Comment with Just One Thing you've accomplished in the last 24 hours or so. It doesn't have to be a hard thing, or even a thing that you think is particularly awesome. Just a thing that you did.
Feel free to share more than one thing if you're feeling particularly accomplished!
Extra credit: find someone in the comments and give them props for what they achieved!
Nothing is too big, too small, too strange or too cryptic. And in case you'd rather do this in private, anonymous comments are screened. I will only unscreen if you ask me to.
Scrivener offers more than 20 templates for writing projects. We look at all these templates and which features each one has.
hen you start working on a Scrivener project, you start by choosing a template. By default, Scrivener has 20 project templates, each designed for specific types of writing, and one blank template. In this article, we look at the contents of these templates and discuss why you may want to use a specific template for your Scrivener project.
About Scrivener templates
Unlike most word processors and text editors, Scrivener projects are made up of multiple files. On Windows, you see the folder containing all the elements of the project; on Mac, these are hidden, and each Scrivener project looks like a single file.
Each template contains files and folders, which you can see in the Binder, and different templates have different types of content. Different templates may also have custom metadata or compile settings. For example, the Novel template has setting and character sheet folders, along with templates for files of that type, but you don’t need these for non-fiction. And the General Non Fiction template has front matter and back matter folders, which are often appropriate for this type of project.
You’re not limited to these default templates; you can make your own custom templates that best match your projects. To do this, you start with an existing template and modify it. See Create Custom Templates for Your Scrivener Projects to learn how to do this.
The following is a discussion of all the default Scrivener templates.
Blank template
This is the first template you see in the Project Templates window, and is the simplest one. There is a top-level Draft folder, which contains one blank file. Below that is a Research folder and a Trash folder. All templates contain the top-level folder, and in most, it is named either Draft or Manuscript. All templates also contain Research and Trash folders.
All templates other than the Blank template contain a file at the top of the Binder describing that template and its contents. If you’re using a template for the first time, it’s a good idea to read that file; after that, you can delete it.
Fiction templates
There are three fiction templates: Novel, Novel (with Parts), and Short Story.
The Novel templates are designed for the way most people construct novels: either in chapters and scenes, or in parts, chapters, and scenes. The Binder structure gives you an idea of how you can use these templates. The Short Story template is different, as it is designed for a single story, so the Manuscript folder contains just one file.
These templates are meant as starting points to show you how you can structure the Binder. You can, of course, change any of these elements. Your short story may continue several scenes, and for a novel, you will add folders for parts or chapters, and files for scenes or chapters, as you progress.
All of these templates contain some sample output, which are PDF files showing how they can be compiled when you’ve finished your project. The first file in the Binder discusses this.
Non-fiction templates
There are seven non-fiction templates, several of which are designed to fit specific structures and to be appropriate for specific ways of handling citations and references. Three of these are designed for Chicago, MLA, and APA styles; if you know what these are, then they will be useful. There’s also General Non-Fiction, which is appropriate for any non-fiction project; a LaTeX version of the same template; and templates for research proposals and undergraduate essays.
As you can see above, the structures of the three style-based templates are very different.
The two General Non-Fiction templates are similar. LaTeX is a system for typesetting documents, and gives you a great deal of flexibility over how your final document looks. It is especially useful for presenting formulae in mathematical and scientific documents. These two templates are slightly different, in that the first has a Manuscript folder and the second a Draft folder, but these names aren’t important.
The last two non-fiction templates are designed for undergraduate humanities essays and research proposals. The former is quite simple, and the latter has files appropriate to the structure of a research proposal.
The top-level folders have different names than most templates. The first is Essay, and the second is a temporary title, suggesting that you should change it to match your proposal.
Scriptwriting templates
There are seven templates for scriptwriting, designed for standard film and television scripts (Screenplay), stage plays in the US and UK, radio scripts, documentary films, and comics. See How to Use Scriptwriting in Scrivener for Mac and Windows for more on how Scrivener’s scriptwriting mode works.
The Screenplay and Stage Play templates are specifically designed so when compiled they match the standard formatting used in these industries.
The same is the case for the two BBC Radio script templates. The Comic Script template was created by comics writer and author Antony Johnston, and the Documentary Script template uses tables to format shots, edits, timecodes, and the speech of narrators and interviewees.
Miscellaneous templates
Finally, the Miscellaneous section of the Project Templates window contains three templates for very different projects: Persuasive Lecture, Poem, and Recipe Collection.
The Persuasive Lecture template is based on The Monroe Motivational Sequence, which is “A powerful structure for constructing motivating persuasive lectures.” The Poem template is designed to prepare one or more poems for submission to poetry journals, magazines, or to editors.
The Recipe Collection template is designed to help you organize your personal recipe collection by providing a Binder structure, added metadata, and a simple compile format. It leverages the Binder as an organizational tool, with preset categories for different types of recipes. It also takes advantage of Scrivener’s labels, keywords, and custom metadata, and can give you an idea of how you can use Scrivener for organizing content rather than writing a manuscript.
You may only ever use one Scrivener template, but being aware of how flexible these templates are can help you find new ways to work with your projects. Even if you don’t write with more than one template, it can be helpful to create test projects with some of the templates to discover their features.
1. My employee told my boss she thinks I have dementia
It was reported to me from my supervisor in an upward feedback conversation that my supervisee stated she thinks I have dementia. I do not. I am a 55-year-old woman who is in menopause and has had a long bout with Lyme Disease. I in no way, as also reported by my supervisor, forget things or details that are pertinent for the job and are unusual or concerning.
I have thought about this and would like to bring this back to my supervisor and HR. I believe this is unprofessional, harassment, and ageism. Am I correct? Since this was reported to my supervisor by my supervisee and then shared with me, am I responsible for reporting to HR or is my supervisor?
This isn’t something to report. If your employee genuinely was concerned that you might have dementia, it was appropriate for her to talk to your boss about it. Doing that isn’t harassment, ageism, or unprofessional, unless there’s a larger pattern of her seeming to have an issue with your age. That’s true even though her assessment was wrong.
It is worth digging into why she has the impression that you’re forgetting things! It’s worth considering that with an open mind and, if there’s anything to it, figuring out what systems or safeguards you can put in place to deal with that. This probably needs to be a longer conversation with your own manager too, since something is going on that caused this employee to come to her. (That’s not to say that she’s right — but that’s an alarming enough thing for her to raise that there’s more conversation to have here.)
2. No one will do anything about my problem coworker
I have a problem coworker, sort of. He’s a consultant (has retired twice but came back both times as a consultant). He doesn’t really do his job how he’s supposed to. He does it how he wants to.
He’s reached out personally to customers which is not his job, tried to put his own ideas/campaigns/rules into place, included third-parties on internal plans that did not need their input and, worst of all to me, gets very passive-aggressive or short in responses if he disagrees with something.
It’s happened several times with me, usually with him sending emails straight to me. He never says these things in calls or meetings, but uses quotes and dismissive language over one-on-one emails. I’ve always responded to them by cc’ing my supervisor and his, just to cover my bases. I’ve tried to be diplomatic, but I’ve also voiced my concerns to my supervisor. And I have spoken to his supervisor about it. Every time, he says he will speak to this consultant. I believe he does but the behavior has not changed. At what point do I take it higher up?
I know this guy personally knows several big shots in our industry, so it seems like everyone in my company is afraid to confront him or has tried and failed. This was relayed to me by the previous person who had to work with him; she went to the guy’s then-supervisor who told her he’d fix it, then came back and said he can’t fix it and she needs to figure out how to work with him.
Him disagreeing with changes is not the issue, it’s the fact that I am having conversations like this every three months or so. Do I take it HR? His supervisor’s supervisor? Should I just suck it up?
Unless it’s causing major work problems, this doesn’t sound like it rises to the level of something you should go over your boss’s head on.
But you can certainly go back to your boss and say, “This is continuing to happen. I’ve spoken to you and Jane about it a lot at this point and he’s continuing to do XYZ so I’m not sure how to handle it. Is there anything else that can be done, or at this point do we just need to live with it?” It’s possible you’re going to hear “we just need to live with it,” in which case that’s the answer. But it’s also possible that your boss doesn’t realize the pattern is continuing or that it’s as bad as it is, so it’s worth naming both those things and explicitly asking what the next step should be, if any.
3. Should I correct a coworker’s habitual misuse of a word?
This is a low-stakes question. I have a coworker with whom I get along very well. We work closely together because they are a project manager and I am part of the team responsible for executing those projects. They habitually misuse a term to mean something other than what it does mean. It’s along the lines of saying “ipso facto” when you mean “because.” It stands out because this person is typically a stickler for usage and grammar.
It makes me wince every time I hear it, but I’m having a hard time making the mental case that this is any of my business. The closest I can come is that it would be a kindness to make them aware of this, because I suspect they would probably be mortified that they do this in front of important people in meetings. What would you do?
One option is to say in a tone of genuine curiosity, “Are you using ‘ipso facto’ to mean ‘because’? My understanding was that it means ‘by that very fact’ or that something is automatic by definition.” If you wanted to, you could add, “I know you love language stuff, so I was curious.” That’s straightforward, and it’s not a “correction” as much as just a conversation.
4. Is my current title hurting the chances of the people I’m serving as a reference for?
I have agreed to serve as a reference for many people over the last few years. When they ask me to be a reference, candidates always ask for my current title and affiliation, presumably to put on application forms.
I am currently a mid-level administrator (“associate director” with no direct reports) at a state institution in a department that is adjacent to, but not obviously connected to, work that I used to do. I am wondering if the disconnect between my title and the work these candidates are applying for would impact how they are viewed.
For example, for many years, I worked as a technical expert at a nonprofit. During this time, I oversaw an undergraduate internship program. I got to know the undergraduates very well and was comfortable serving as a reference for the interns who did well. When they applied to entry-level positions related to my technical expertise, I imagine it looked good to have someone with my title (think something like “senior technical expert”) who was willing to give them a reference. I still get requests now, and I can still speak to my time with them, but it is less obvious from my current title that I am qualified to do so.
Another example: someone I worked for as a contractor is now looking for entry-level, part-time customer service work. This was a side gig for me hat was entirely unrelated to my technical expert position or my current administrative work, but I know them well enough that I can speak about things like their interpersonal skills, how organized they are, and how they react to stressful situations. However, my connection to this individual is not obvious at all from my formal work history or current title.
Is this a problem? If so, is there anything I can do differently?
It’s not a problem. When they’re providing their reference list, the thing that’s most important for them to include is your title when you were working with them. They can include your current work info too if they want to — but it’s your title when you worked together that matters most, because that’s what provides the context for your relationship when you worked together.
Similarly, when you’re contacted for a reference, you can open with, “When we worked together, I was the senior technical expert overseeing the program Jane was interning in.” You don’t need to get into your current title/affiliation at all unless they ask for it.
5. The pregnancy flowchart
There was a clamor for the flowchart referenced in last week’s post about pregnancy, and it has been submitted (“probably made in Visio 2005 based on the timeline and look of the document,” according to the submitter):
For Traitor: neck retraction exercise. While lying in bed with your head flat against the mattress, give yourself the biggest double chin you can. Repeat 10 times.
For Jackass: stop hiking your shoulders up to your ears. This is pretty much a stress thing, it’s human instinct to protect our neck when we’re under stress so that predators can’t get at it. Easiest way to do that is be elevating the shoulders, so. Periodically take not of where your shoulders are at.
Absolute Fuckwaffle: stretch out your chest. The rhomboids on the back work to keep our shoulder blades back, so when we’re hunched forward they are constantly straining to do their job. Unfortunately it’s not as simple as telling you to stand up straight, since our pectorals get chronically tight and prevent us from doing so. Step one: pectoral stretches. Hold for at least 20 seconds.
Asshole: Superman exercises. Like the rhomboids, the ESGs are straining against the slump. Stretching the chest will help them, too, but then you e got to strengthen your back. Do 20 of those per day.
Listen, we all have a lot of fun here on Rocks I Will Eat, but this is hands down the single most delicious looking crystal formation I have ever seen.
This is your check-in post for today. The poll will be open from midnight Universal or Zulu Time (8pm Eastern Time) on Tuesday, October 27, to midnight on Wednesday, October 28. (8pm Eastern Time).
Today in one sentence: Trump offered $1 million for voter fraud tips that lead to an arrest and conviction; a federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s effort to force California to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters it claims are noncitizens; the Justice Department demanded that Washington state set ballots from 405 voters it claims are noncitizens; the Supreme Court refused to reinstate a Biden-era rule letting immigration judges temporarily close some deportation cases; a federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting down more trees at the East Potomac Golf Links; the FBI searched a Beverly Hills mansion tied to a former Eric Swalwell donor as part of an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Swalwell; and Neil Young sued Trump’s campaign committee for $10 million for playing “Rockin’ in the Free World” at a rally.
1/ Trump offered $1 million for voter fraud tips that lead to an arrest and conviction, including the “past Elections, or the upcoming 2026 Midterm Election.” Trump, however, didn’t say where the money would come from, and the White House declined to provide additional details. There is no evidence of widespread voter fraud in U.S. elections, despite Trump’s repeated false claims that fraud cost him the 2020 election. (USA Today / NBC News / The Hill / ABC News / The Guardian)
2/ A federal appeals court rejected the Trump administration’s effort to force California to set aside 20,000 mail-in ballots from voters it claims are noncitizens. The 9th Circuit said the Justice Department had failed to give a lower court judge an adequate opportunity to consider the case, calling the administration’s “claimed emergency, at least in part, is a self-constructed one.” Two of the judges questioned the federal government’s authority to intervene in state elections. California officials, meanwhile, questioned the accuracy of the list, saying that 112 of 200 sampled registrations were either canceled or inactive, and many others appeared to belong to U.S. citizens. (Politico / Reuters / Associated Press / NBC News / CNN / CBS News / Washington Post / Wall Street Journal)
The Justice Department demanded that Washington state set ballots from 405 voters it claims are noncitizens. Secretary of State Steve Hobbs said his office is reviewing the request, but noted that one person on the list last voted in 1994 and said “The timing of this request – one week before the General Election – is no doubt intended to cast unfounded suspicion on the results.” (Associated Press / NBC News / CBS News / ABC News)
3/ The Supreme Court refused to reinstate a Biden-era rule letting immigration judges temporarily close some deportation cases. Texas sued to overturn the rule in June, and the Justice Department agreed the same day to a court order permanently blocking it nationwide. Three cities and an immigrant advocacy group called it “egregious collusion,” accusing the Trump administration of using “manufactured litigation” with an “ideologically aligned” state to eliminate the practice, known as “administrative closure.” The rule had allowed judges to temporarily postpone deportation cases while immigrants pursued humanitarian protections or other legal status, without dismissing their cases. Because the cases are closed, they could now be reopened. (Associated Press / Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News / Bloomberg / Reuters)
4/ A federal judge blocked the Trump administration from cutting down more trees at the East Potomac Golf Links, and required 10 business days’ notice before closing or irreversibly altering the park. U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes issued the preliminary injunction after roughly 430 trees were removed with less than a day’s notice, rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that it was routine maintenance unrelated to Trump’s plan to turn the public course into a championship-level venue. Justice Department lawyers, however, insisted that no final renovation plan exists, even as Trump publicly announced that Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had developed one and construction would begin “IMMEDIATELY.” The Justice Department, Reyes wrote, “asks the Court to disbelieve repeated public comments made by the President.” Trump, meanwhile, said the judge had “absolutely no right to hold up this very important and beautiful Project,” and said that the course would close Nov. 15. (NPR / CNN / Politico / CBS News / Wall Street Journal / NBC News / New York Times / Associated Press / ABC News)
5/ The FBI searched a Beverly Hills mansion tied to a former Eric Swalwell donor as part of an investigation into sexual assault allegations against Swalwell. The FBI, however, confirmed only that it was executing a federal search warrant in an ongoing criminal investigation and declined to provide details. Swalwell resigned from Congress in April and dropped his run for California governor after the allegations. Agents also searched his Washington home and seized his electronic devices in August. (CNN / Politico / ABC News / Washington Post / Reuters)
The 2026 midterms are in 7 days; and the 2028 presidential election is in 742 days.
✏️ Notables.
The Trump administration will issue visas to Flávio Bolsonaro and his family after he lost Brazil’s presidential election. Brazil’s Supreme Court ordered Bolsonaro to surrender his passports and banned him from leaving the country related to an ongoing investigation into alleged money laundering. (Axios / New York Times / CNN / Bloomberg)
The CDC deputy director and chief medical officer resigned after four months. Jennifer Shuford said she was leaving “to spend more time with my family,” but two people familiar with her departure said she disagreed with the Trump administration’s approach to vaccine policy. (Washington Post / New York Times / ABC News)
A federal grand jury rejected the Justice Department’s attempt to indict Cassidy Hutchinson over her Jan. 6 testimony to Congress. Republicans had referred the former White House aide for possible prosecution, alleging that she lied under oath about Trump’s actions during the Capitol attack. Hutchinson testified that she’s been told that Trump had lunged at a Secret Service agent who refused to drive him to the Capitol, and that Trump knew some supporters were armed and wanted the security screenings removed. (Washington Post / Associated Press / NBC News / Axios / New York Times / CNN / CBS News)
Trump defended his White House renovations after Obama joked that Trump had the White House looking “like Saddam Hussein opened a Cheesecake Factory”. Trump said the White House “has to be pristine” and Obama “wouldn’t understand,” while insisting he spent little time on the projects. He added, however, that “It actually relaxes me.” (CBS News / Washington Post / New York Times / The Hill / CNBC)
😎 Well, that’s fantastic: Neil Young sued Trump’s campaign committee for $10 million for playing “Rockin’ in the Free World” at a rally. Trump “was personally aware that a license would be required to play the Song at rallies,” the lawsuit says, adding that Young “has not, and would not, grant the required license.” (CNBC)
This morning's PT session went well, I think. She had me do several different things standing on a balance board, a very small ramp, and a long piece of slightly squishy foam, and seemed pleased with how well I kept my balance while doing them. I told her how I was doing on the exercises she sent me home with, and based on my description of how it hurt, she said I can stop doing the one where I walk on my heels without the front of either foot touching the ground.
I did a lot of my ongoing PT exercises this afternoon, despite feeling as though I'd been to PT, that should be enough. I did decide that I'd done enough balance PT for one day, though.
I returned calls from two different people at my eye doctor's office. I have an appointment with a cornea specialist in December, and said that yes the appointment she found with my regular eye doctor, in Arlington, was OK, despite being early in the morning.
Two particular delights today; the first was that I decided I was having a good day and I really wanted, for petty reasons, to be able to assert with full confidence that I can deadlift 100kg, so rather than continuing to patiently work my way up to doing it For Reps I got to the end of my working weight sets and snuck in a bonus single at the end. And it went! I picked it up! And then I put it down again, and particularly gratifyingly I could have done more of it! Not many more of it, but! More!
And then this afternoon I managed to drag myself out to the plot to resentfully put compost in the composter and glower at the Ongoing Antics of my newish next-door neighbours, and it wasn't until I went "oh right, I should be sowing some spinach and some more parsley" that I turned around and actually looked, and -- SAFFRON.
We have reached the time of year, every year, where I start going "ugh, well, clearly this time the bulbs haven't survived the summer", and while I was trying to tell myself that I always do this and they always pop up later than I expect and I oughtn't give up on them yet, I did (to be fair to me) have reason to think that this was a particularly hard summer, but -- I looked over, and
amidst the weeds: the purple, and the red.
I think I got more saffron picked clumsily with my personal fingers, today, than I managed carefully with tweezers in all of last autumn. And then when I got home and checked again a bit more carefully, the bulbs in the patio pots (which always run a little later than the plot) are also sending up leaves. I am so so pleased.
When Erika Toliusis paints, every application is deliberate and precise. As she slashes and sculpts her way across the surface of the canvas using only a palette knife, the pictures created are stunning examples of hyperrealism. She retains, however, the spirit of an impressionist; her output occurs in series, devoting specific attention to a landscape feature, examining its visual phenomena and manipulating colour and tone to develop a range of atmospheric effects.
I genuinely couldn’t comprehend this was really done with a palette knife and it turns out that’s just her entire thing.
Here’s her with her paintings IRL and this video shows her process!
Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 19 secrets from Secret Submission Post #1033. Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 1 - repeat ]. Current Secret Submissions Post:here. Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.
I still had a biiiig nap this afternoon, and I've been tired all day. This is not surprising, or even unwelcome, exactly.
We didn't have to go out: we made dinner here (in stages: I chopped the onions and mushrooms, D cooked them and added the sauce and boiled the pasta; I washed the dishes).
Before the big nap, I made and then happily drank drank too much coffee, while reading too much poetry and listening to really cool music from the Dwarf Fortress soundtrack as D was playing the game. Such a cozy, companionable morning.
And, because this issue is the Radical Poets of the Midwest one -- which feels like a gift to me specifically, that this would be waiting for me when I have time and inclination to get a poetry magazine from the library --
I focused on drawing together work bound by an interest in witness, documentation, and an explicit or implicit call for action, which to my mind is a definition for “political poetry.” Their poems are radical in their calls for social change, structural reform, and care for future generations.
there really was a time
when peacefully we lived
genocide made
room for more genocide
removed our flesh and blood
until only—
if you would stop to hear—
the elders on our homeland
and children waiting to be born
sing ancestral victory songs
I hear their songs
as I sit in this gentle moment
where snow melts
and the hope of su=mmer smells rises from
moistened earth and green buds—
cold this morning—
holds the promise of singing
cottonwood leaves
in the summer wind
I wish I had the money
to be socially conscious
and politically correct
Which lists not only three of my favorite foods ("strawberries blueberries wild rice— / food of Anishinaabe / creation—feeds my spirit") but also cottonwood trees which i miss so much more than I thought I would; I saw a photo of some yesterday, changing into their fall colors, and was heartsore but also my heart soared.
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