[A meadow in The Highlands at Blandford Nature Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan.]

After many months of burnout, distraction, sleep deprivation, and something which is almost certainly depression, I have written some words.

Not many, granted, and those words will almost certainly be swapped out for other, better words at some point in the future.

But for now, I have written some words.

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group question for July 2024 is: What are your favorite writing processing (e.g. Word, Scrivener, yWriter, Dabble), writing apps, software, and tools? Why do you recommend them? And which one is your all time favorite that you cannot live without and use daily or at least whenever you write?

The first draft of most of my creative work starts in one of my journals. For poetry, journals are where I create first, second, and sometimes even final drafts. Sometimes, naturally, the first draft is the final draft, never to be touched again.

For prose, journals are where I write outlines, snippets, character names, and descriptions, and so on. Again, many times that is as far as things go.

But for those ideas which have promise, I exclusively use Google Docs.

I use Google Docs for everything, for the following reasons:

1. It is online. I don’t need to install anything
2. Auto-save (!!!)
3. Stored remotely. A computer crash or errant cup of coffee won’t erase my text
4. Easy to export/download in a variety of formats, if I need to pull the text into a more feature-rich tool like Scrivener or MS Word.
5. Can access my files from a variety of devices.

Regarding point 4, I have almost never needed to use a tool more complex than a Google Doc. If I create an epic fantasy novel, I imagine Scrivener will become vital.

Happy July, everyone!

The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
is a community dedicated to encouraging
and supporting insecure writers
in all phases of their careers.