Writer's Cafe

Writer's Cafe: Scrapbook list on Left, notebook ToC in main (right) pane.

Shareware
Current Version: 1.28
Home page
Rating: Recommended.

I've been using "Jotting/Outlining" software for years now. As I have become more serious about writing, I started to cast about for some software to assist me in organizing my ideas (as Jotting software does) and allowing me to re-arrange my story ideas (e.g. mind-map type software).

Normally, I tend to focus on free & open source software (FOSS). While on deployment to Kuwait, I had along my laptop, which for various reasons, was running Windows rather than Linux. Since FOSS is less common on Windows, I didn't use it in my search criteria, and this allowed me to find Writer's Cafe.

Writer's Cafe is actually two applications, the first is the Cafe, which has three main components: a scrapbook, a journal and a notebook. The scrapbook allows one to store text, web links, images, etc. in a nice hierarchical format. This is a replacement for my "Jots" program -- in fact it is more versatile than the Jots program I was using. The Journal is meant to be utilized as a diary of sorts, entering in the day to day events, thoughts, etc. The Notebook is more free form, and I tend to use it for various writings and what not.

While I do not know if my usage is canonical, I tend to store everything in the scraps. Notes, ideas and works in progress. I use the Journal for daily notes, dream entries and for chronicling various practices I engage in over the day. The Notebook is where I write poems, short stories and the like. If they are good enough, I then move them into a scrap (if the idea needs expanding).

The other part of Writer's Cafe is called "Storylines." Evidently authors would often write ideas on 3x5 index cards and shuffle them into the order they needed to write their story. This idea is expanded upon for Storylines. You break down your outline (whether actual or mental) into the cards, arrange them as you wish and then flesh them out. Once you have the draft in place, you can export it out as a file (Open Office is supported) and then finish the draft conventionally.

It is interesting, I am pretty sure I am only scratching the surface with Storylines (these reviews are short enough that I have not put them into Storylines for development), so I may have to come back at a later date with a second review. The plus side is that it is shareware, so you can download an evaluation copy. I actually purchased mine, let that speak volumes for how much I like this product.

Writer's Cafe, showing my scrapbook