So for the last four or five days, all I’ve pretty much done is read, write, and assist in the assembly of dinosaur puzzles.  And buy more books to read.  (Well, I also held a 5 week old baby, played in parks, watched fireworks – albeit from our window, not the ground – and ate sushi.)

There was once a year of my life when I took time off from “real work” to write a romance novel.  Yeah, I know how that sounds.  Anyway, it was good experience, because a) I finished a book and b) I became very disciplined about writing and c) it was time off from my crazy telecommunications job that gave me the perspective to know I wanted to go to law school.  I remember how it used to feel when I was completely exhausted from writing, but my brain would not shut off and I could go and go and go – oh, the zone.  It was so lovely to be in that state of flow.

But my output now, with a toddler, vs. my output then?  I write more.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m more organized, more disciplined, more driven, or because I have much better software.  If it’s the first and/or the last, it’s all because Scrivener rocks.  I have never, ever loved software the way I love this program.  It does shit I have no idea about, it’s so powerful, but it’s also so simple that I don’t care.  I’ll figure those parts out when I need ‘em. When/if I go back to practicing law, I am going to find a way to use this program.  I *love* it.  I took the time to set up a good template and as a result, I have places to put everything: random bits of research, dialog for scenes yet to come, and chapters and scenes. It’s so easy to move things around.  Scrivener: MS Word = computer:stone and chisel.  It’s amazing.

This afternoon, I managed to write a couple thousand words in between taking care of P, ordering dinner (sushi), and dealing with my husband’s linux-based crises.  (Admittedly, my contribution is to say “huh?” when he curses and say something sympathetic when he tells me what the problem is.)  I was in the zone AND doing laundry.  I give Scrivener all the credit.