Liquid Story Binder XE

After seeing the posts on CompuServe about Scrivener, I was insanely jealous.  *Almost* enough to switch to a Mac.  (Something DH and I have discussed, but we both have laptops and a joint desktop so we don't need another computer right now and it's low on the list of priorities.  We'll get one at some point.  As my Mac-user brother says, we should raise Little Boy "bilingual", hehe.)

Anyway, I've been googling around looking for a Windows equivalent.  And I think I've found something pretty close in this program:

Liquid Story Binder XE

Like Scrivener, you can organize multiple files and associations, have pictures and notes available with texts, work with individual chapters and have the program combine them into a master document for you...there are a lot of options.  Timelines, outlines, dossiers, storyboards...it even tracks project goals and opens where you left off.  At the very least this would replace my spreadsheet.  There's a full-screen editor and I like that it has the tools I need - text formatting (italics, bold, etc.)

I'm futzing around with it right now and so far I like what I see (except the default white-on-black text display which took a bit of jiggling to change).  But I'm way behind on my WIP progress, and the clock is ticking.  I absolutely *must* be done writing by Monday night.  And I'm getting ready to do some (okay, quite a lot) more "hacky, slashy, poky-poky" as I move into Act IV.

One nifty thing - you can load it on a memory card or USB data stick and take not only your files but the software with you and use it on whatever computer you're on.

Also like Scrivener, you get a free 30-day trial and then the cost is reasonable, about $45.

I have a feeling I'll be plunking that down in 30 days...