Late last year, I discovered a tool called Plottr that was described as software for writers to visually plan their stories. I gave it a try with the free trial and promptly became hooked on it’s easy to use tools, the simple drag and drop management of plot points and scenes down to the individual character level, the ability to create a series-level plot that can then drill down to individual books, the invaluable series bible functionality, and the ability to export your plots and other information into other applications, like Scrivener.

Best of all, Plottr is constantly evolving as creator Cameron Sutter adds and refines features both as he thinks of things he can use in his own writing as well as from suggestions by the very energetic community of Plottr subscribers. I recently had a chance to chat with Cameron, who has himself published three books, and describes his life mission as one to inspire readers to read the Classics and empower writers to write more powerful stories.

Learn more about Plottr at www.pretendingtowrite.com or at plottr.com

Enjoy a bit of a memoriam inspired by a recent writing prompt. This time, the prompt provided was to think of a song, think of someone associated with that song, and then tell the story. The pieces that emerged from my writing group was wonderful with reflections on childhood, faith, religion, the cross-generational power of poetry, and more. Mine was a bit more bittersweet and resurfaced a memory I’d almost lost but that, in the context of the story I told, carried more weight for me than I realized in the twenty plus years since the event took place.

Another year is coming to a close and with it comes another Christmas for the men and women serving in the U.S. armed forces to be away from home, hearth, and families during the holidays. Likewise, as we come to the end of this Pandemic year, we are all faced with being apart from loved ones during the holiday season. I also find myself thinking of my grandfather, who at 18, was on the far side of the world serving as quartermaster aboard the light cruiser Montpelier in 1943, and I wonder what he was thinking during that holiday season.