Writing Tools: Scrivener and Bookends

Part of my preparation for the start of grad school – in case you missed it, I’m starting an MFA in Creative Nonfiction at the University of Kings College this summer – is to figure out the best tools to support and organize my writing.

When working on my PhD and my memoir, I use Scrivener for writing. I find it lets me be both organized and disorganized at the same time. Sometimes the disorganization is what my brain needs – that is, just a place to dump ideas. But after a while, I need to get organized, or I cannot find things. And so, I’m organizing my Scrivener files and planning where each different type of writing will go.

Next is citation management. In my PhD I used Bookends. It is a Mac only option, so isn’t often seen in the list of recommendations for citation software, but I’ve found it to be both flexible and very robust. However, since it has been a few years, I wanted to see what my other options were. I did a little research and confirmed that Bookends is still the best choice for me. One of the reasons it works for me is because it works with Bookends, where other software doesn’t.

I’ve done some testing with short bits of text, and it works OK. It isn’t perfect for longer bits because I have yet to figure out how to carry over my MS Word footnotes into Scrivener. I will need to explore that further.

I expect that my writing process will change as I work more on figuring out the style of writing I want to use in my various memoirs, as I shift from echoing a blogging format more into a narrative format.

For what it is worth, here is my current process. I’m open to suggestions on how to improve it.

In Scrivener:

1. Write a first draft. I have taken Stephen King’s advice to heart and I write a crappy first draft.
2. Edit draft until I feel it is ready. To help with editing, I use the Mac built in text-to-voice tool. I listen to what I have written and make corrections where needed. This really helps to point out where my brain is filling in words that aren’t there, or where I have the wrong word typed in.
3. Compile into a Microsoft Word document.

In Microsoft Word:

1. Run a Bookends Scan. This converts any of my footnotes and in-text citations into Chicago style formatted citations.
2. Run a spelling and grammar check. I run through the text again using the MS Word spelling and grammar. Although I have both Scrivener and MS Word setting for Canadian English, they each seem to pick up different things. MS Word grammar check also makes suggestions for when I’m being too wordy, which fortunately, isn’t too often. I’m learning from it!
3. Listen using text-to-voice. I do one more run through with text-to-voice and make final updates.

In Scrivener:

1. Import the Word document back into Scrivener. I store my final document in Scrivener. I have folders for text that has been published into blogs as well as submitted to various writing competitions. This makes it easier for me to figure out if I have previously “published” or “submitted” works.

Do you have any suggestions for how I might improve my process?