How I Use Scrivener as a Poet—Jen Rose Yokel

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by Jen Rose Yokel

I imagine I’m not the only poet with a notebook problem. By that I mean all the spiral bound single subject books, clothbound gift journals, colorful medium-sized off-brand Moleskines collected over years, mostly filled with stream-of-consciousness journaling and half-baked poems.

Then there’s the Notes app, the ideal tool when there’s a flash of inspiration at a red light and no notebooks in sight. It’s so comforting to know as long as I have my phone I can open a blank note, type out a draft, and let it get buried in other notes until I dig it up later, like an interesting stone that needs to be polished.

These are great places to start the work of writing, but eventually those scribbles and scraps need revising, organizing, and, eventually, compiling. This is why a little app called Scrivener is the best money I’ve ever spent on my poetry.

Once upon a time, when I fancied myself a fiction writer and gave NaNoWriMo a shot, I downloaded a free 30-day trial and used it to write my draft. The resulting novel was not good at all, but at least those 50,000 words earned a hefty discount on the software. Now over a decade later,  it has become an essential piece of my workflow, and probably the reason I’ve been able to put a couple books together.

I suppose this is a good place to note that I’m not being paid to say any of this and this is just 100% enthusiastic fangirling. But if you’re looking for a helpful tool, here’s how I use Scrivener to make my poetic life a lot more organized.