Hi
I’m a non-fiction writer and have bought Scrivener in desperation as I’m way behind on a deadline.
I write articles and books on the subject of family history. I’ve just finished a book on adoption research, which was a year late (publication in August). Due to life events and crises, including starting a new job and a death in the family, I now have four months left to write a 50,000 word book, which is also a year late - I’ve signed a contract, had an advance and an extension so this is it. I teach 3 days a week, run a business, have a family (husband, 2 kids aged 19 and 21 - both at home at present, plus elderly parents). Therefore, I need to try and go against my disorganised, creative nature and be structured and disciplined.
Any advice, tips or helpful experiences would be great.
Thanks!
Sounds like you’ve got quite a handful to manage!
I have no doubt Scrivener can help you in numerous ways. As you are very pressed, you will probably want to focus on the basic features of Scrivener that you need in the short term and leave the fancier stuff for learning later.
Scrivener’s ability to keep all the pieces of your work in progress together and at your fingertips in the Binder is all by itself a great boon – and likewise its way of letting you think of your work in any size chunks (documents) you want (not to mention the ability to easily move them around).
Good luck!
gr
Thanks!
Yes, went through the tutorial last night and was a bit daunted by all the features so will keep it simple. Forgot to mention what I’ve written so far - here’s the publications page of my website:
people-search.co.uk/publications.html
The book just finished is on adoption and the one I’m writing is called Tracing Your 20th Century Ancestors - publisher is Pen & Sword.
Karina, by the way, is a pseudonym, for when I actually get time to write that novel…
Karen
I suggest you try compiling early, well before you’re done writing and need everything in Word or PDF or whatever format. Don’t leave figuring that aspect of Scrivener to the last minute! Come back with questions about how to get the compile to do X or not do Y, and get that sorted out before you’re done with your initial draft.
I endorse all that the others have said, with emphasis on two pieces of advice…
At the risk of suggesting something not relevant to your style of writing, I’ll add that using the binder to structure a piece and then chunk it right down to tiny, manageable, bits helps maintain balance between the big-picture overview (overall structure, visible in the binder) and focus on the immediate text (detail, visible in the editor). This is especially helpful with a tight deadline and the associated, ever-present, risk of overwhelm. The good part is that, in Scrivener, you don’t need to do all of this in advance – simply start with the structure you know, and add the rest as needed.
Lastly, having been in a (slightly) similar situation when completing my thesis, I humbly offer the following suggestion: write every day. I wrote 500 words, but even a couple of paragraphs helps. It maintains momentum and keeps the content in mind so it’s easier to get started the next day. Probably unneeded advice (I’m sure you have your strategies), but presented in case it is of use.
I wrote a reasonably long (by my standards) post and then went back and read the original question and realised I’d gotten completely the wrong end of the stick. So I won’t post it here, suffice to say that it could all be basically boiled down to the following phrase: You can do this!
