Ideas for Using OneNote

 

So, funny story. My house has been chaotic lately, and my focus has been nil. I completely forgot to write and post the third installment of OneNote. But thankfully, I choose a meditation app for the next one. (See my previous post on Headspace.) Thanks to the meditation I’ve been doing on Headspace all week, I remembered that I forgot! LOL Anyway, I hope you won’t mind a bit of out of order on this week’s post. Here are some ideas for OneNote for writers.

With OneNote’s ability to function as a filing system, it’s perfect for organizing data, writing, reference material in one spot. It’s a virtual filing cabinet with as many drawers and folders as you need. And the cloud function lets users grab their data from anywhere.

Book Bible. My first intro to OneNote was a series bible created by my friend, Kari Cole. She used the program to keep track of details about her characters and settings. She created sections for research, photographs, family trees. Each book had its own notebook with pages of details. All the details about her Mated by Fate series were in one place, ready as a handy reference as she added to the series. A digital diary for your books that is accessible anywhere is a great way to manage your stories!

Social Media Tracker. I’ve recently started working with some other authors on a Facebook group for romance readers. We have a variety of activities there. Each day has a theme, and there are takeovers and events. Another perfect place for OneNote. With one notebook, I can put together all the memes, pictures, and posts for the page in one place. I set up folders with dates for takeovers and events. I have a different set of folders (color-coded) with pictures, memes, and posts. I transfer these items to the calendar folder or the event folder as needed. It solves two huge problems for me. 

1. I know what I’m going to post ahead of time and don’t need to scramble to grab the right pic or wording. 
2. I know what things I’ve already posted. I don’t double dip with a cute kitten photo! OneNote can keep hundreds of items in one spot and organized.

Writing. When I did my first post about OneNote, one Twitter follower reached out to me and told me he drafted his entire novel in the app! Because the app allows text, it would be so easy to write in OneNote. It can work like Scrivener with the notebook as the binder and the folders as sections. Chapters and scenes could easily be reorganized with the drag of a folder or page. It doesn’t have all the fancy editing tools inside the app. Since it’s an Office product, you get some bells and whistles. Plus, it’s compatible with Word for easy extraction.

Photo albums. This might not sound like a writery suggestion, but OneNote could work perfectly as a photo album. Many people are visual with their novels. Some writers use Pinterest to give a visual aid for their stories, whether planning, plotting, or looking for covers. A picture board can make a novel come to life. If you are already using OneNote, photos can be added like an outline for your story. Or it could be a file of possible covers for a series. Unlike Pinterest, the pictures are just pictures and not links to other websites/pages. That can work for good or ill. But OneNote will clip web addresses for you, so you can revisit the original photo as needed. Also, the album is not shared with the world. (Yes, Pinterest boards can be private, but we’ll talk about Pinterest another day.)

These ideas just scratch the surface of things you can accomplish with OneNote. You can plan any project, books, series, social media, marketing, collaborations with other writers with OneNote. Dream it, and you can do it.