Google Drive To OneDrive, What’s The Best NaNoWriMo Cloud Option?
In certain (admittedly artsy and rather specific) circles, there’s only one thing that November stands for. It has nothing to do with shaving. It’s NaNoWriMo, or National Novel Writing Month. And during National Novel Writing Month, the only thing more talked about than what you’re writing is where you’re writing it. From Google Drive to OneDrive to WriteOrDie, the cloud options have become incredibly varied, and each one offers a slightly different flavor that might benefit a particular kind of writer.
To fans of the cloud, Google Drive is probably not anything new. Originally called Google Docs, the site gained additional functionality, with the ability to store more information within its file structure and access it on the go, it became Google Drive.
The biggest feature of Google Drive is its highly evolved sharing features. Each document starts as totally private, you can invite as many, or as few, people to see the document as you’d like. For each of them, you can individually set their level of access to the document. Google Drive allows them to view, comment, or edit.
Google Drive has plenty of functionality for the average novel writer to get their draft on digital paper. It uses fairly basic formatting, but all the key elements—a handful of fonts, justification options, hanging indents, numbered lists, etc—are all there. The biggest lack Google Drive has is its inability to provide a real-time word count, a feature that has been standard on word processing programs for years. You can use the Tools menu to find out your word count at any time, but when you’re pushing for the last 1000 words you need for the day, sometimes you need a second-by-second update.
8 Things You Didn't Know You Could Do With Google Drive http://t.co/SqmR5Pa2HJ
— Peter Moriarty | Entreprenerd (@petermoriarty) November 17, 2014
OneDrive, a more recently released Microsoft product, gives you that live word count, but some users have found that if you’re accustomed to the full functionality of MS Word, the more limited options on the website version may prove frustrating. OneDrive also offers sharing options, but not all that many people, outside of XBox Live users, have a Microsoft account, and getting your friends to sign up for “one more thing” just so they can read your draft might be a challenge. If you plan to export to the desktop version of MS Word eventually to do your editing, however, OneDrive may give you the smoothest experience.
If you really want to slam out some words, no matter the cost, the web outlet for you is Write Or Die. The motivation is simple; write, or the program will scare you with horrible images (you choose spiders, creepy critters, office horror, or Grumpy Cat), or in the Kamikaze mode, start deleting the words you’ve already written. It’s amazing how quickly you’ll shake your writer’s block the first time that happens.
What are you using for your writing platform this year? Planning to use the same software next year? Would you ever consider writing in the cloud?
[Image from Mashable]
