Best Writing Tools, Part 2
In Part 1, I told you I’m picky about my handwriting tools (pens, inks, papers). I’m equally selective about the software I use for writing—odd behavior in my family. My Grandmother was a writer and poet for nearly 70 years. She wrote on and with anything. I have four boxes of her writing in my attic to prove it. Her exact process will be the subject of another post. But it's safe to say she wasn’t burdened by writing tools the way I am.
Writing Drafts
I stopped using programs like Word in the late 1990s because they are bloated. Word’s toolbar gives me a headache. The only exception I make is for my publisher, who requires submissions in Word. They have elaborate processes and macros. Their book production staff lives in Word for editing and publishing. I understand business processes must be followed, or chaos happens.
During the last decade, I’ve oscillated between iAWriter and Ulysses. I use Ulysses when it makes publishing easier (content with lots of tables and photos). When I was blogging for my pre-retirement employer, Ulysses was great for writing blog posts. It made the style they required easier to create.
I prefer to draft in iAWriter. Its syntax and style checking, and focus mode are unintrusive and helpful. It uses standard Markdown syntax. I admire iAWriter’s standard Markdown ethos and minimalist environment—it makes me want to lay words on the screen because it looks and feels better, for reasons I find difficult to express. A feeling. Sprezzatura.
Speedy Note Taking
For quick thoughts, Apple Notes is perfect. Because I live exclusively in Apple’s product universe (Mac Mini, iPad Pro, iPhone, Apple Watch), I can capture ideas anywhere—low friction. Apple Notes used to be crappy. It isn’t any more, and Apple keeps adding features.
Project Note Taking & Note Making
For learning, research, and planning I use Obsidian. Its ability to visually display links between notes graphically attracted me. Like iAWriter, it is a Markdown app. I quickly learned that using Obsidian for all my notes was not wise because it requires linking entries to get a payoff, which made it cumbersome. Linking requires thoughtful effort. By restricting inflow to important projects, I reduce my workload to concepts where linking may provide insight and trigger creative thinking.
I haven’t received much benefit (yet) from the graphical view in Obsidian because I didn’t initially restrict my note-taking and note-making in Obsidian to targeted learning and research. My intuition is that focusing on important learning and research will make the time commitment to linking reasonable. If I don’t get the benefit of novel insights from graphical connections in Obsidian, I expect I will not renew my license, and I’ll use Apple Notes exclusively.
Book Planning and Writing
I’ve written two books (450 & 750 page length) using Scrivener. I like the organization and safety it provides. The ability to create outlines, save notes, keep references for bibliographies, and rearrange chapters in a single environment saves time. I'm the type of writer who must have a title and an outline before I start writing. Scrivener provides an efficient way for me to address this need in one place. Saving multiple versions of text is supported. Scrivener's developer, Keith Blount, was an author first. An author’s sensibility shows in the design and features.
Scrivener’s saving automation was a godsend. While writing my second book, I had a crash (with over 80,000 words and at least 150 illustrations). Scrivener made recovery simple, even though my initial panic arrived as you’d expect.
Editing
Grammarly has been my editing tool for years, but its cost will eventually drive me to ChatGPT for editing. I have an annual license that doesn’t expire until the fall. By then, I will know if ChatGPT or another AI tool can replace Grammarly in my writing workflow. Forking Mad+ posted last month about an interesting writing and editing tool.
What writing and editing tools do you use? Please reach out via email. I love to hear about it.