Well hello there, Reader,

While everyone else has got Black Friday Deals for you and whatnot, I thought I’d share 3 (mostly FREE) tools I’m grateful for instead.

Scrivener

Since 2010, I’ve done all my story writing exclusively in this program designed by a UK company Literature & Latte. Hands down, it’s the best writing program I’ve worked with and I’ve never considered switching to anything else.

I use it for everything. Story creation, daily prompt writing, note taking, writing scripts for my reels, emails, and writing website copy and posts. Seriously, everything.

Here are just 3 of my fav features:

Word goals

You can set daily or project-based word goals for yourself and it has a color project bar to let you know how much you’ve accomplished. The perfect thing if you’re motivated by gamification.

Change Icons

There’s like 50+ icons to choose from for text docs or folders in Scrivener. Which means when working on a story, I can have the small delight of putting all my notes in a filing cabinet or having the 3 drafts of my manuscript in different colors of notebook.

Split Screen mode

The ultimate timesaver

Split Screen mode allows me to view 2 documents within the same Scrivener file. I can have story notes open while I write a scene. Or my cut file open on one side while I edit a chapter on the other side. Or I can view the word count of every chapter in my book on the left side while I have an outline open on the right. The possibilities are endless.

If you’d like to try Scrivener out for yourself, you can snag a copy for Mac/PC for $59 or try it for FREE for 30 days.

Canva

Graphic design on the go

From graphics for my book lists, to the thumbnails for my blog posts, to the monthly Story Writing Prompt graphics you get in your inbox 📥, Reader, I make everything in Canva.

Why? Well here are just a few reasons…

1) They give you access to a lot of well-designed tools for zero $

2) It’s synced with my phone, so I can easily download content and post to social media.

3) I can save my past designs in their cloud storage (for FREE) so what I make has a uniform brand look in both color and style.

4) They have a marketplace of creative assets (both free and paid) that are AI-FREE which allows small creatives (that means you and me) to both sell and purchase media. I’ve used it to make promo materials for my books and writing.

5) It was founded and funded by women. Canva was founded by Melanie Perkins of Perth, Australia in 2013 with funding from American entrepreneur Susan Wu.

I even designed a FREE Bookcard template on Canva which you can download here.

Google Translate picture mode

This one’s not necessarily book related…but it could be

It’s no secret that I’m a curious person, Reader. Or that I love anime, dubbed period dramas, Danmei (Chinese Boys Love), and maybe you do too.

But maybe you’re like me and you’ve run into a situation where something on screen didn’t get translated. Like someone’s text messages, but it’s vitally important to the plot.

For that, let me introduce you to one of the lesser-known functions of Google Translate. Google Lens.

If you have the Google Translate app on your smartphone you can click on the Camera icon while watching a show, movie, Youtube live stream, or reading a book and it will translate for you in realtime.

Yep, you read that correctly. The app will do its best to translate whatever text is on screen into your desired chosen language.

It’s pretty advanced too. It can even translate complicated kanji painted on a scroll in an anime, or a ramen shop sign on a LoFi street corner stream station on YouTube.

So next time you’re doing “research” while watching that period K-drama and want to know what something on set says, aim your smartphone at the screen using Google Translate.

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Well, there you have it, Reader, 3 tools I’m grateful for. What about you? Any tools in your creative life you couldn’t live without? Hit reply and share them with me.

Until next time, this is your friendly neighborhood storytelling Kat wishing you a wonderfully creative week. And if you’re here in the States, Reader, I hope you have a feast-filled and stress-free holiday! 🦃🥧🍗🌽

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Your cohort in storytelling,

Kat Vancil

🐱

PS 👉 Here’s links to all the tools I mentioned today in one place:

​Scrivener
​Canva
​Google Translate app/Google Lens​

Here’s that FREE Canva Bookcard template & 15-page instructional PDF​

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