#help i downloaded a font and broke my phone oh

[ginadope]

worlds behind us

Together we shall unearth The (almost) otherworldly treasure Translated poorly Lost even for poetry Are you surprised? I am trying to reach, through fire and shivers For love itself

Its core nourished With beauty forbidden Your eyes truly alive, more Than my thousand jewels Your hands, how greatly they build How fragile their warmth

[escapewithbts]

Forgetful - Seokjin

———————————————

You sat at the two person table by yourself just staring mindlessly at the menu. You could probably recite the whole entree list by heart at this point.

The dimly lit restaurant was crowded and filled with noises; dishes clanking, people laughing, the soft tune of music. It would have been the perfect atmosphere… had you not been there alone.

 You sighed and glanced at your beautiful (and expensive) watch… one of the many gifts given to you by your boyfriend last Christmas.

 It was 8:43. Your reservation had been for 43 minutes ago.

 “Excuse me,” the perfect-looking hostess came up to you for the third time and spoke to you in Korean, “but we are super busy, as you can probably tell, and if you’re not going to order then we really need your table.”

 You frowned and glanced down at your phone. Still no texts or missed calls.

 “I know, I’m so sorry, can I just wait until nine? I don’t know why he’s taking so long, I’m sure he’s on his way…”

 “So you’ve said,” she replied with a fake smile, flipping her dark hair over her shoulder and walking away.

 Wow rude, much?

 You stared at your phone, your vision becoming blurry from the tears forming in your eyes. You hoped everything was okay with him. And you couldn’t help but wonder if he forgot.

 You scrolled through his texts, the last from this morning around 10:30am saying he was beginning the shoot for the latest Run BTS! Episode and he would see you later. You assumed that meant here.

But he never showed.

 You touched his contact to give him a call, but again it just rang and rang until you were again met with the automatic voicemail. You sighed and typed him another text.

Hey I’m leaving the restaurant now. I hope you’re okay. Please call or text when you get this.

 Then you grabbed your things, stood up and walked towards the exit of the restaurant.

 “Oh my god, it’s about time she left,” you heard the hostess whisper to someone as you walked passed her podium, “She claimed to be meeting a member of BTS here for dinner!”

 Her snickering was the last thing you heard as you pushed open the door and went back out into the warm Seoul night.

By the time you made it home to your and Jin’s shared apartment you were exhausted and your feet absolutely ached from the heels you were wearing. You unlocked the door and went inside, immediately removing them and rubbing your swollen soles.

All of a sudden, you heard noises coming from the living room. Jin was home?

When you turned the corner there he was, sitting on the couch, laughing at some show playing on the tv and eating ramen from a bowl on his lap.

Your heart sank. He was okay. So what you had feared was true after all. He just forgot.

Forgot your one-year anniversary dinner.

“Oh hi, (y/n)-ah!” he exclaimed when he finally noticed you standing there, a heap of noodles dangling out of his mouth.

He swallowed them and continued,

“Wow, you look really pretty! Did you go out with your friends?”

Your eyes instantly welled up with tears and a couple fell down your cheeks before you could stop them. You tried to swipe them away abruptly with the back of your hand but Jin still noticed.

“Jagi, what’s wrong?”

He set his bowl on the coffee table in front of him and rose from his seat on the couch to walk over to you.

He reached his arms out to hold you, but you instantly stepped back to avoid his embrace.

He cocked his head and furrowed his eyebrows confusingly, his large red lips turning into a frown.

“Jagiya? Is everything okay?”

You sniffled and glared at him.

“So you just don’t check your phone anymore?”

He immediately reached into the front pocket of his trousers and pulled it out.

“Aiishh it must have still been on silent from the shoot today. I’m sorry if I missed-”

He stopped mid sentence as he finally observed all your missed calls and read your texts.

His face fell.

“Oh… fuck. (y/n). Shit.”

He looked up at you, an expression of worry and guilt evident on his handsome face.

“(y/n), jagi, I’m so so so sorry. Fuck! I-I completely forgot. I got caught up with work and- ”

You put your hand up to silence him.

“I don’t want to hear it, Seokjin.”

He winced. He knew you only called him by his full first name on two occasions: one when you were really really pissed at him, the other when he was making really really good love to you… and right now it certainly was not the latter.

You brushed passed him and headed toward the hallway. You were tired and hurt, and now to top it all off you had a massive headache. All you wanted to do at this point was take a shower, go to bed and forget this evening ever happened.

But you heard Jin follow you toward your shared bedroom.

“(y/n), please, I’m really sorry. I know there aren’t any excuses. I fucked up. I really, really fucked up.”

You scoffed, not turning back to face him.

“Yeah, you think?”

He paused in thought for a moment.

“Well, what if-what if we celebrate now? I can cook you up some really delicious food, all your favorite foods from home! And-and we can light some candles, have dinner, spend the whole rest of the night together…”

You stopped in the bedroom doorway and swung your whole body around to face him again.

“No. It’s too late, Jin. I waited at the restaurant for an hour for you. I’m exhausted, okay? I just want to go to bed,” you paused, “So please. Just leave me alone.”

Jin’s shoulders fell in defeat as his gaze went to the floor. His arm lifted to scratch the back of his neck.

“O-okay,” he whispered.

Then he squinted his eyes tightly shut, and that was the last thing you saw as you let the bedroom door close in his face.

The warm shower felt amazing on your body, but you couldn’t help the thoughts that plagued your mind while in there. Jin had forgotten arguably the most important date in a relationship. What was next? Your birthday? The next anniversary? It made you feel like your relationship wasn’t important to him, like you were an afterthought. It hurt your heart.

Once you were clean and out of the shower, you changed into a pair of sweatpants and an oversized t-shirt. Your head still ached immensely; you had hoped the shower would have fixed that, but all that overthinking had only made it worse. You knew Jin usually kept some pain medication in his nightstand for when his body was sore after a particularly grueling day of dancing, so you proceeded to his side of the bed and sat down on the edge, reaching for the top drawer.

Immediately upon opening it you spotted a red envelope, “My (y/n)” written across the top in Jin’s messy handwriting. You hesitated for a second whether or not to investigate it, but ultimately, with a shaky hand, you pulled it out. You took a deep breath before opening it and removing the card inside.

In an elegant font, the front of the card read ‘Happy Anniversary to the one I want to annoy for the rest of my days’, and written on the inside ‘Hey, that’s you!’.

You couldn’t help but stifle out a small chuckle, accompanied with an eye roll, of course. It was so Jin. Your Jin.

Your eyes then scanned his handwritten message next.

Jagiya,

 Congratulations! You have been chosen by WWH Worldwide Handsome Kim Seokjin himself as the person who gets to be annoyed by him for the rest of your life! Don’t you feel so honored? It’s a coveted position, there’s only one spot, and you got it! We’ll talk about the details later 😉

No, but seriously, my (y/n), thank you for putting up with me for a whole year. I know I can be pretty obnoxious, silly, stupid, goofy, forgetful (ha, he got that one right for sure), busy and sometimes moody, but you have stuck with me through it all and I appreciate it. You are so special and I hope you know how lucky I feel to have you. You’re so supportive and patient and kind. I can’t wait to share many more anniversaries with you.

All my love,

Jin

You clutched the card to your chest, tears streaming down your face again. But this time you weren’t upset. You were touched. His words definitely didn’t excuse what he did (or rather didn’t do) this evening, but at least you knew how he truly felt about you. He really did love you. Your heart suddenly felt full.

You stood up, holding the card tightly, opening the bedroom door to go find him.

 “Jin?” you yelled down the hall. But, to your surprise, he was right outside the bedroom doorway, sitting on the floor with his back against the wall, his long legs spread out in front of him, his phone in his hands.

“Jin I-“

But he quickly stood up and turned his phone to face you.

“Jagiya, look I downloaded an app where you can save all your important dates! And you can set it up for reminders days, even weeks beforehand! So I put in today, of course, and your birthday, but please don’t think I would ever forget that, and the day we went on our first date, the day I first cooked for you, the day-“

He stopped speaking when you suddenly stood on your tip toes and wrapped your arms around the back of his neck. He immediately wrapped his around your lower back and squeezed you into him.

 “I’m just so sorry, jagi.” he mumbled into your hair.

You nodded against his broad shoulder.

“I know.”

You pulled away and presented the card.

“I found this.”

Jin’s ears promptly turned bright red and he closed his eyes tightly. Then he put his head in his hands.

“Aiissh, it’s so cheesy, I’m sorry.”

You placed your hand on his upper arm, making him glance back down at you.

“No, Jinnie, not at all. It’s perfect. I loved it.”

He smiled, wrinkles forming at the sides of his eyes.

“See? I didn’t completely forget! I knew it was coming up. I just didn’t exactly remember when we were going to dinner and I should have-”

You placed your lips on his in a tender kiss to shut him up again. He pulled you closer to him, so your bodies were completely touching before you broke apart, still attached at the foreheads.

“Mmm Happy One Year Anniversary, my (y/n)-ah,” he breathed out.

You nuzzled your face into his strong neck.

“Happy Anniversary, my Worldwide Handsome.”

*

Masterlist

Hehe

[howdoipickauniqueusername]

RFA Members X Reader (Soulamate AU)

Zen : [the first words your soulmate says to you tattooed onto your wrist]

*taken from Deep Story Route, as I wanna play 707 again lol*

You could barely sleep the night before your eighteenth birthday, knowing that you’d be able to find the first words your soulmate would speak was all you could think about

Imagine how you felt when “WTF. How did it get in here?” Showed up the next morning

Your older brother found it fucking hilarious, your sister was sympathetic and your mother was concerned your soulmate was the abusive type

You tried to hide it, and avoid looking at it

I mean, come on, if your soulmate had that reaction to you - were they really your soulmate??

You continue through your life, eventually moving on from finding your soulmate

You try and date a couple of guys, but, expectedly, nothing feels right

Until, seven years later, you download a messaging app to be able to text your online friends when... something goes wrong

You’re talking to someone called “unknown”, guiding you to an apartment building and, having nothing else to do, you follow along

As soon as your inside an apartment, the chat changes into a normal group conversation between people talking about nepotism

You’re about to leave the chat and the apartment when someone called 707 notices that you’re there

“WTF. How did it get in here?”

Zen - you’d heard that name before, but your heart stopped

Was this it? Your soulmate?

You were in shock for moments until you decided it best to say something before they lose they’re minds

“Hello...”

As soon as the chat ends, someone’s calling you - you see it’s Zen and before even letting yourself think, you pick up

“Hey...” his voice is breathy and you can feel your heart pounding and your head swimming, so you sit down.

“Hey...” you sound shyer than you meant to.

“I... I know this might sound strange, but I just have to check... what do you have tattooed on your wrist?” His voice sounds hopeful. Had he been waiting for this? You smile at the hope in his voice. So I guess this was your soulmate

“I have WTF. How did it get in here? Tattooed on my wrist.” He laughs. “Seriously? I hated you for that when I woke up with that on my wrist. My mum thought you were gonna be abusive!”

“At lease you didn’t have to question everyone who greeted you.” You gigle at the image.

“I’m sorry.” You can hear the smile in his voice. “I’ll make it up to you someday.” You feel your heart flutter

“I’d really like that.”

Saeyoung/Luciel/707 : [you can finally see colour when you make eye contact with your soulmate] (AU where you meet at the party and nothing bad happened lol)

You had gotten used to seeing black and white by the time you turned 25

However, as you watched your friends fall in love, find their soulmates (small world - most of them found their soulmates in college), you kind of started feeling a little lonely

Saeyoung however, hated the black and white. It made his eyes bleed and his chest hurt. His computer screen was black and white - full of coding. He knew, because many of his co-workers told him so (they tried not to talk about their ability to see colour, it never ended well for them)

His chest hurt, knowing this was all he’d ever see. Black and white. He thought it was a perfect contrast to his life

Statistically, most soulmates were to be found in college classrooms - same interests and such

Perhaps your soulmate wasn’t the college type

You thought about him a lot, even while you applied for your masters

You made friends with people you had stumbled across online - a party planning committee that you actually quite enjoyed talking to

Especially one guy - 707, who never failed to actually make you smile with his hilarious comments

As you both grew closer, as did the date for the party, you felt part of you hoping that this was it. He could be it...

Saeyoung would never let him admit it to himself or god forbid, say it out loud, but he wanted the same thing. You were hilarious. And cute - when he saw you, hacked into your tumblr account and saw the private photos of you with friends and family on your Facebook, part of him wished he could see colour. What hair colour did you have? What colour eyes...

When the day came and you tried your best to choose something nice to wear - trusting your mother who helped choose the colours.

It took Saeyoung ten minutes to tie his tie as he was leaving. He was gonna be early at this rate - and while his hands were shaking, he took his damned time. He didn’t want to know. But he did. And he didn’t.

If you weren’t it, then who could it be?

And if you were... then, he was doomed.

You stood near the door, flinching every time someone walked through. Your whole body was tingling - barely able to talk for the heart that was pounding in your throat

Zen and Yoosung were so sweet, and you felt slightly terrible when you kept turning around to look at the door, but they didn’t mind. They could tell something had changed between you and him

He stood outside, pacing. He just had to do it. Had to get it over with.

So he walked in

And for a second, your heart broke - you saw him in black and white

Until he saw you

The eye contact was blinding when suddenly there was colour

Everywhere

And it was beautiful

And you were walking over to him, smiling

He thought you were beautiful - in colour and grace and how could he be so lucky to have you as his soulmate?

“Oh God 707, it’s a pleasure to finally meet thee.” You curtseyed and your hair fell off your shoulder and he shivered

And he laughed

“I can’t believe it was you.” He says, softly, barely louder than a whisper and you smile, pushing your hair away from your face

“I had a feeling when I met you.”

Yoosung : [a wristband clock that counts down until the moment you meet your soulmate]

You wake up, feeling nervous

You and your mother (practically one of your best friends) have been waiting for this day since you learnt what it meant

Nearly as soon as you’ve woken up, your phone is ringing and your mother is talking your ear off, about how to act and what to say and you don’t have the heart to tell her you aren’t listening as you doze off into nervous day dreaming

What would he look like? What would he say when he saw you? Would he be disappointed? You were hardly a model... a little chubby actually

You used to be teased about never finding a soulmate, despite the fact that your clock was counting down

They said it was a glitch, but you had enough faith to last you

Your first day of college. Today.

Would he be in your class? Or would you bump into him around the campus?

You got ready, heart pounding as you checked your wrist almost obsessively

Yoosung has been waiting for this moment since high school. At least, that’s what he’d tell people (truth was, he’d been dreaming about his soulmate way back in primary school)

He felt nervous as heck - couldn’t sleep, eat or even play LOLOL in the days leading up to today. The day.

1 hour and 10 minutes and 15 seconds

He couldn’t wait to meet them.

But he was worried they’d be dissappointed when they saw him. He wasn’t “hot” or anything particularly special. He didn’t have much going for him when he thought about it...

But he tried not to think about it as he locked his front door behind him

30 minutes left and you realised that you were definitely going to be meeting them on campus. You were 10 minutes away, so you’d have twenty minutes to spend, anxiety ridden and nervous as fuck

20 minutes left and his hands were sweating. He couldn’t stop it, so he wiped his hands on his jeans, hoping to god it’d stop before he met them - what a great first impression

10 minutes left and you were heading to class, heart pounding in your throat

5 minutes left and he started heading to class, taking one last drink from a water fountain (he was stalling)

A minute to go... excitement and anxiety

5 seconds to go and your eyes were glued to the door

3... 2... 1...

The door was halfway open when your clock reached zero and fell to the floor - people around you hear the soft clink and try and find the matching pair

You see their hand, frozen on the door handle, and he walks in, his face red

He’s actually really fucking adorable, and you smile

The girl who had sat next to you moved out of the aisle and motions to him that he should sit next to you

His soulmate

Sat in the third row to the front, smiling and blushing and a part of him dies

He manages to walk to you, sitting down next to you and because of the chairs, his thighs brush against yours and his breath hitches in his throat

“Hi, my name is [Y/N]” you say softly

“I’m Yoosung Kim.” He replies, still red

Jumin : [whatever you write on your skin, it appears on your soulmate’s skin]

The first thing Jumin learnt about you was that you really needed to get a planner

You scribbled appointments and assignment dates all over your hand

At first he was rather annoyed by it - people constantly assuming he was doing it to himself.

So he got himself a pair of gloves and forgot about it

He had to focus on business and... learning about business

Although, occasionally, when he felt lonely in his large home with no friends or no real family to talk to, he’d take his glove off and trace the doodles and cursive font

He liked to imagine that his soulmate and him.. they’d be different from his father, trying to ignore his heart in favour of the young girls he fel privy to

He’d make sure that when he found them. He’d never let them feel second best

A couple years into your twenties, you decide it’s best to get some kind of job or internship as you complete your PhD

Coincidentally, C&R International was hiring for interns in college looking for some extra credits and you jumped on the opportunity

They had assigned you to work with a wonderfully hardworking lady named Jaehee Kang

It was a stressful job, and you barely ever saw your boss, Mr. Han, however you didn’t mind that based on the effect he had on others around the office

It wasn’t until two months into your job when Mr. Han has apparently lost a pair of gloves that you actually met the man

Jaehee was swamped with work when he called her in, however you jumped out fo your seat, telling her you’d handle it, to which she gave you a grateful smile and started back on her work

“Mr. Han, you called?”

“Yes. I need you to go and retrieve a fresh pair of gloves from my home. As soon as possible.”

You nodded swiftly and left, asking Jaehee for his address and scribbling it onto the inside of your palm before grabbing your coat and leaving

Junk sat at his desk, typing when he felt the all too familiar scribble on his skin and looked down instinctively (it was reflexive, even with his gloves on)

His address. In cursive. With a small ‘gloves!’ Written next to it

His soulmate was his intern

You came back in record time and knocked on his office, waiting for a couple moments for a calm “yes, come in” before entering

He sat where you had last left him, and gave him a professional smile as you reached out to hand him his gloves

He held out his left hand and you saw scribbles across it

I didn’t know Jumin wrote on his hands — wait, that looks like...

You glanced down to your hand and your eyes widened

You looked back up at him and he smiled in a way you’d never seen before

“I think we should get to know eachother, Miss. [L/N].”

Jaehee : [you can hear your soulmate’s thoughts when you want to]

When you were young - too young to know how to control the thoughts that popped into your brain every once in a while - you’d let them talk

Whoever they were calmed you down

You’d be in the middle of hiding in your closet from the arguing downstairs when - pop - they were back

I need sugar and flour and...

They were baking... you smiled whenever their thoughts invaded your mind. They took you away from reality

An escape you welcomed whole heartedly

Years later, when you were diagnosed with anxiety, their thoughts didn’t come to you as often as they used to

Apparently, stress can have an effect on the ability to hear and transmit thoughts

No wonder they hadn’t tried to reply to your thoughts... who are you?

So.. she was stressed

And you fell into a numb state of mild depression - no real desire to go out or eat or.. anything

Your mother eventually forced you to find something - anything to do. So she took you to her favourite coffee shop on a Monday morning, before the big rush of customers came and you followed

You hadn’t bothered to brush your hair or anything - what was the point anyway?

So when a woman dressed in a sharp form fitting suit came flying into the store with purpose and grace, your heart skipped a beat without you realising

Your anxiety lifted for a moment

Wow, she’s gorgeous

Your thought was loud, almost echoing inside your head and she flinched

Could she hear me?

At that, she began looking around, and as soon as her eyes landed on you...

You both knew

[craigedwardgiven]

Write Myself Empty

Writing Gnats

As I struggled to regain traction on my novel, my head was abuzz with distracting gnat clouds of ideas and issues. Prewriting seemed the accepted and logical solution, so I broke my manuscript into individual scenes in Scrivener as a precursor to outlining the entire plot. This, unfortunately, served only to stir up additional clouds of writing gnats. So my next attempt to silence them was a technique I use at my day job: write myself empty. It is as if I literally pluck the distractions from my mind and stick them to the paper. The effort of articulating an item is an acknowledgment and respect of its importance. Then that gnat is content to remain in storage, quietly awaiting its turn to be at center stage and to find resolution. Let’s seek inspiration from the work tool (which I’ll call the “fly paper”) that I use to snare and subdue distractions.

Fly Paper for Day-Job Gnats

Project Name

About

The “About” section rarely appears for most projects

It can be used to keep milestone or milestone dates top-of-mind

It can be used to capture names, addresses, or numbers of particular consequence

In Progress

A concise statement of one task to be accomplished

All items are dated since a superior may ask when an issue was reported, resolved, delegated, due, etc.

ISSUE: Issues are prefixed with an uppercase label to make them easy to identify because they also tend to be urgent

Items that are awaiting a response or action from another party can be prefixed with “AWAITING:” or colored (I use fuchsia)

Bold text, red lettering, and/or yellow highlighting identify important or urgent items

Next Steps

Like the “In Progress” section, except for items yet to be undertaken

On the Horizon

Like “Next Steps,” but for items much farther into the future

This section won’t exist for most projects

Completed

The reason for keeping a completed section is not so much for a sense of accomplishment, but a quick reference when a superior wants a status update 

All items in the completed section use a gray font to deemphasize them

Issues that have been dealt with receive a prefix of “Resolved,” “Work-Around,” “NAPWAD” (not a problem, working as designed), etc.

This section is also a place to document major decisions made, who made them, and when they were made

Although, the title on this document is “Status Report,” it’s not actually something seen by my superiors. I’m the primary beneficiary and I use this document to juggle multiple projects—some of which can be complex, lengthy, and large in scope. Every workday morning I open this document to set my course, and it stays open to capture the inevitable additions that pop up throughout the day. It helps me silence distractions, focus on the top-tier tasks, and ensure next-tier items don’t fall through the cracks.

Oh, wait! That sounds a lot like writing a novel! The structure of the fly-paper for writing gnats will be different than day-job gnats. But it shares the same act of capturing and the same benefit of silencing. If you’d like to apply my “Status Report” template to a project at home or work, I’ve shared the file below, in Microsoft Word format, for download. For those without MS Word access, I’ve also uploaded and converted it to Google Docs and hopefully that will provide beneficial.

Which Fly Paper for Writing Gnats?

Mind Maps versus Flow Direction

Finding the right technique is not the same as finding the right tool to perform that technique. Instead of assuming the same tool can be applied to the technique, I wanted to carefully consider which “fly paper” would be best at capturing my writing gnats. The first idea that came to mind was the popular and obvious solution of mind mapping. There are plenty of mind mapping tools available, including Scrivener’s sibling Scapple. However, despite its integration advantage, Scapple is only available on Mac and Windows, so it doesn’t work on mobile devices nor is it cloud based. And even though I’ve tried some mind mapping solutions that are cloud based and available as mobile apps, I haven’t been satisfied with the results. Mind mapping is great on a giant whiteboard or even on a big sheet of paper. But most screens can only show a portion of a map legibly. And no matter the device, onscreen mapping doesn’t flow like handwritten mind maps. Instead it stutters and drags since I cannot dedicate my focus to mapping—some attention must be diverted to operating the technology. I’ve persevered when such mind maps were part of a group event, or a presentation, or when I needed to capture or publish the results. So I know that, with enough dedication and practice, mind mapping software could fit your need. If you’re already at that point, be sure to share your software recommendations (in the comments below) for your fellow readers.

For me, however, when it comes to writing gnats, the goal is to eliminate distractions, not accommodate or outperform them. My energy and focus needs to go to actual writing, and that as quickly and easily as possible. But more importantly, mind mapping flows in a direction very different from writing. Writing in English flows from left to right and down the page. In contrast, mind-mapping expands from the center of the page in all kinds of directions. So I need a tool that works with the natural flow of writing. The relationships that were previously captured in the bubbles and lines of a mind map can be transformed into headings, indents, and other rubrics that are compatible with the directional flow of writing. Those methods have already proven both their ability to capture and organize thoughts in my day-job tool and will work equally well on writing gnats. And since my mind is already practiced in those features, I want a tool that not only offers them, but also allows me to invoke them without interrupting my flow (i.e., intuitive and easy controls).

Before listing my test bed, I feel the need to address the tangent of “distraction-free” writing apps. Unfortunately, that term is often code for “dumb” and the creators are trying to sell a lack of features as if it were a benefit. I’ve tried a few of these apps and haven’t found any benefit to them. Perhaps you are the type who is truly distracted by menus and toolbars, but I have found these “distraction-free” apps a waste of money and time. I do, however, have to give Scrivener credit for its offering, because it hides rather than eliminates features. Also, Scrivener gives you control over that “distraction free” experience such as selecting a pleasing backdrop, scaling the font, setting the editor width, etc. But for me “distraction-free” is not about what is on the screen, but rather what is buzzing in my head, and the features that will quell those distractions are:

Rubrics

Size, color, highlighting, bold, italic, underline: to draw the eye and triage importance

Strikethrough: to indicate a consideration was made but rejected

Headings: to organize and navigate the document

Layout

Indents: to show dependencies and relationships

Bulleted lists: the core element of the tool, and when sequence is not relevant

Numbered lists: when sequence and hierarchy are both important

Platform

Desktop: To leverage a full sized keyboard, mouse, and dual monitor setup (Microsoft Windows in my scenario)

Mobile: The ability to work on a project while away from a desk by using a phone or tablet (iPhone and iPad for my scenario)

Cloud: Allows work in a browser and ease of switching platforms because the files are stored in or synchronized through the internet.

Copy & Paste: I should be able to transfer what I’ve captured to a finished document. That's typically via Copy & Paste, and the platform should not mangle the style or destroy proper typographical elements such as:

urved double quotes, single quotes, and apostrophes: “, ”, ‘, ’ versus " and ' 

Hyphens, en dashes, and em dashes: -, –, and —

Ellipsis: … versus . . .

The Contenders

Scrivener

How is Scrivener a contender when it’s not even a cloud product? First, it is vigorously targeted at writers, so I want to know if it can stand up to the rigors of my demands. Second, its Dropbox support makes it somewhat cloud friendly. Dropbox sync is nearly automatic on desktops and on mobile the manual sync is so simple it’s hard to consider obtrusive. And, lastly, the iOS Scrivener app qualifies it for the mobile requirement.

Although it delivered on nearly every requirement, I found the interface quirky. Adjusting to its nuances had a slightly steeper learning curve than other products with which I’ve experimented. I also found its support for headings and numbered lists weak and indents can only be used with lists unless you elect to manually wrestle them into place. The most glaring issue was Copy & Paste, and a search of their forums found other Scrivener customers of the same mind. In the screenshots below you can see where I’ve pasted text into Scrivener. In the first example, the lines overlap each other and in the second they pasted as hyperlinks (although without any actual destination).

Google Docs

Google Docs passed with flying colors and offered all the features needed. It even made the sweet spot in the headings department, offering four pre-built levels (the need for levels deeper than four quickly diminishes as the hierarchy grows). The editor is responsive and fairly intuitive, and being browser-based not only qualifies it as cloud-based but multi-platform as well. But its crowning achievement is the price of “free.”

iOS Notes

I didn’t expect the Notes app to be a serious contender. But recent improvements under iOS 11 and iCloud support made it worthy of at least a passing mention and experimentation. Unsurprisingly I found font manipulation and list features minimal, so it’d only serve those with equally undemanding requirements. But, for those with an iPhone always within reach the convenience is hard to deny for short and simple captures.

Office365

Microsoft Word is the dominant platform when it comes to word processors. And this admission comes from a WordPerfect expert who remained loyal to the very end. But the end did come, and in the long years following, Word retained its throne legitimately with a powerful feature set. Its iOS versions are incredibly close to their desktop counterparts, but the browser version had two issues.  The most significant issue is the lack of smart quote support.  Instead of getting curly quotes and apostrophes (like “this” and ‘this’ it gives you "this" and 'this'), which is important if you’re writing dialog or using contractions. Of lesser impact is that Word Online lacks decent tab key support, which customers have decried since 2012. Tables can be used as a work-around for the lack of tab key support. But I thought I’d mention these two shortcoming and Microsoft’s extended attitude towards these issues. And it’s worth noting that Google Docs handles both these features without issue.

Then there is the price. And that’s exacerbated by being bundled in a hard-to-resist office suite. For less than a hundred dollars a household of five not only gets Word, but Excel (spreadsheet), PowerPoint (presentations), Access (database), OneNote (like Evernote on steroids), Publisher (desktop publishing), Outlook (email), and a terabyte of OneDrive cloud storage and synchronization. While you’re certainly getting value for your money, it also cannot be called cheap, especially when it must be paid annually. 

As a power user familiar with all the products in the bundle, with nearly 20 years of experience, and having multiple computers that can leverage the device licenses, it was easy to justify the subscription. But even into my second year of a subscription, I didn’t find myself using it fully due to a mental block. Despite my investment in Office365, I would catch myself in Google Docs to creating articles, idea lists, or project notes.

I couldn’t blame habit and familiarity because it only happened for personal documents—I dive into Word and Excel without hesitation every day at work. I can’t blame accessibility because even multi-factor access is both quick and flows smoothly. Nor can I blame capability because I hadn’t spent enough time using it to know if the features fell short or not. I was puzzled by my irrational reluctance until I realized that the annual subscription was haunting me, and that I was subconsciously treating its cost as a risk. Perhaps that was due to Microsoft’s troubled OneDrive history (I was an early adopter of the now defunct SkyDrive and Window Live Folders). But Google isn’t blameless either when it comes to abandoned customers (e.g., Reader, Picasa, Wave, etc.). So, I’ve begun to be intentional in my usage of Office365 to stamp out my irrational reticence and to surface and solidify any real concerns should they exist. 

Conclusion

Productivity is the goal, so if you’re already proficient and content with a tool then stick with it. However, if you’re without a tool then pick one compatible with your financial assets, your mindset, and your skill set. Google is free, quite powerful, and a great place to start your journey. Scrivener is an affordable solution targeted at authors who want an integrated writing environment and only need a basic text editor. And finally, Office365 is for users who relish a rich feature set instead of being daunted by its power or its price.