Tools for the writing process

Posted by Dr Andus
Mar 26, 2011 at 02:54 AM

A number of people on this forum (probably me included) have sometimes expressed a desire for a single tool that could handle all information capturing, processing, and analysis, all the way to writing the final output. However, after observing my own writing process I came to the conclusion that writing happens not in the software or with the software but between various software and hardware tools, including pen and paper.

So the writing process occurs when the right sort of arrangement of software and hardware tools have been assembled in the right order to enable a specific workflow that is appropriate for the specific writing task. And this arrangement and workflow changes (at least for me) for every writing project, so I never use exactly the same assortment of software and hardware and the same workflow.

So a single software tool probably wouldn’t help me. Sometimes I just need to establish some distance between bits of work (an outline, a mindmap, notes, bits of writing, empirical data) in order to be able to establish relationships, come up with new ideas or be able to take in the big picture.

I hope you forgive me for indulging in this auto-ethnographic observation.