Last Minute Preparations: Software

Posted | filed under Technology, Writing & tagged ,

So. NaNoWriMo begins in less than 24 hours – for me, anyway. I am both terrified and excited about it all. And as part of my last-minute preparations I am cleaning making sure I have all my software on my comp installed and set up the way I like it, as I have recently done a fresh install of Ubuntu to upgrade to 11.04.

Anyway, here’s a brief list of all the software things I will be using this coming month, for various reasons.

  • Scrivener: Since it’s now available for Linux this’ll be my first year using Scrivener for NaNo. I like it though.
  • Write or Die: Because sometimes you just need a major push to get those words out.
  • NovProg2: As this is a word counter that stays on my comp, it means I don’t have to run to the NaNo site every time to check how I have been doing, and risk getting distracted by the rest of the internet.
  • Songbird: Because I need music, goshdarnit! This is also why I will have my iPod ready to go at all times.
  • Pidgin: For the few times I will venture online to chat with writer friends and keep in touch with the #nznano IRC channel.
  • The GIMP: For getting distracted making pretty things like book covers and playlist covers.

And, of course, there is always the classic pen and paper – I especially like stuff from Smiggle. I have a long calendar on my wall that I think I shall put a sticker on for each day I meet the target. Because everyone likes stickers.

2 Responses to “Last Minute Preparations: Software”

  1. JK the Beta

    And if something crops up on my computer, I’ll be transporting it with the AVS Document Converter into ePub format for quick & dirty betas (read: I have 4 hours a day) on the bus.

    Reply
  2. NRWick

    Awesome! I do have a question, though. Why do you need a word counter when Scrivener counts words for you already? Is there any particular reason? I ask since you mentioned not wanting to run to NaNo every time and get distracted, so I wondered why not just use Scrivener’s built in word counter.

    Not that I have room to talk, since I also have a word counter program on my computer. I don’t really know why. Hehe.

    Hope you rock NaNoWriMo this year and thanks for sharing!

    Reply