58keys Live – Get on with your writing

Oh, you are fun: thanks to everyone who joined me in the chat box for this session – now it’s your turn to join me in the comments below. Remember, you can watch this live session anytime you like but it would help me gigantically if you can say below when you watch and in what time zone. I’ll now definitely be doing more live sessions but I want to pick a time that’s good for everyone.

Latest 58keys, a live one:

https://youtube.com/live/8Vhbitzqs1k?feature=share

Final Draft – The Three Biscuit Guide

Maybe not everything you could know, but definitely everything you need to find out about Final Draft 12 for the Mac. Bring biscuits.

Also: read my book on how any writer can get more done: https://amzn.to/3RZhfAH

LINKS:
Final Draft: https://www.finaldraft.com

CHAPTERS:
2:47 What we’re going to cover
3:27 Templates
7:18 Save anyway
8:24 Title Page
9:37 Tour of FD
14:14 customise the toolbar
14:44 Status bar
17:15 Planning
18:08 Beat Board
19:30 Target Script Length
20:30 Outline Editor
22:00 Send Outline to Script
24:48 Index Cards
28:54 Scriptwriting
34:44 Change Element To…
35:01 Change a character:s name
35:57 Scene Navigator
36:34 Drag to rearrange scenes
39:11 Tab Bar
41:20 Get Final Draft to read aloud

58keys Writing Sprint

Bookings open now – must close Friday 8 July

Sign up on Eventbrite

Regular price for four sessions: £80 (~$100)

Use discount code 58KEYS to book for: £65 (~$80)

You are not writing enough and I know this because neither am I. It’s practically the definition of a writer that we don’t get on with it. But we need to, whether that’s because we’ve got deadlines or because writing is part of our very being.

The 58keys Writing Sprint is four sessions on consecutive Monday evenings, lasting two hours each. By far the most important thing is one hour in the middle in which you are just going to sit right there and write – and so am I. So is everyone. A solid sixty minutes of writing.

Now, I got this idea from young writers’ workshops I run where the best bit is a period where we simply write what we want. Maybe it’s something new, maybe it’s something we’re already working on.
But since those times always came at the end of a workshop, there was also the option for these young writers to just carry on writing something they started in an exercise.

I want you and me to have this same protected, important hour, but I also want you to have that benefit of an exercise that can get you started.

So roughly half an hour at the start will be me telling you about a specific writing topic I’m obsessed with – dialogue, character, plotting, everything really – and it will include at least one short exercise.

Then roughly half an hour at the end of the session will be for us all to just talk. Also to slap oursleves on the back for having got an hour’s writing done.

I hope you’ll join me. I hope you and I will both get a lot out of this. I think it’s going to be special.

William

Writer’s Guide to Setting up MacBook Pro

You can get your new MacBook Pro straight out of the box and get writing. But there are a couple of things to know first that will help. Here’s taking it from barebones to writing and producing this very episode.

LINKS
Default Folder X: https://youtu.be/yGyjHlmwjFU
Keyboard Maestro on 58keys: https://youtu.be/WMEu9wguVeA
Alfred: https://youtu.be/TvohiqDyg0c
OmniOutliner: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnioutliner
OmniFocus: https://www.omnigroup.com/omnifocus

Trackpad or Mouse for writers

Why it’s worth switching from mouse to trackpad –– or vice versa –– when you’re a writer who spends thousands of hours at the keyboard. 

LINKS:

Apple Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad (USA): https://www.apple.com/shop/mac/access…

Apple Magic Mouse and Magic Trackpad (UK): https://www.apple.com/uk/shop/mac/acc…

Logitech MX Master 3 (US Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3d2cxzb

Logitech MX Master 3 (UK Amazon affiliate link): https://amzn.to/3jf