by Lynn H. Blackburn @LynnHBlackburn

Creatives are not generally known for their organizational skills. But authors who want to be in the publishing game for the long-term know how important it is to find a method that works for them and keeps all the aspects of their writing life organized.

Why does it matter?

I don’t have time to be unorganized.

1. I write books. Everything else I write, in some way, relates back to this. So everything I write needs to make sense for my career and not take too much time away from the writing of books.

2. I contribute to blogs. I write a monthly post for The Write Conversation and contribute to several other writing/reading sites. Each year, I have at least 20-30 posts to write, edit, and submit.

3. I have a newsletter. I send this newsletter out 10-15 times a year to my subscribers. I share a few thoughts about what’s going on in my personal life and in my writing world while keeping my readers up to date about new releases, sales, and giveaway opportunities.

4. I promote my books. As our own Edie Melson has told me (more than once because I don’t like it and she has to say it again and again), if you write the books, you have to be willing to sell the books. Thanks to my publisher, I have a fabulous publicist and marketing team who work hard to get my books in front of readers. In the months leading up to a release, this means making myself available for podcast interviews and phone interviews, writing guest posts on various websites, and responding to written interview questions.

5. I teach at conferences. I love writing conferences and I love teaching at conferences, and this is another part of my writing business that requires planning and organization.

As you can see, it’s a lot to juggle. Especially when you consider that writing is a part-time adventure for me. I have children, I homeschool, and I write. I don’t have time to waste time.

Years ago, I kept everything in folders on my computer. A folder for my blog posts. A folder for my newsletter. A folder for marketing. A folder for conferences. And that’s not a bad way to do it.

But I like the way I do it now so much better.

I use Scrivener.

Scrivener is a writing software that is designed to help writers organize large projects. It’s specifically geared for novels, non-fiction manuscripts, and academic theses. Projects that require heavy amounts of research, reference material, and involve lengthy word counts can be organized and managed within a single Scrivener project.

But blog posts and newsletters aren’t lengthy, so why use Scrivener?

For me, the key is to think of my other writing—blogs, newsletters, promotion—as one big project. Within one Scrivener project, I created folders for The Write Conversation, the Blue Ridge blog, my newsletter, promo for my latest book, etc. You can see these folders in the Binder.

Within that project I also put everything I might need to refer to frequently—bios, back cover copy, press releases, buy links, even the hashtags I use when promoting a book so they are at my fingertips. That way, when I’m answering interview questions that I’ve answered before, I can find those responses in seconds and not have to recreate the wheel. You can see these files nested in the folders in the binder. All of this is available to me within this one project and allows me to access everything I need without having fifteen different Word documents open at one time.

You may have already figured this out, but I write everything—everything—in Scrivener. As much as I love Scrivener, there’s no way around the fact that it has a learning curve, and it isn’t for everyone. But if you’re already using Scrivener, why not try using it for more than your manuscript? And if you’re new to Scrivener, setting up a project for your non-manuscript writing is a great way to learn your way around the program. Scrivener offers a 30-day free trial if you want to play around with it and see if it might be for you.

I’m not a paid spokesperson. I’m just a writer who can’t manage my writing life without Scrivener. 🙂

If you’d like to learn more, and if you’re headed to the Blue Ridge Mountains Christian Writers Conference this year, I’ll be teaching a workshop on using Scrivener to organize your writing life and an Advanced Scrivener practicum (which requires pre-sign up and approval) for experienced Scrivener users who want to utilize more than the basic Scrivener features. I’d love to see you in class!

Grace and peace,

Lynn H. Blackburn loves writing romantic suspense because her childhood fantasy was to become a spy, but her grown-up reality is that she’s a huge chicken and would have been caught on her first mission. She prefers to live vicariously through her characters and loves putting them into all kinds of terrifying situations while she’s sitting at home safe and sound in her pajamas!

Unknown Threat, the first book in her Defend and Protect series, was a 2021 Christy Award finalist, and her previous titles have won the Carol Award, the Selah Award, and the Faith, Hope, and Love Reader’s Choice Award.

She is a frequent conference speaker and has taught writers all over the country. Lynn lives in South Carolina with her true love and their three children. You can follow her real life happily ever after by signing up for her newsletter at LynnHBlackburn.com and @LynnHBlackburn on Bookbub, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and Instagram.