of writing is the discovery – the journey my characters and stories take me on. It’s also my favorite part of marriage, motherhood, friendship and work. I’ve realized I can’t force anything to happen – if anything, the more I resist it, the more it feels like quicksand. By opening up space for creativity to flow, I’ve got plenty of room for more.

What about you? How do you try to connect with your Voice?

Malena Lott is the author of several women's fiction novels and works as a brand and creative strategist. Her e-book novella, Life’s a Beach, about two unlikely friends and one bad case of karma, is available for Kindle, nook and Apple. Visit her blog about mojo, zen and creativity at www.malenalott.com.

Leaping into the future

Here it is, February 2011, and I'm wondering how in the heck that happened. For one thing, 2011. That's like science fiction time. How did I get here?

I've got a big list of goals for 2011. In addition to the perennial vow to lose weight, I also want to get my purple belt in Kajukenbo. This mixed martial art pretty much goes against the grain of everything I think about myself: as uncoordinated, klutzy, and slow. Yet at the end of every session, I come out with a big grin. I've even learned to spar.

Writing wise, I'll have a new book out in the series I co-write with Lis Wiehl. They are even going to put foil on the cover for Heart of Ice (a big deal because it costs more). In terms of creating books, I'm going to start a new adult series as well as a new YA mystery or thriller of some kind. Both of those are totally up in the air, and I'm trying to brainstorm about both of them the same time. Even though I have ten books out (11 if you count Heart of Ice), I still get nervous each time I start something.

But, looking ahead, I think everything in 2011 will circle back to one thing that no one likes to talk about: death. December 29, 2010, my dear friend was diagnosed with Stage Four pancreatic cancer. She is four years younger than me. The next day, as I drove her home from the hospital, she asked me in a small voice, "This is terminal, right?" I answered honestly. I told her I will be there for her and her family all the way to the end. (The hard thing is that there isn't a lot she needs, and the things she needs, like more time and better health, no one can give her.)

The news rocked me. My first somewhat irrational reaction was to go through my closets and cupboards, purging things to give to Goodwill. I remembered how after my grandmother died her belongings looked cheap and useless and worn. I imagined my own teenage daughter faced by heaps of my things, my ravioli press and the books I will probably never read and the blouse I haven't worn for three years. (She later told me gently: "Don't worry. I'll deal with your stuff if you die.")

More recently, I find myself grappling with concepts I normally avoid: my own death, the eventual death of everything, our purpose on this earth, the meaning of suffering, etc.

A few weeks ago, I had one of those college dreams - you know, where you realize you are enrolled in college, but you haven't been to any classes, and you can't find your way to the right building, and then when you finally do find it and then the right classroom (which is always tucked away in a confusing place), people are taking a final on material you know nothing about?

And one of my classes was an art class. I'm not an artist, not a visual one, anyway. My stick figures don't even look like stick figures. And the other students were already rendering beautiful oil portraits.

In my dream, I despaired. But then an administrator said, "We have a special class for you. We'll transfer you into it."

The class? Making art from garbage. We were opening up plastic bags filled with garbage and spreading out the contents on the floor to see what we could use. And it actually worked. I was making beautiful art from garbage.

I think that might be what 2011 is all about: figuring out a way to make art. Not in spite of garbage, but from it.


Sigmund Freud said that love and work are the most important things. I keep coming back to that. This year I want to love even more than I have before - and write something amazing. (Maybe even two somethings.)