Not.
Why am I so grumpy, bucky? Well, those of you who follow me on a regular basis know two things. One, I'm on a pretty heavy writing schedule right now, averaging a book a month. Two, I love (love LOVE) a writing software called Supernotecard that I've been using ever since I discovered it through one of the writing magazines back in late 2007.
Pretty much EVERY book I've written since then, with the exception of Love at First Bight (which I wrote using Open Office on a TINY Asus netbook because my laptop screen died and it was in for repairs) has been written in Supernotecard. I do my rough drafts there, keep my character notes, timelines, etc. there. I export to Word for my final draft.
Meaning over forty books.
FORTY. BOOKS.
And then...
Well, apparently, a recent Java update basically farked the hell out of the software. Made it start running VERY slow, created a HORRIBLE buggy line break issue, and other things. For my purposes, it basically rendered the program unusable to me as a piece of production software, because I wasted too much time waiting for the program, or switching back and forth in views to correct the line break issue.
In other words, when the software becomes the focus of my rage (and I was raging pretty heavy) and makes it impossible for me to focus on the WRITING, it's time to move on. An email to the software developers basically left me nowhere. Their suggestion was to roll back Java (um, it was a security update, so I'm thiiinnkinggg...no). Yes, they are aware of the issues. No, they don't know why it's doing it, or when they'll get it fixed.
Unacceptable. I don't put out a book a decade, or a book a year.
I put out a novel-length (50k words+) book a MONTH on average (I'm not talking novellas), and I need fast, reliable software that stays the frak out of my way.
The way I write makes writing my first drafts in a word processor difficult, tedious, and time-consuming. So I looked into Scrivener, which is similar, but different, than SNC. (Apparently the Windows version wasn't available until 2011, so it wasn't around when I started using SNC.) I run Windows-flavored laptops (I have completely done away with desktops), and the Windows version lacks some coolio features the Mac version has, but I can deal with that. It's similar to SNC...but different. There are features SNC has I wish Scrivener had, and there are features Scrivener has that, now that I see them, I damn sure wish SNC has.
Since I was in the middle of writing Out of Smoke and Ashes - Triple Trouble 5 (yes, got it submitted, so stay tuned for news on that) I basically dumped the current book into Scrivener as best I could, recreated my series character notes (which was a bitch and a half seven books in, let me tell you what), and prayed I didn't have to redo it all again once I actually sat down with the Scrivener for Dummies book I bought. I had a little issue with the compile feature to export it when I was done, but I muddled my way through it (meaning I basically forced the Word file to be my bitch and fixed everything there) and got it submitted.
Now, with a couple of days of breathing room, I can get everything exported from SNC and imported and structured in Scrivener. I spent some time last night before The Walking Dead (and OMG my HEAD is about to EXPLODE over the bs the writers are pulling!!!) looking into stuff and realized where I turned wrong at Albuquerque (brownie points if you get the reference) in regards to the compile feature. I doubt I'll completely give up my export the draft to Windows for final formatting step, but now that I see what I didn't do and should have, it'll make my life a lot easier.
I'm sad to say I can no longer recommend Supernotecard to users. I wish I could, because I LOVED the software. (Forty-plus books written in it should be a pretty darn good track record.)
Now I'm finishing setting up my Triple Trouble series in the project file I just used so I can work on finishing book 6 for submission this month. I can see where I need to set up a custom template for my other projects, and have already figured that step out, so it should take a little of the pain out of creating the new project files.
Not looking forward to it, but it's a growth process, I know. It's part of moving forward. This, too, shall pass, and all that bullshit.
How's your Monday going?
(((Hugs)))...I feel your pain...I'm not tech savvy and I hate change...in my case it's picture editing programmes....I'm surprised either of us has any hair left..lol!