GREAT blog post by Nate Dickson, for anyone who’s possibly missed it:
http://www.favoritethingever.com/2010/10/scrivener/
I could do with a jump-start, and Scriv 2.0’s timing could not be more perfect. These past few weeks have been a living nightmare for me and my family, and if I don’t get something to redirect my focus I am likely to be babbling in a corner soon with no hope of redemption. 
In early October my 25 year-old-daughter, the horsey one who is incredibly healthy, was diagnosed with extensive, aggressive breast cancer. It has been an horrific whirlwind of tests, diagnostics, and treatment plans ever since. I kept waiting to wake up every morning and find it was just a horrid dream, but sadly, the reality continues. She is extremely fortunate (if such a thing can be said) to be living in Boston, being treated at Dana-Farber, a Harvard teaching hospital and one of the finest cancer centers in the nation. She also has top-flight health insurance through her college (she’s in her second year of the Ph.D. at Boston College). Most importantly, she is handling this all superbly. She is a young woman of extraordinary courage and grace, and she’s been able to call on her wicked Irish black humor (thank you for passing that on, Mum) and compartmentalize the whole ordeal so that it is only a small portion of her (very active) life. She has a focused, thorough, long-term treatment protocol worked out with her oncologist and breast surgeon, and just these last few days I’m beginning to think that this is something we will learn to handle and live with.
My brain, however, is MUSH. I can’t focus or concentrate. Any dream I ever had of rewriting the novel that three very good agents would like to see a revision of has gone out the window. My protagonist was a young woman recovering from cancer. Up until Kiara was diagnosed, there was NO cancer of any kind in either my or my husband’s family except for my sainted Irish mother who finally contracted esophageal cancer at the age of 79 after working on it by drinking heavily for 60 years.
I will never look at that ms. again.
But I do need to get on with my life, as much for Kiara’s sanity as for my own. So the advent of a brand-new version of Scriv plus the pile of notes on my desk for my next novel (on brain surgery–egads, where will THIS one lead??) may well be my salvation.
If she can keep up with her schoolwork and her horseback riding through this–and she is determined to do so–the least I can do is spend a few hours a day scribbling.
My brain feels like it’s on a bungee cord sometimes.
And I appreciate that. And Jaysen, I meant to mention, virtual hugs are VERY welcome. It really does help to share stuff, and know that compassionate friends are out there (virtual or not). It makes me feel much less alone. I am capable of scaring myself witless if I am left too long to my own imaginative devices.