Did you notice the exclamation point in the title? I never use them — I have a phobia about them to the extent that if I read more than a single exclamation point in ten pages of any book I’ll throw it across the room.

But — I am excited about the new version of Scrivener. It’s finally here.

If you’re unfamiliar with Scrivener, visit the site to learn more. For Windows users, the Windows version will be out next year.

Here’s what I love about Scrivener:

* It keeps everything in one place

* I can work on my projects in chunks, so that I don’t lose ideas (I use it for everything)

* It’s easy to drag and drop chunks around until I have a structure I like. I outline, but invariably I make many changes to that outline…

* Easy export — new in V2, export to ePub

Here’s a tip. I’ve been using Scrivener since it first came out, and am very comfortable with it, but there’s a learning curve. That said, learning is SO worth it. You’ve got everything you need to learn — a great manual, and videos too.

I love Scrivener.

BTW — I have no affiliation with the product, I just love it.

Are you thinking of buying an ebook reader? Amazon’s Kindle Wireless Reading Device (6
has been out for a while, and is hugely popular.

However, there are many other options, with new ereaders appearing regularly. Barnes & Noble have the Nook, and of course, Apple has the iPad.

I’m looking forward to receiving my Apple iPad Tablet (64GB, Wifi), which is arriving in around a week.

While I’m looking forward to reading ebooks on it (including the ones I’ve purchased for my Kindle, I’m much more interested in using it for writing.

Have you bought a portable ebook reader? Which one did you buy, and why did you choose it? Please tell us in the Comments.

Do you use mind mapping as you’re writing your book? I’m an avid mind mapper — I tend to think in mind maps, after using them daily for many years.

NovaMind’s (mind mapping software developer) latest newsletter contained this snippet:

Author makes over $500,000 using NovaMind; eagerly awaiting NovaMind 5

Juan Gómez-Jurado uses NovaMind Mind Mapping software to write his books…and apparently it is working out rather well for him, seeing as he has sold over a million copies of his book “God’s Spy”, and has also received over half a million dollars for his last book.

If you’re not using mind maps, get acquainted with them and start using them — they can help you at all stages of writing your books, or of doing anything else.

What can you use mind maps for?

* Every stage of the writing process

* To do lists

* Thinking — discovering what you really think about something

* Planning

* Studying

* Fun

* Presentations, speeches

* ???

Everyone’s an individual, so you’ll find your own unique processes for using mind maps. As stated, I use them every day, usually I draw them on index cards, and use the iSight camera in my iMac to transfer them to my computer — EverNote does this in just one second.

(If you’re an iPhone/ iPod touch user, watch for NovaMind’s new iBlueSky mind mapping for the iPhone.)

Your book proposal is an essential tool to sell your book to a publisher, before you write it.

How to ‘Invent’ Your Book – Entrepreneur.com
suggests: “Prepare a comprehensive book proposal. This should include a detailed outline of your vision for the entire book, including each chapter; your background and what qualifies you to write on your given topic; a market evaluation of similar and successful books currently on the market and an explanation as to why yours is different; and a few sample chapters to demonstrate your writing style and your ability to produce valuable content.”

When you join my new membership site for authors, you receive Get Paid To Write A Book: Write A Non-Fiction Book Proposal And Sell It as part of your membership. In addition, you’ll receive templates and sample proposals, so you have models to follow.

Whether you’re writing a novel or nonfiction book, the tools you use to help you to write can make all the difference.

I wrote my sixth book on an Apple IIe computer with a whole 48KB of memory; this was a huge improvement on my previous book writing tool, an IBM golf ball typewriter. You’d think that 25 years’ worth of improvements in technology would make writing a book a breeze, wouldn’t you? Unfortunately not.

There are times when I believe the IBM golf ball typewriter was a great book writing tool and I feel like going back to it: I could write in chunks.

One slab, or multiple chunks?

Writing in chunks helps you to let your creativity flow – you’re not distracted.

So the first decision you need to make when writing a book is whether you’ll write in scenes or chapters (chunks), or write the entire text in one file as a single slab. Both options present challenges.

The problem is creativity itself: creativity is chaotic. You need to come to terms with that, because if you don’t, your book will be lifeless.

If you’re writing your complete book in a single slab, it chokes off your creativity – the temptation to tinker with previous chapters and alter word choices is too great.

OTOH, if you write in multiple files, corralling all those chunks and organizing them can be like putting together a jigsaw when you can’t see the picture you’re putting together.

One tool I’ve been using this year from all my long-form writing is Scrivener. Unfortunately this gem is only available for the Mac. The benefit of Scrivener is that you can write in chunks, and put all the chunks together when you need to.

A slab or chunks? Your choice.