I started writing a book 2&1/2 years ago.  I got 70,000 words in to it, and wrote a very emotional chapter.  So emotional, in fact, that I had to stop.  I doubted my ability, and my right, to write something so emotional about something I have no experience with.  Two months ago, I resumed, and finished the first draft with over 200,000 words.  I'm halfway through second draft edits and additions.

For the 2+ years I spent not writing, I constantly thought of ideas, and I now have rough sketches for two sequels.  But my intention is it write both sequels, each possibly exceeding 200,000 words each, before I even attempt to get published.  As I write, the story changes, and I want the tale to complete.  I don't want to change my mind about something, only for it to be too late to change.  So I work at editing volume one, knowing that it will be ages before I finish.

I'm not writing to publish.  I'm writing to get the story out of my head.  But its addictive.  Not only do I have the two sequels planned, but I've had rough ideas for three different prequel trilogies.  That's nine more books, although each nowhere near the length of the primary books.  And I've got a completely separate series in mind, which would span 5 stories.

I'm afraid that it will never end.  Or worse, I'll finish, only to be told it's not good enough.  I have no-one in my life that would be a beta reader for the story, so I have no concept of how others would feel about the work.  I have friends and family that could read it, but the subject matter isn't something they'd be interested in.  For all I know, I could write 600,000 words (mostly consisting of 'uh' and 'um') and finally send it off, only to be told that its not worthy. 

So I'll write it for me, and take solace in the fact that it's good enough for its intended audience.

That might be Scrivener: http://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.html


That's it! - Mickey

I read this post a while back, and I can't tell you how much it helped me.  I'd only worked on short stories before, and wanted to work on a book.  Doing it with MSWord was looking like a headache, so I came here to see what others used.  I checked out Scrivener, used it for the trial period, and have been hooked ever since.

I'm still working on the book, and Scrivener (for the PC) has been a tremendous help.  I love the layout, and the way the manuscript works, it makes everything easy.  I've got character templates set up, and the story broken into different acts/folders with a new text page for each chapter. 

If anyone is just getting started, I'd recommend taking a look at Scrivener.  It's probably not for everyone, but I'm fairly disorganized, and its helped keep me going.