My Writing Tools
From Software to Pencils, Here Are My Current Favorites
I spend a lot of time with my tools every day, and I often field questions from both writers and readers about what I use to make my business hum. I am an inveterate first adopter, so my tools tend to change from year to year. But there are several that are inviolate, and you can see them below.
ACCOUNTABILITY: I use daily word trackers (i.e. Excel spreadsheets) from graphic artist Svenja Gosen. I love to track my progress, and using these gorgeous Excel spreadsheets has become a must for me. I use one for Fiction and one for Non-Fiction, and fill them in nightly. It makes my annual reviews so much easier to calculate!
WRITING ON THE LAPTOP: Scrivener is my go-to writing program. Highly scalable, easy to use, it’s the finest writing software available. Plus, their Project Target tools allow me to set a deadline and see exactly what my daily word count needs to be. Every book and treatment has their own Scrivener file from the moment they’re conceived, to capture everything. I recently did an interview with Kirk McElhorn on Write Now with Scrivener, so if you’re even moderately interested in this software, allow my enthusiasm for it to convince you. We also discuss my writing process, the way I structure my time, and how I juggle all the projects I’m working on.
WRITING ON THE GO: Scrivener for iPad - The best app invention ever, hands down. I love that I can write on the go without dragging my laptop and chargers along. It’s streamlined my process and lightened my backpack!
ZONING OUT FOR SAID WRITING: Freedom. Oh, how I love Freedom. I use Freedom to turn off my access to social media, news sites, and other Internet wormholes so I can turn my brain on. I’ve written over two dozen books with Freedom in my life, and I hope it’s by my side as I write dozens more.
JOURNALING: Day One, which I use for a number of things, including journaling, keeping track of major events and minor triumphs, and capturing ideas. It’s beautiful and easy to use, plus syncs across all devices. It’s a great tool for remembering, too. I take almost all my on-the-go notes here, as well as drafting blogs and essays, etc. I use a cataloging system with # for my stories, too. So if I need to pull together all the notes for A VERY BAD THING for example, it is a simple #AVBT search away.
WEBSITE HOSTING: Squarespace is the online home of J.T. Ellison, Joss Walker, The Wine Vixen, and Two Tales Press.
BLOG HOSTING: Oh hey @Substack -
NEWSLETTER HOSTING: In addition to Substack, I use Mailerlite to send my main monthly newsletters with fun recipes and book recommendations.
TO DO LIST: I mourned when Wunderlist was bought out by Microsoft, and tried literally every other online tool before finally settling back into ToDo which really is my favorite to-do list and capture system. There is some redundancy with my calendar, but that’s fine by me, as I live in fear of forgetting an event or deadline.
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: Trello, which is my beast for major project management/workflows. I use it to track workflows for book releases and major project development, communicate with my teammates, track events, and plan future ideas.
ONLINE TOOLS FOR READING, RESEARCH, and SHARING:
Feedly, my favorite RSS feeder, pulls in stories from my favorite blogs
Instapaper, I capture online stories for research here. I used to then send them to Evernote, but I’ve found Instapaper works fine for my purposes.
PODCASTS: Overcast, because it does a much cleaner job of keeping my podcast listening in order of show release and automatically moves to the next new show.
CALENDAR: iCal — I have both online and paper calendars. I don’t like carrying a day planner, so I use my phone when I’m out and traveling.
PLANNER: For many years, I used a Quo Vadis Habana as a Bullet Journal. I’ve gotten away from them, using various notebooks. I’m currently in a Papier hardback which is lovely, but I much prefer white paper to cream, so I might move to a Clairefontaine again. I’ve also been using Blackwing notebooks, which are lovely. I tried to use Cal Newport’s Time Block Planner, but my days just aren’t as granular as that calls for, so I’m using it to outline my book instead. More on that in another post.
Interestingly, a few years ago, I tried switching to a daily calendar instead of weekly. I finally realized I was totally stressed by this daily accountability, and have switched back to weekly. My stress levels dropped immediately. I feel so much more settled! Crazy, right? The Habana is the perfect size — larger than a regular Moleskine, it fits my hand perfectly, can capture a few more lines per page, and the paper is fantastic — smooth, easy to write on, never bleeds through, and beautiful. I like paper you can pet.
NOTETAKING:
Clairefontaine A5 spiral bound - idea capture, notes, book notebooks, research, planning — each book gets a notebook.
-And-
Midori Travelers Notebook - A lovely back-to-the-earth choice, I love throwing this in my bag when I’m heading out. The leather is stroke-able, the paper is smooth, and I always get compliments on it. When I’m traveling, there’s no sense taking five notebooks along, so it doubles as my writing notebook and my planner.
COMPUTER: I’ve made a big shift recently. I bought a 2023 Mac Air over the summer, and bought an LG smart TV, and hooked the two together. Now I have a monstrous screen on my desk, but the freedom of using the laptop on the go. Not trying to sync a million files and emails between the laptop and the old 2015 iMac has saved me so much time and energy I’m kicking myself for not doing this sooner. Fewer screens, fewer products, and a much more cost effective system.
PHONE: iPhone 11 Max Pro in a wallet case. I am so excited to upgrade…
TABLET: 11'' iPad Pro with the Magic Keyboard. As soon as some of my desktop apps get a mobile version, I will be on that full size Pro, and that will be my only computing device.
EREADER: Kindle Scribe - Oh, my friends. I cannot tell you how much I love this device. I have a Remarkable, but I gave it to my husband when I got the Scribe. The notebooks are easy to access and write in, plus I can read all my ePubs and regular Kindle books here. It’s FABULOUS.
HANDWRITING TOOLS:
Pilot Knight Fountain pen - beautiful, sturdy, a real workhorse
Sharpie Fine Point Pens - .5, and I especially like the blue
Pilot Precise v5 Pens - I prefer black
Blackwing Pencils in Pearl or No. 10
It seems like a lot, but each tool has its purpose. Collectively, they make my life easier. I hope you find some of them useful.
Do you have any favorite tools? I’d love to hear about them!
Also, if you’re interested, I’ve gone in-depth on how to plan a creative life here. Goes hand in hand, planning and tools!
Great list. I love Rhodia pencils as well as Blackwing.
I love this so much. You're so organized. I'm now inspired to create my own list.