We survived Day Three of the 2011 NaPiBoWriWee! Hooray for us! 🙂  Did you finish 3 picture books in 3 days? If so, CONGRATULATIONS! If you are still treading water and struggling to stay in the game… YAY! HANG IN THERE!!! Remember, often it’s not about the goal. It’s about the JOURNEY to that goal. NaPiBoWriWee makes you a stronger writer. So keep the faith and keep writing. Don’t feel bad! Feel PROUD that you are crazy enough to join me on this nutty adventure.

For those of you keeping track at home, I wrote one picture book on Sunday, I had an idea that I scribbled down but didn’t write a draft for yet on Monday night. So this morning, I wrote a STINKY first draft of Book No. 2 before I went to work, and tonight I just wrote a third STINKY first draft. So I’m caught up. 3 for 3! But my books are different this year: the first year, I did a mix of fiction and non-fiction. Last year, I only wrote 4 books because I was so overwhelmed by managing/running NaPiBoWriWee so I couldn’t get more than 4 done. This year, I decided my goal will be to write 7 picture books about CATS. They will be for YOUNGER children, so they don’t have to be super long drafts this time around. (I tend to write for older children, especially my background as a published non-fiction picture book biographer, so my Lee & Low books are rather lengthy). So for me – 7 Cat Picture Books In 7 Days! LOL! 🙂 Crazy Cat Ladies rule! (NOTE: Here’s a great list of cat-oriented picture books from the awesome Cynthia Leitich Smith: http://www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/favorites/by_genre/kitlit/kitlit.html)

And to inspire you further (shameless plug) – check out our new souvenir 2011 NapiBoWriWee Notebook at our CafePress store. I am writing in mine right now! http://www.cafepress.com/napibowriwee.530725193

Tonight’s blog is about WRITING SOFTWARE PROGRAMS. I know most people use Microsoft Word – an industry staple. I use Word quite a bit. But I’ve recently discovered some fun new writing software programs that have opened up my writing and given me more creative free reign. These programs are: SCRIVENER and OMM WRITER. Maybe these programs might help you overcome your writers’ block if you’re facing a blank computer screen… 🙂

(Keep reading after the jump to find out more about Scrivener and OMM Writer…)

COOL WRITING SOFTWARE PROGRAMS

SCRIVENER: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/

I have a few writer pals who recently joined the Scrivener cult. They insist this writing software program is PERFECT for fiction writers.

I was curious, so I checked out their website. Here’s how they explain their program:

“Your Infinite Desk. The main interface features everything you need to organise, write, edit and locate the different parts of your text. On the left, the “binder” provides the main navigation tool, displaying everything in the project in an easy-to-organise hierarchy. You can now also maintain and view separate lists of documents here by creating Collections, which appear as tabs at the top of the binder. Search results can be saved as Collections, too, giving you quick access to your most frequent searches. To the right of the binder, the outliner presents selected portions of your structure in more detail, showing a synopsis of each document. The rows can be assigned label colours, helping you see related documents at a glance. The standard editor interface occupies the right side of the split. This rich text editor features many tools for writing, formatting, and annotating your work. The inspector on the right shows the selected document’s notes, along with its meta-data and synopsis index card. The inspector also houses a document’s keywords, reference links, snapshots and comments and footnotes. Finally, a PDF has been opened in the foreground using Scrivener 2.0’s QuickReference feature.”

In a nutshell, instead of creating a lot of separate folders to hold all your Word files, you can have everything in one document. You can store your research, your website links, your photos, your notes, sketches, etc. in a Scrivener document along with the actual manuscript and different versions of your manuscript (original draft, revisions etc.). Think of it like a giant Trapper Keeper binder. LOL! (That’s a Gen X reference. For those of you who do not know what a Trapper Keeper binder is, go here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trapper_Keeper)

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. So here are three pictures of what Scrivener LOOKS like below. I hope this whets your appetite or spikes your curiousity to check out Scrivener as a possible new writing platform for you to use!

For more information on Scrivener and to download or test out an app, go here:  SCRIVENER: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/

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OMM WRITER: http://www.ommwriter.com/

OMM WRITER is a new software program that I found out about recently from my awesome website designer/creator Greg (he’s the genius behind paulayoo.com!).

Turns out OMM WRITER Is a very simple program. Basically, it just takes over your entire computer screen so all you see are these spare, wintry trees against a snowy zen landscape. (Or you can choose among other equally zen-like landscape backgrounds). You can’t check your email or surf the Internet or play Solitaire. All you can do is WRITE. It provides a simple text file so you can write undisturbed for as long as you want. They also have fun sounds you can choose for how your keyboard clicks sound (I like the little bell glass sounds) and a variety of ambient sounds and New Age type music (my favorites are the cello and piano tunes). The ambient sounds include things like a heartbeat in the womb and the sounds of turning the pages of a book in a library.

OMM WRITER’s website describes their software like this:

“A wise man once said “We are all at the mercy of our wild monkey minds. Incessantly swinging from branch to branch.” With multiple windows and applications all vying for our attention, we have sadly adapted our working habits to that of the computer and not the other way around.OmmWriter Dana is a humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.OmmWriter is a simple text processor that firmly believes in making writing a pleasure once again, vindicating the close relationship between writer and paper. The more intimate the relation, the smoother the flow of inspiration.If you are a scriptwriter, blogger, journalist, copywriter, poet or just someone who enjoys writing, welcome back to concentrating.”

Here’s a screenshot to show you what OMM WRITER looks like:

Cool, huh? I tried this program out and OMG. It totally worked. I was able to write 1000 words a day just using this program. I then would transfer the text into SCRIVENER. I use OMM WRITER for first drafts and SCRIVENER for the research, outlining, and revision process. I also started taking yoga (more on that in another post), so OMM WRITER is totally blissing me out, man! LOL! 🙂

For more info on OMM WRITER, go here: OMM WRITER: http://www.ommwriter.com/

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So it’s off to bed soon with Oreo, Beethoven, and Charlotte! How was your Day Three? I’d love to hear your comments on what kind of software writing programs YOU use. Do you write by hand in a notebook? Or do you prefer the computer? Have any of you tried Scrivener or OMM WRITER? Do you have any other cool writing software programs you like to use? I look forward to your comments on this topic.

Stay tuned for tomorrow’s GOOD MORNING blog where I discuss another writing craft issue, and another Guest Author blog at noon PST and of course tomorrow night’s Bedtime Blog. Tomorrow May 4th will feature Guest Author TARA LAZAR!

Until the next blog… HAPPY WRITING! WRITE LKE YOU MEAN IT! 🙂