Yes, well.. while everyone is going crazy as the Apple iPad/Tablet thingy is unveiled in real time (can you feel the wave of hysteria?), I’m here to tout the brilliant Mac software that is Scrivener. Wow, I never thought I’d be shilling a product on my blog, but if you are a writer and a Mac user (which as a writer I personally think you should be), and if you do not create your novels in anything that even resembles a logistical order (like myself), then Scrivener is about to become your best friend.

I discovered Scrivener when I received a half-price purchase on the product after completing NaNoWriMo. Given that I actually wrote my novel in something closer to six days as opposed to the 30 days we actually had (not something I recommend), let’s just say my novel was in no clear order. I wrote the ending before the beginning, three different versions of the middle, seven different openings and a slew of  scary dream sequences, god-awful sex scenes, I mean tasteful, romantic interludes, and interminable pages about the weather. Then, as I sat with my 50,000 plus words that were slung together and were pretty much all over the kitchen like a madwoman’s breakfast, I discovered Scrivener, which allowed me to put my chapters into some kind of order, create notes, little cork boards complete with drawing pins (Americans call them push pins I think, which makes no sense to me), and a system that formats my text and allows me to cobble together things, highlight stuff, fill in blanks and create order on the page from the disorder in my mind. Of course it doesn’t actually write the book for you (but I’ve already done that).

So, if you are not a Scrivener convert, my only question is why not?