About a month ago, I decided that getting a netbook was just way too expensive a move just to give me a ‘creative space’. After all, I didn’t even know if having a separate ‘just writing’ machine would do me any good. But the fact of the matter still was that I spent my work hours on one computer… and it’s no wonder I had a hard time, continuing right on with the same computer, in the same computer program, same font with nothing other than what I was doing to really distinguish what was work and what was creative writing.

Then I had an idea.

If a netbook was too expensive and I wanted to keep typing so I could keep up productivity, then maybe Word itself was the program.

I – like any writer – had heard of plenty of writing programs to ‘get ‘er done’. I didn’t want something I had to buy, first of all, because I like free stuff. Secondly, I wanted something that would be compatible but otherwise not look like Word.

I tried a few programs, but they were either incredibly limited, aesthetically unpleasing or simply way too similar to word.

Then I found yWriter. I couldn’t go past a guy who used his own program to write his books – books that have sold. If that’s not an endorsement, I don’t know what is. Plus, it ticked that all-important ‘free’ box that I wanted, so I had nothing to lose.

Four weeks and over 20k words later, I highly recommend this program.

Because there is so much you can do with this program, I immediately became wary of getting trapped in the world building. But honestly? After taking a few hours to get all my characters, locations and other notes in there, I was off like a gunshot.

While there is a more ‘traditional’ way of using it. I use the ‘chapter’ function as a story function so each ‘chapter’ is a different story I am working on. That might not work for you, but that is just one small way to show how you can make it work in the ways you want.

If you’re interested in learning more about it, check out the website as well as watch this excellent tutorial: