![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZZuPZaTzqcMRnoucnPlAh8lIFZhUHlf7mEKTeZIJW1MwiyxRFcuqIdqa9gjWcp0ZaRkRrkSlltL8suJGnyNEtDmBodL5AgAPpxE38COvu2bsDpaACGEciP02Xq3Wf_GXC_SIZm57eNjE/s400-rw/plotting.jpg)
I took a shot of this the day of finals, and just now got around to pulling it off my phone. Here, we have: a short outline, a long outline, notebook, hair clip, lip balm, colored index cards, pencils, highlighters, black ink pen (very important), white index cards, and Blake Snyder's SAVE THE CAT.
Then, when I have a good idea of where I'm going, it all gets input into Scrivener, like this:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8GHZ951ROTo-yOVlIqB_HEYGeXCScmhxq9mSZWxqJCVqT1dnk-d1QxZztDUMXHCvwqTJBFXGk74vD7CPM7Fbo-BobDeGKU4dFeWD6kC8nenWrMDObLjDWCpSyDol794uRGMKQO-UCelo/s400-rw/SCRIVENER.png)
I typically try to write from beginning to end, but there are some scenes I know out of order, so I don't feel bad spending a few minutes getting those down as they come to me.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfw2FUxJRn1TEImgzZsXXcyucRkQIFzSx13pVt1aQwpMhoqvldD4zZ6K3dAHLlAw9g87TUDFOAYovcMWcsWKZo_SMIpDamjkDKEvjQSURKd1-IX30Nguwq6ZbuIT6EvcI9qSOVeRGs1QY/s400-rw/scrivener01.png)
Full-screen mode is great for times when Twitter gets in the way of productivity:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjDnNduXMegLpJuIhL5iEZ02A5B2Thgt9Znlve3tYYuhoEsm4QyYmCYd1tahpx3sWT36N0_Jfn_BDYmv34b4ZBw4vY1vXl9iADmKhsTzgrBrvvgAxjGc7pxg3tw-YFSsERZEbvxI15OtE/s400-rw/scrivener02.png)
I'm also partial to my timer-bomb, which keeps me from feeling overwhelmed:
But the real secret to writing well is having tons of these:
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_OJaz5TalWjgtGks-9Ww-9XWpIibiYUqlHvJX3U-tkvIwJYBMjgNbni8dgkhFm0ezWzeFstNvxLS_CKpsQwzwT_9wBnTZRrUA5jObBD6hgissCMg6xLzBraGfpzJC_CRYf-uti9LbXSM/s400-rw/SSAHotchner03102010.jpg)
HOTCH SNUGGLES!!!!
Happy Holidays, everyone!