Comments on: Software… the bane of our lives.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 16:40:04 +0000

For as much as I love gadgets (did someone say shiny things?) my writing organization is still very old school. I use notebooks. I have all my notes printed off the computer, all drafts I’m working from, and all the pictures I use for references stuffed into Mead Flex Binders. I use one per story. I just cannot seem to move to a nearly paperless working environment. I love paper and pens way too much.

I have seen several writers rave about OneNote, I’m giving it some serious consideration.

By: Silke

Silke — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:36:32 +0000

I just really dislike the ribbon in the Office 2007 suite, in Word, all I got was styles - and they took up everything. If they let you customize it, that thing would be absolutely wonderful, but they don’t.
I don’t like to be dictated to how my workspace looks, and I don’t use styles.
I’m sure there are people who love it, who use them all the time. Great for them.
I’ll stick with 2003 until MS lets us customize the freaking thing without having to buy some addon.
On the other hand, OneNote… how did I live without it?! (Or Evernote, which is what I used before, when it was still free.)

By: Kristi

Kristi — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 19:03:24 +0000

I am morally bound to defend software, given that I make my living writing it (nothing commercial that folks buy in the store, however). A weapon is only as good as its wielder, and sometimes it takes some serious practice to really get comfortable with software. The better the program, the more intuitive it will be, but things that are intuitive to one person are complete gibberish to the next person.

Personally, I have not bothered to try any of the writer-specific stuff. I am a Microsoft fan, mostly because of the many, many years that I’ve been using it (and the fact that I have a free-to-me license through my job). I also know how to develop with MS Office, so if I want some kind of custom interface to my Excel sheets or Word docs, I could make one. Office has a lot of power, if you know how to use it. Even if you don’t know VB, between Word, Excel, and Access, you can organize darn near anything.

Again, like my weapon metaphor, an organization system is only as good as the person who creates it. And maintains it. Organizing your writing notes is like organizing your pantry–you can spend thousands of $ on a custom built-in solution, but you still have to take the time to put everything in its place or it quickly becomes a cluttered mess.