Folks. When I got my new (used) computer several months ago it didn’t have Pages, which is what I generally use. From what I could figure out, I was going to have to pay for Pages, so therefore I decided to spend a little bit of time looking into what would be a better writing platform to work with.

A blogger who’s writing knowledge I applaud had mentioned that she uses Scrivener, and she kinda maybe gushed a little bit about various features. Therefore, I decided to do the 30 day trial period.

I might or might not have skipped the tutorial and bumbled my way around for 30 days, using Google and Youtube and having permanent heart-eyes at some of the great features. I might have also spent hours creating the perfect corkboards and working on character sketches and sending screenshots to Hosanna.

And then my trial period ran out. Thankfully, by then I knew I wanted to buy the program. Only, life got busy and so it was a while before I actually was able to input my credit card info and download Scrivener.

By that time I’d kinda forgotten some of what I’d learned through Google and Youtube, and besides, I was working on a re-write, so I didn’t need all the fancy corkboards to get me going. (Although let’s be real: I still wanted them, I just couldn’t justify the long hours on Pinterest.)

The problem is, once I actually had Scrivener, something kinda overwhelming happened:

People. To learn how the program works I’m supposed to read all of this. And although it’s probably not that much, my brain was like No, No, NO! This time at your computer is set aside to write, not to read a bunch of randomness. So I once again skipped the tutorial and, imagine a moose at a tea party, I just leaped in and started adding and erasing and making the whole thing look pretty messed up.

Confusing, right? So, at the beginning of this month, I decided I would take the time to learn how Scrivener works. And guess what? It’s really not as confusing as I thought it would be. It’s actually fun to see what I’m supposed to be doing, and how I’m supposed to be doing it. It also makes the whole program seem that much cooler. Cause, ya know, there really is rhyme and reason for all the little things scattered around on the page.

And now to see how fast I can master being a Scrivener writer…

Do you use Scrivener? If so, what’s your favorite feature?