Write Your Novel with yWriter Software--it's free.

Writing a novel takes hard work, motivation, and organization. Sure, you can write on a legal pad, or type it into a Word document, but there are scenes, chapters, notes, research, photos, and timelines. It's easy to get overwhelmed with trying to find what you put where.

My favorite writing software costs $40. But there's an alternative. yWriter software is free. No registration, no time limit, no expiration date. Formatted for Windows PCs, you won't need an internet connection to use it. It's on your computer to use anytime. It was designed by Simon Haynes, a computer programmer and novelist.

While I haven't used the software myself, there are quite a few testimonials from satisfied users. And for those whose primary language is not English, the software can be used in several languages, including Chinese and Hebrew.

Here's a partial list of features from the website:

* Organise your novel using a 'project'.

* Add chapters to the project.

* Add scenes, characters, items and locations.

* Display the word count for every file in the project, along with a total.

* Saves a log file every day, showing words per file and the total. (Tracks your progress)

* Saves automatic backups at user-specified intervals.

* Allows multiple scenes within chapters

* Viewpoint character, goal, conflict and outcome fields for each scene.

* Multiple characters per scene.

* Storyboard view, a visual layout of your work.

* Re-order scenes within chapters.

* Drag and drop of chapters, scenes, characters, items and locations.

* Automatic chapter renumbering.

Check out the sample screenshots of the software, and a YouTube tutuorial of how it works. Who knows? This could be the tool that helps you conquer NaNoWriMo this year?

What software (if any) do you use for writing?