I tried Scrivener and wrote a whole book with it but didn’t like it. I know plenty of writers who swear by it. Perhaps it’s because I write fairly linearly, from the beginning to the end. Only occasionally do I skip ahead if I get a little stuck and have a scene I’m dying to write. Scrivener seems excellent for people who like to write scenes, see them visually on a virtual corkboard, and move them around. That’s not me. However, I love, love, love the daily goal and word tracker that stays on the bottom right of the workscreen. It starts the day as red and moves through orange, yellow, to green. Soul-inspiring green!! Aiming for that green light on my screen kept my butt in the chair until I achieved it each day and wrote that book.
Back with my trusty Word software that pleases my creative heart, lately, I’ve been missing the Scrivener word tracker. I found another tracker, but I have to input the progress manually each evening, which isn’t as fun since I have to use a calculator to deduct the day’s end count by the beginning count. I already know what I’ve achieved before I put it in the tracker, and there’s no green goodness at the end of each day. It does tell me how many words are necessary daily, spaced out until deadline. It does keep me on track. For any interested writers, it’s called Write Track.
If anyone can tell me of a Word integration or an easier way to handle word tracking, please let me know. Meanwhile, I found this funny little image generator at Writertopia that lets me put in how many words I’ve done in total and change the mood of the little… um…peanut writer, or is he a little turd? Honestly, I don’t know what it is. It made me laugh, but it is not too useful on a daily basis except to amuse myself.