Evernote

It was the greatest feeling to neatly pack up all of my chapters in a zip file and ship them off to my executive editor.  It took about three months to write the introduction and 10 chapters for my book, “Social Media and Public Relations: Eight New Practices for the PR Professional.” By far, the quickest writing process for me yet. About a week ago, I publicly thanked my husband on Facebook for “putting up with me” during the writing process homestretch. And, now it’s time to give thanks to the note taking software that kept me organized from draft outline through to final chapter edits – the software that enabled me to be more efficient, remembering everything, and capturing snippets of information, which most certainly would have been lost otherwise.

Thank you Evernote for helping me to remember, save and then access information later.  I used Evernote everyday and everywhere (on my laptop, Kindle Fire, iPad and Droid to add so many interesting quotes, facts, case studies, technology tools, and pieces of research into my book.  If you’re not familiar with Evernote, you certainly don’t have to be an author to use it.  I recommend Evernote to those who love to write lists and check them off completed tasks.  I also think Evernote is perfect for busy professionals who uncover interesting information all the time, but because they’re on the go want to save the information to review later.  Evernote is also terrific for recipe keeping, accounting of your monthly expenses, and a place to document progress on any project.

For me, Evernote was the first step in my book. As soon as I received my contract from Pearson Education, I started my chapter outline and also set up notes for the many experts I wanted to reach out to for interviews.  I used Evernote as a step-by-step “To Do” list as I contacted, interviewed, and wrote expert passages. I’ve written four other books in the past, and working with a number of people, it’s very easy to let deadlines slip through the cracks.  With Evernote, I reached every deadline with ease. I also used Evernote as a way to capture the footnotes for each chapter. I’ve learned to add the footnotes in at the end, after using one single note to keep track and to neatly organize every citation by chapter.

Here’s a screenshot of several different notes I used during my book writing process:

Evernote was an everyday, almost every hour, tool and I would not have finished my manuscript in such an organized and expeditious manner if it wasn’t for this note taking software. Just for the record, I have no affiliation with Evernote other than I’m a huge brand champion!

I hope you will check out Evernote and let me know some of the creative ways you are using it to help with your projects or your daily tasks.