25. Navigating your Google and Word docs easily

Did you know that you don’t have to sit down and write a story from beginning to end?

You can start with an idea for a specific storyline or scene, skip the exposition, and get right to the good stuff. Writing like this will fuel your creativity, which will help you stay motivated. But how do you avoid a jumbled mess?

In today’s episode, you’ll learn the advantages of using Google Docs to craft your story whenever you get inspired to write. With specific examples, Erin highlights built-in features in Google Docs and Word that will help you to organize your ideas and navigate and outline chapters and scenes easily.

You’ll also get easy instructions for formatting Word documents, which will make prepping for submission a painless process. Tune in to get started!

Watch the full video tutorial via YouTube: https://youtu.be/qjbMeZBrrOA

Topics discussed in this episode
  • Discovering the benefits of writing with Google Docs
  • Naming your documents for easy filing and version control
  • Styling your text to create an automatic outline
  • Navigating to specific chapters and scenes
  • Using key words to identify the focus of your chapters at glance
  • Incorporating unwritten scenes as placeholders
  • Changing the default fonts for styles
  • Formatting documents in Word
About Erin

For 15 years, Erin P.T. Canning has worked as a magazine and book editor, encouraging each writer’s individual voice and strengthening their writing goals. When she became a parent, she set aside her own writing aspirations to focus on her family. As the years passed, she grew increasingly anxious, depressed, and angry until she realized that she had forgotten who she was beyond being a parent.

Despite fearing her skills had atrophied, Erin started writing again. She first created her blog, Life Beyond Parenting, and then created the Parents Who Write podcast. Erin’s current role as a podcaster and writing coach enables her to help parents pursue their writing dreams.

She earned her MA in Writing from Johns Hopkins University, and she has finished the first draft of a fantasy-romance novel. She lives with her husband and their two young boys in Maryland.

Connect with Erin
Connect with others parents who write

Join my Facebook group, Parents Who Write, at https://www.facebook.com/groups/parentswhowrite.


Watch or listen

Connect with Erin

(my author-specific accounts)

Looking for an editor or book coach?

Book a FREE 30-min call

Not sure you need a developmental or line editor?

Want to know how I help you at every step, from development through publication, so you don't have to DIY everything?

Book a call with me so we can discuss your story, clarify what you're looking for, and get you on track to finish your book.

FREE DOWNLOAD

Do you have an idea for a book—but worry it's not good enough?

Get this free guide and learn how to silence that inner judge. Make writing stress-free and fun again, so you can keeping going and finish that first draft with confidence.

ABOUT ME

Erin P.T. Canning has worked for 20 years as an editor, encouraging each writer’s individual voice and strengthening their writing goals.

She always planned to write a book, but life had a tendency to distract her. After dedicating six years of her life to motherhood and discovering her ADHD, she started writing again, even though she feared her writing skills had atrophied.

After letting go of her perfectionism, Erin finally finished her own shitty first draft and released her fantasy romance novel, Ruins and Redemption, in 2023. Her current role as a podcaster and book coach enables her to help writers pursue their author dreams.