Writing is a craft, and you can’t be any good at a craft without the right tools. These are the five tools I can’t live without.

Scrivener
I don’t know why I waited so long to get Scrivener. I had heard so many good things about it, and three months ago I finally bought this amazing software. Seriously, Microsoft Word is nothing compared to this. I love being able to keep all of my writing, research, outlining, and notes in the same place. And I love being able to jump around to work on different parts of what I’m writing, or to switch quickly between writing and outlining. Or even to work on both at the same time.

There was definitely a learning curve to get used to Scrivener. I spent several weeks going through the demo multiple times and reading the handbook. I’m sure there are still many things I need to learn, but for now I’ve got the hang of it. I highly recommend this software to any writer.

Planners
I never get anything done unless I have it written on a To Do List. I tend to be forgetful and have a lot of things running around in my head at once. At the start of each week I have to plan out everything that needs to get done so that I can stay organized and can accomplish what I need to. I have my weekly list of writing tasks, a social media planner, daily writing task lists, and my personal planner. I don’t know what I’d do without all of them.

Colored Pens
I love being as organized as possible, and color coding is a big part of that. I have my set of colored pens that I use for just about everything. Ink Joy pens are my favorite because the colors are bright and they’re easy to write with. Each story I work on has its own color that I use to make edits on paper copies, and I color code in all of my planners as well.

Textbooks

I keep most of my writing textbooks on my desk so that they’re right in front of me and I can draw from them for help or inspiration. I have everything from a book on outlining to a book on language creation for science fiction to a baby name book. Some are from college, some I’ve read after college, and others I haven’t gotten to yet. But ever since graduating from college I’ve realized how important it is to continue my writing education, so I try to read from one of these textbooks every day. The craft of writing requires constant learning and fine-tuning in order to do it well.

K-Love

This last one is probably the most important. Writing is my calling, and I want to make sure that God is with me whenever I’m doing what he’s called me to do. So I have Christian radio play in the background all of the time when I’m writing. My favorite station is K-Love. Not only do I get to hear some of my favorite music and artists while I’m working, I get that constant reminder that God is with me and that I’m loved. This music has a way of pushing God’s promises, word, and love into your heart and mind, even if it’s just on in the background. I don’t think I’d be able to do the difficult task of writing every day if I wasn’t constantly listening to these good messages.