Maybe New Is Good

To Scrivener or Not To Scrivener:
I'm trying to learn a new writing program...Scrivener. 

I've read about how wonderful it is on several different writers' sites and it sounded like something that maybe I could get my head around.  I have a 30-day free trial (and that's 30 days of use, not 30 calendar days) to see if I like it before I have to pay for it and, I have to admit, I'm pretty impressed.  So far I'm still in the tutorial and sometimes I have to read a section several times to get it, but once I get it, my reaction is.....Wow!  Literally.  I'm sitting here all alone and saying out loud "Wow!".

Normally when I am working on a novel, I have papers everywhere. And index cards galore.  With Scrivener everything is right there...notes, character sketches, a bulletin board, and even index cards.  And all at the click of the mouse.  No more flipping through my legal pad or my index cards to find that scene I wrote 2 days ago.  It's right there. 

But...at my age, I'm not too keen on change.  My thought is the old cliche...if it ain't broke...well, you get the picture.   But every now and then I can see the possibility that maybe, just maybe, something new could be better than the old tried and true.  Plus...it's only $40.

So I'm working my way slowly through the tutorial, trying to keep an open mind, while filling it with all sorts of new stuff.  I'll let you know how it works out in the end, but I'm curious.... 

Have any of you tried Scrivener?  And if you did, what did you think of it?

Pet Peeves:
Sometimes people just irritate the hell out of me. 

Yesterday I'm sitting at a red light and beside me, in the turning lane, is a young kid.  His radio is blasting so loud my windows are vibrating.  Then his light turns green and he's making his left turn with his cell phone up at eye level and he's texting while he's turning.  Now that's wrong on so many levels.  How can you possible turn a corner, across 3 lanes of traffic, while texting?  I can multi-task, but come on!  I used to be guilty of texting while driving, but never in traffic and certainly never while making a turn at one of the busiest intersections in town.  And just so you know, I've since stopped doing that.

And then, even worse, while walking into the grocery store, I can hear a man behind me loudly telling the person with him "You have to stay with me!  Cars could be backing out and they won't see you and you won't see them.  Stay with me!"  As we got in the store, he rushed past me, still saying "Stay with me" while his wife, not some child, followed along behind.  It was his wife!!  He was ordering his wife to keep up with him while he was walking faster than I could have kept up.  This couple was in their sixties so I could tell this was a life-long attitude of his.  Having been in a relationship like this, I knew this was verbal abuse and it'd been going on for a long time.  It took every bit of inner strength I could muster up, to not step in and tell him what a complete jerk he was.  But I couldn't have caught up with him anyway. 


Guilty Wives by James Patterson and David Ellis:

Four women go on a girls-only long weekend to Monte Carlo only to wake up on a yacht surrounded by police and accused of murder.  It's a "nonstop joyride of excess, friendship, betrayal, and danger." 

This is not normal Patterson reading.  First, it is not a sequel to any of his series, its a stand-alone novel.  Second, it took me a few chapters to get an idea of the story and to get interested (not normal for me with his books).  And third, I've never read a Patterson book with this much violence in it.

That said, once I got into it, this wasn't a book I could just read at meals and bedtime. I really was immersed in it.  Graphic violence or not, I read through my entire weekend.  It was that good!  Highly, highly recommended reading for all James Patterson fans.

Quotes of the Day:
“Mothers of Teenagers Know Why Animals Eat Their Young ~ Unknown

Husbands, love your wives, and never treat them harshly. (Colossians 3:19)