![]() ![]() I have a simple taxonomy for titling my documents that uses the following format: A give it a title, and the template gets created in my writing “sandbox 1” on Google Drive. When I am ready to write something new, I click on the bookmark for my Google Writing Template. So, with that infrastructure in place, here is how I use Google Docs for writing: Click to enlarge 1. Using the RescueTime API, in conjunction with my Google Docs Writing Tracker, I automatically capture the time I spend on each document. But it has the added benefit of being able to tell you how long you spent working on an application–or a document in an application, including Google Docs. I use RescueTime on all of my computers to track my productivity. There is also a completely refactored and vastly improved version current in beta on GitHub. The Google Docs Writing Tracker is freely available on GitHub for anyone who wants to use it. The scripts collect and process the data, and some other scripts I wrote render it in nice graphical format. ![]() And guess what: it takes no effort on my parts. These scripts allow me to produce realtime charts and visualization of my writing. I have an elaborate set of scripts that run automatically in the background each night and capture data about my writing for the day. In addition to being useful later, seeing what I cut helps me learn and improve. While I am a strong proponent of cutting scenes and other stuff from my stories, I never throw anything away. My template has a deleted scenes section. This data gets fed into my Google Docs Writing Tracker. My scripts automatically capture the start date and end date of a draft, as well as the type (fiction or nonfiction). It has other functions that automate processes for me, like preparing a document for Scrivener (where I do the submission manuscript). My “Project” menu allows me to quickly create new blank documents. Here is an annotated look at my Google Writing Template. I have it bookmarked on my Chrome bookmark bar for easy access. It is the jumping-off point for any new story or article. This template contains some automated functions I’ve created. I have created a writing template that I use in Google Docs. Here are the components to my Google Drive writing infrastructure. The goal of this is to automate everything I can, so that the vast majority of my time is spent writing. To understand how I use Google Docs for writing, you have to first understand that I have built a small infrastructure within Google Drive to support my writing. Google Docs has some of those elements, but not all of them. That said, I just like it. I’ve written before about what I consider to be the important elements of a word processor for writers. That in turn allows me to spend more time writing. I’ve created several tools through this automation that have allowed me to automate routine writing processes. Moreover, Google Docs can be customized using Google App Scripting, essentially JavaScripting objects that allow you access to the Docs object model. This has saved me on a couple of occasions when the power has gone out. On those rare instances when I am offline–say, on a plane without Internet access–I can still access my documents offline. ![]() Everything is stored in the cloud, and sycned to my computers. This is important because it saves me time in having to learn specific ins-and-outs for different platforms. The same feature set, the same version, the same look-and-feel. Google Docs is available to me on all of these platforms. In my work office, I have a Windows laptop. Too many features weigh an application down, and provide distractions. But it has enough for me to easily produce clean copy in standard manuscript format, and that is really all that I require. Unlike Microsoft Word, it doesn’t have every feature under the sun. Why Google Docs?īecause I’m sure someone will ask why I use Google Docs, let me get that out of the way first. With nearly 6,000 posts, I’ve written on almost everything, but strangely, I did not have a post on how I use Google Docs for my writing. I was asked on Twitter recently if I had a post explaining how I used Google Docs for my writing. But for a year and a half now, I use Google Docs exclusively for first, second, and final drafts. I’ve always been a fan of Scrivener, and I still use Scrivener to prepare submission drafts. Since February 2013, I’ve used Google Docs for my writing. ![]()
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