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Five tips for (finally) writing your novel with Docs & NaNoWriMo
October 20, 2015
Many a person has said, “I’m going to write a novel someday.” Someday… as in, when your work slows down, or when you can go on a fancy writing retreat, or when your kids are grown up. Someday is usually a day that doesn’t ever arrive, which is why
National Novel Writing Month
(or NaNoWriMo, founded in 1999 by Chris Baty and friends) exists: to help you realize your creative dreams today.
The idea is straightforward. On November 1, participants begin working towards the goal of writing a 50,000-word novel by 11:59 p.m. on November 30. You don’t have to take a novel-writing class or read how-to books; you learn to write a novel by doing it. In the words of NaNoWriMo: “Valuing enthusiasm, determination, and a deadline, NaNoWriMo is for anyone who has ever thought about writing a novel.”
If you are considering giving it a shot this November, here are five ways Docs can help you get cracking:
Write everywhere
- Get the app for
Android
or
iPhone/iPad
, and add new paragraphs or make edits anytime an idea strikes—on the bus, while you’re walking the dog, or even those times you’re caught without Wi-Fi, like on a plane. Of course, you can also tinker with your burgeoning masterpiece from any desktop computer by signing in at docs.google.com, so you never have to worry about having the right machine or device with you.
Know your word count
- You’ve got one month to make it to 50,000 words, so it’s critical to track your progress as you go. To grab your word count, use the shortcut command + shift + C (mac) / Ctrl + shift +C (pc), finding it in the Tools menu, or by clicking the three grey dots in the Android app. Once you’ve got your tally, update your progress by pasting your wordcount into the NANOWRIMO header menu.
Get & manage feedback
- Wrimos, as they're known, like to get feedback from each other as they write, and Docs makes that easy. When you’re ready for input, hit the big blue Share button, set permissions to “Can comment,” and the people you've shared with will be able to add comments or make suggestions that you can choose to accept or reject.
See previous versions
- Docs comes with revision history built-in, so you never lose previous version of your novel. Click on “See revision history” in the file menu, and you’ll see all your edits, grouped by date, so you can easily go back in time—or even revert to a previous version that you prefer. If you do invite others to give feedback on your work, click the “See new changes” button at the top for an instant look at any edits they made.
Share your novel
- Once you’re finished (congrats, BTW!), you can choose to publicly share your novel for the world to read. Also in the File menu, hit “Publish to the web” and you’ll be able to share the URL of your novel far and wide—on your favorite social networks, in email, or however you’d like.
Good luck, and godspeed!
Posted by Michael Bolognino, Product Marketing Manager
Meet Susanna, founder & CEO of BridgEd Strategies
October 12, 2015
We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at
+GoogleDocs
or
@googledocs
with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed.
Hi Susanna! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I'm the founder & CEO of
BridgEd Strategies
, a consulting firm that works with education organizations to develop & implement strategy, communication, and change management plans that help them better serve low-income, first generation students. I'm a lifelong educator with experience ranging from being a K - 12 classroom teacher to a senior administrator at a technical college. Most recently I served as a program officer at a large national philanthropic foundation.
I returned home to New York City last year after a decade in Seattle.
How does Google Docs fit into your everyday work at BridgEd?
When I launched my consulting practice last year, I made the conscious choice to use Google Docs and other Google products instead of buying the other office software. I've had a Gmail account for over a decade and use Google calendar to organize (and keep a historical record of) my life.
I was nervous about solely relying on Google Docs- I was unsure how I would collaborate with clients who use the other office software. I initially gave myself six months to road test this approach. It's been seamless. I use Google Docs to write, collaborate, plan, and edit with clients and partners across the world. I’m able to access my clients’ Office documents with no translation issues.
I also chose to switch from an iPhone to an Android-based cell phone. Having all of my communications devices on the same platform makes it incredibly easy to access information, no matter where I am.
When my laptop recently stopped working, I wasn’t worried about whether I’d remembered to back everything up because all of my work was automatically saved to my Google Drive. As an independent consultant, I’m my own CEO, CFO, HR Director, and Director of IT. This peace of mind is a huge relief.
What are 3 tips you’d give for other organizations who use/would consider using Google Docs?
Google Drive is your most powerful asset for organizing and sharing information. A well-organized Google Drive will make collaboration and communication so much easier. Bonus: the search function means you don’t even have to be that organized.
The “Suggest” feature in Google Docs makes co-writing easy and exciting. I have collaborated on two blog post projects with people I know only through Twitter-- and Google Docs made that process not only possible but easy as well.
I’ve saved a photo of my signature as a .jpg in my Google drive to easily sign Google Docs.
Meet Jarrett, teacher & social entrepreneur
October 7, 2015
Jarrett is a teacher and social entrepreneur based in West Philadelphia who uses Google Docs and Drive to power a student run organization that creates healthy snacks, called
Rebel Ventures
.
We want to know how you use Google Docs, too, so share your own examples at
+GoogleDocs
or
@googledocs
with the hashtag #mygoogledocs. -Ed.
Hi Jarrett! Tell us a little about yourself and what you do.
I work for an organization called the Agatston Urban Nutrition Initiative at Penn’s Netter Center for Community Partnerships. Over the past 4 years, I’ve worked with West Philly HS students to build a business that produces healthy snacks called Rebel Ventures. Our mission is to make good food affordable to everyone. Simply put, good food is good for the people who eat it, good for the people who make it, and good for the planet. Our goal is to create healthy snacks and healthy jobs for our community.
How does Google Docs fit into your workday?
The Rebel Ventures Google Drive folder is the foundation of our job training model. Our business is divided into 6 departments (accounting, operations, sales, marketing, design, r&d) and high-school students rotate through each department, learning and developing a diverse set of skills by running the business activities within that department. The more skills HS students master, the more more money they earn.
We store all our files in our Drive, no matter what software is used to create them. All HS students with smartphones download Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, etc for their phone so they can access and manipulate the content at all times.
We use Slides to create all the tutorials that students use to teach themselves specific Rebel skills when no one is available to train them. Our entire accounting and sales systems are built in Sheets called Master Accounts. Every week a HS student opens and updates our Future Sales tab, which is transcribed on a whiteboard, carried into our kitchen, and the rest of the crew work on fulfilling orders.
We also use Sheets to improve our product quality in the Research and Development department. Every time we create a new flavor or product, we conduct a crew-wide taste test, where each individual ranks the products in a variety of set categories. A HS crew member is responsible for entering the data from the paper taste test forms into a spreadsheet, and then uses different functions to analyze and visualize the data so we can make informed recipe development decisions.
Our performance management system is based on peer evaluation. Every two weeks all Rebel crew members (high school, college, staff) fill out an anonymous Google Form where they rate their colleagues in 3 categories, and provide comments to justify the ratings. Our high school Rebel crew leaders are responsible for analyzing this data and then using it to co-plan SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, timely) goals for individual improvement.
What are 3 tips you’d give for other organizations who use/would consider using Google Docs?
Trust your team and let them play.
We give our high school students free access to computers as well as their phones during work, trusting that if they are using this technology they are working with Drive and Docs. The apps are simple enough that the students can self direct their activities, and they know to look to their peers and mentors if they need help manipulating a particular doc.
Build and keep building.
We usually don’t have any idea what the final form of any of our docs, spreadsheets, presentations, or forms will look like before we start making them. We have a goal in mind, but otherwise just start building from the ground up until we’ve created a tool that is useful. We test the tool and continue building. If more than one person is working on a doc at a time, we make sure they have their own device to access the doc so we don’t stifle creativity, independence, and cooperative communication.
Be organized and be transparent.
We do our best to keep our Drive organized through folders, and regularly train our staff on how to navigate the system. We also put everything our staff needs into Drive so there is open access to the information we need to do our jobs.
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