Five Things I Can’t Live Without.

So, I wrote this blog post in 2016. And I thought it would be fascinating to revisit and see if anything has changed.

I thought I’d share a few things I can’t live without in while writing.

2016 List:

1. Random Name Generator + a baby name book.
2. Pinterest and my corkboard that rests over my desk.
3. My Book Bible (see photo).  It contains all my notes about characters, places, etc.  I occasionally keep them in Scrivener as well, but as that’s only useful when I’m at my desk.  I find having a notebook version of it to carry with me is most useful.
4. Spotify.  I have playlists for each of my stories.
5. A thumbdrive, for back ups.  It’s ALWAYS a good idea to have a manuscript saved in at least two places for security purposes.

2022 List:

1. A really good pen. (Definitely top of my list, I’ve been writing by hand more lately. I use a Pilot Kakuno fountain pen that I got from Jet Pens. A nice beginner fountain pen that I’ve found is easy to use.)

2. Book Bibles, still on the top of my list. I no longer use Scrivener but exclusively use individual notebooks for each series.

3.Pinterest is definitely something I use for every single book I write.

4. The NaNoWriMo site. They’ve changed it so you can add WIPs and goals outside of November. So it’s a perfect tool to keep track of my progress.

5. My beta readers. They make my writing better and encourage me when self-doubt rears it’s ugly head.

What can’t you live without?