#psa Okay, learned a lesson today. I either missed this or the setting changed in an update. Both #OneDrive and #Dropbox have a setting for keeping all the files in the cloud rather than on your Mac, downloading them as you need them. This means that if you need them and the service is responding poorly, or you have no connectivity, you can't get to your files. If you use #scrivener, for example, which syncs through dropbox, this can cause sync errors between devices!
Both services appear to set all files online only. Both services have a way to change this to ensure all files are downloaded for offline use.
#Writers, #authors, as well as #artists, I strongly suggest you keep your files on disk as well as in the cloud. Change these settings now!
Okay. Interesting. Moving files from Dropbox creates placeholder files that are empty but take up space. There's a little cloud symbol beside the files in the dropbox directories, but they refused to download. Sheesh. Luckily, the files exist online. I've logged on to the online dropbox and downloaded all my files to my hard disk in a separate directory as a backup. I'm trying bypassing the dropbox refused to sync issue by signing out of dropbox and orphaning the current directories. Signing on again, but creating new dropbox directory tree on disk that must be downloaded again from the #dropbox#cloud.Hoping that this fixes the #sync problems I'm having between platforms, at least from the Mac perspective.
And Bam! Less than 10 minutes later, #dropbox has laid down all the files from the #cloud in the new directories. #Scrivener opens the previously damage project (because dropbox had refused to download things) with everything consistent with the iPhone version. Yay!
Today I lack synchronicity. Neither my OneDrive or Dropbox are syncing my files today, so I've different versions of #scrivener on different platforms. Mood: Sad.
So, #Scrivener on the Mac is telling me that the project I'm working on the iPad and iPhone isn't a valid project. This is not how I wanted to spend my day...
So I duplicated the #scrivener project on my iPhone. Once it synced to my Mac, I opened it. Everything is perfect. I can't tell you how many times this has been the fix for weirdnesses in the software's behavior... because I haven't counted. Half a dozen times, at least? Anyway, I'll just rename the projects and delete the problematic one. Just to be real, I could have restored the damaged project from backup, but I didn't want to risk loosing current work.
So, I decided to listen to the chapter I keep on stalling on, while doing my morning stretches, setting my iPhone to read from #scrivener. I fixed a sentence, then finished the half-written sentence where I last stopped, then kept on writing the romantic soup and dragon magic scene. Sitting crosslegged on my exercise mat, legs falling asleep. 950 words latter I'm #writing about it on Mastodon.
Did you know #scrivener lets you search your project for images? Neither did I. Check dropdown of the search (magnifying glass), select Images, and search!
Becca Caddy writes about science and technology, and is a self-avowed tech addict. Her book Screen Time tells us how to make peace with our tech devices and not be overwhelmed by them.
After many years writing short stories and essays, Debbie Urbanski has published her first novel, After World, about AI at the end of humanity's physical presence on earth.
I have another unexpected workflow to show you 🙊. This time, I connected #Scrivener, #Obsidian, and my #Android. I am now able to access my new book files on all of my computers and write down ideas on my phone while I am away from my desk.
👇 https://youtu.be/QpkapVBo-AE
I had an idea for a story come to me while I was brushing my teeth. I wrote it. It was super fun and actually good. I had just come off 8 years of DMing online, so writing an hour of adventure fiction every day. I had the skills, and I had the habit of looking for plots. The door opened in my head. Now the stories crowd in all the time, and if I don't let them out, my skull will crack open.
I hadn't thought of using the color that way, or to break on scenes instead of chapters. Or do you have scene files in chapter folders?
As you can see below, I've settled on color and status tracking to show progress toward serialization in this story: Seph is the beta reader on the project. It's a work in progress, as I'm working not to lose track of who possesses the chapter. The organization is Manuscript folder > Chapter folder > Chapter text. One project for each manuscript, whether a novel or a short story.
If it isn't spoilery, could you post a bit of your binder, too?
#WritersCoffeeClub Feb 1: Tell us about yourself, published work, WIP or anything else people should know
I'm a hobbyist, have only published very short pieces for no money (yet). I've written a full-length short story I'm shopping around. I've written a novella I'm shopping around. I'm three-quarters of the way through a solid first draft of a novel.
I'm very into the conscious application of craft. I work intuitively a lot, but I want to know what it is my brain is doing.
#Scrivener all the way. It lets you write your project in separate documents that Scriv assembles when it outputs the document.
I find they remove me from the mental weight of the whole document. I no longer feel like I'm squishing new text into tens of thousands of words above and below. It turns out, I love a blank page. It's so freeing. Anything could happen!
@genchat@genchat I use #Scrivener for writing as it enables you to organise your research. I keep a running list of ideas and as I build the content the next one goes to press. The best thing is that writing often prompts further research as you soon discover 'holes' in your narrative. #genchat
My writing family, or at least many of them sing the praises of Scrivener. Gosh, I'd love to join them in the wonders of scene organization etc, if only Scrivener for Windows were anything like usable with a #screenreader. It would be lovely if I had gotten an answer from #Scrivener people about this other than to paraphrase, we're small and not going to bother with you." Ah well, I'm a confirmed pantser anyway, so who needs this planning thing?
#WritersCoffeeClub Ch 3 Nbr 16 — What ancillary writing apps do you find the most useful?
I was attracted to #Scrivener because it has note taking built in and I wouldn't need any ancillary apps (like OneNote). This works, though it would be nice if the iPad and iPhone versions were more on par with the Mac version, which is full featured and the version of the app I use the least.
I do use Google to verify spelling, find words, research things, and view maps. I sometimes even log those links into the appropriate parts of Scrivener. Sometimes. Not often. Does that count?
When I have to create Word documents for the beta reader, and process what comes back, I use Pages.
#PennedPossibilities 129 Deuxième Partie — What is the hardest part of the writing process for you?
When a sync error occurs and I know the content on one platform doesn't match what's on the other—and I can't ensure I won't lose something. Add to /that/ agony is that I just sat down to write something important. Makes me want to cry.
It took me 25 minutes to fix, in the end duplicating the [#Scrivener project on the mobile phone and opening it on the Mac, then telling Scrivener, "No, it might look like a duplicate but don't try to sync it with the mess you are currently refusing to sync properly!" In other words, use the f'ing copy I just made.]
Evening, Toots. Long day for us today - the car saga continues, still no repair, arrgh. Partner managed a big grocery shop after a Drs appointment via taxis and walking. I’ve been working on #FamilyHistory, the #PhotoBook for Dad (I’m up to his last year at HIgh School!) and decided last night that my #WritingProject needed a better system so I finally indulged and bought #Scrivener for the IPad. Plus I have #letters to write… And to think, my #MentalHealth Nurse worried I might be bored! 🤣
Currently writing an article that should be 8,000 words. I am now at 17,000 and I, as a beginner in professional academic writing, need some advice. I know I am the kind of person who thinks through writing. This means that I have probably written a lot that can be cut and left out.
But how do I learn to write reasonably lengthy papers? I swear I thought my topic and questions could be addressed in 8,000 words. I had an outline ... with word counts per section. Still, it went completely off the rails.
(About my problem from two weeks ago: I put the paper aside and started another one on a new topic that works much better. Now I think it was even better to write this one first. In the meantime, I now even look forward to returning to my "problematic article" later 😳 ..)