Comments on: Spreadsheets revisited

By: Doing Write

Doing Write — Sat, 05 May 2007 16:13:11 +0000

A Brilliant Idea…

De passes on a DUH revelation to which I say — DUH, too. Using a spreadsheet to keep track of stuff in your novel. Using a scheduler (like MS Project) to keep track of timelines, dependencies, etc. Just freaking brilliant…….

By: Steve Bcuhheit

Steve Bcuhheit — Wed, 02 May 2007 13:01:27 +0000

There was a rush of spreadsheet articles last year, yours included. And when I read them all it was a Homer Simpson revelation moment (smacks forehead, “D’oh! Spreadheets!”)

By: liliya

liliya — Wed, 02 May 2007 10:18:06 +0000

When my russian colleagues at work say ‘spreadsheet’ their accent makes it sound like ‘spread shit’. makes me laugh every time, I’m sorry to say. Spreading shit as a metaphor for novel writing (it’s the only way to encourage your crops to grow)…

By: maureen

maureen — Wed, 02 May 2007 00:52:27 +0000

I cannot think of the spreadsheets now. New York mourns because you are gone. Herds of chocolate-bearing ~~unicorns~~ have entered the streets. Everyone is wearing ugly shoes, and no one can say the name of Elvis. English cricket fans are drinking all of the good wine. The New York Liberty cannot find the will to play.

Come back and save us as soon as you can! Bring zombies!

By: Ally

Ally — Tue, 01 May 2007 21:02:33 +0000

oohhhh i see now..thanks malcolm!

By: David Cake

David Cake — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:52:16 +0000

Ah, someone already beat me to recommending OmniPlan as a substitute for Project.

By: hwalk

hwalk — Tue, 01 May 2007 15:38:17 +0000

i mostly keep everything in my head or on scraps of paper and random documents when i need them. i am totally unscientific about the way i write novels–i don’t know what day it is or how much time passes exactly. i just sort of go with the flow and say that i’ll edit out errors later.

i wouldn’t use a spreadsheet–basically because i wouldn’t keep it organized and it would confuse me. but it would be a good idea for a lot of people.

By: Kathryne

Kathryne — Tue, 01 May 2007 13:19:17 +0000

I love my spreadsheet. Oh, how I love my spreadsheet. I update it every day as I’m starting work–sort of like wading into the WIP, rather than jumping in all at once by actually opening my manuscript straight off. I track which plotlines are covered in each chapter, so when I get stuck I can look back and realize “oh, hey, that whole set of characters hasn’t been heard from in a while.” And in those wonderful moments when the whole thing starts to click and an entire storyline explains itself to me as I’m typing, I can quickly jot down on the spreadhseet what should happen when.

I also carry a notebook for those moments when a spreadsheet would be unwieldy, but it’s kind of a mess, impossible to know exactly where I noted any given idea (“did I have that thought last week, or three months ago?”) and often hard to read. Ergo, I love my spreadsheet.

By: Malcolm

Malcolm — Tue, 01 May 2007 03:33:01 +0000

@ally: that’s exactly the same sort of spreadsheet program Justine’s talking about. If you look at the article from last year that she linked to, there’s a screenshot there to prove it.

There’s no rule to say you can’t put text (or even graphics) in the spreadsheet cells — it doesn’t have to be numbers. You can see from the screenshot that you can use the spreadsheet functions to help with things like adding up word counts from different points of view, etc. So aside from being a really handy “big sheet of paper”, the spreadsheet functions are also useful.

By: Ally

Ally — Tue, 01 May 2007 02:47:36 +0000

wait, yall must be talking about another kind of spreadsheet b/c the one i’m talking about is the microsoft office one that u put numbers in the little boxes and it like carries the results all the way down..and a bunch of other stuff

By: Robert Legault

Robert Legault — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 23:16:28 +0000

I think a spreadsheet is a perfectly good idea. Copy editors don’t usually use them, but we do sometimes construct a kind of primitive version of one to keep track of things. Somebody has to, so the reader won’t say, Hey, it’s two days later, and the full moon is now a tiny crescent…

By: lili

lili — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 22:29:58 +0000

I’ve been writing and planning my next book with Scrivener, which I’m loving. It’s designed for Book Writers, and organises your book into chapters, lets you view all your chapters as note-cards on a cork board, has an ‘outline’ option where you can track themes or characters through each chapter, and work in ‘full screen’ mode, where you don’t get distracted by the clock, or your email, or the word-count.

so far, i love it.

By: Candy

Candy — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:54:15 +0000

wow, never heard of microsoft project. always on the lookout for instruments of procrastination. just got an amazon email saying my order for magic’s child and magic lessons are to be delivered tomorrow! can’t wait! i’ve got a queue of teenagers here in london waiting for me to supply them with the rest of the series! have a nice time in paris, justine

By: Ally

Ally — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 21:29:45 +0000

i hate spreadsheets..we had to learn to use them in school, but they are really helpful and “smart”

By: Misha

Misha — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:51:31 +0000

If you ever decide you do want a replacement for MS Project, have a look at OmniPlan. , which is Mac-native. I use OmniGraffle and OmniOutliner all the time (OO is particularly good for the shortish speech and essay writing I do for work), and if I needed a project-management tool, I'd try OmniPlan first. There are also some good collaborative web-based project management tools from other small companies, but I don't think that's what you need, somehow!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Mon, 30 Apr 2007 18:10:24 +0000

“pigeon entrails”

i’m trying to figure out exactly how that works…. this is what happens when one has a term paper due at 3:30 on wednesday which one has not started writing, or even researching, yet. one thinks of using pigeon entrails for keeping track of stuff.

hey! maybe a spreadsheet will help me write my term paper!! ahahahahahahahaha….

have fun in franceland!