The last couple of months have been extremely busy. Business is a bit slower than usual and I’ve picked up work with the Census on the side. Sooooo…

When I’m not working on client stuff, and I’m not cooking meals and being domestic, and I’m not working on my second job (I still can’t believe how much I’m enjoying working for the government), I’m taking the time to write.

I’m carving out tiny bits of time here and there. I’m feeling overwhelmed on a regular basis. Family life has changed dramatically in the last month as our household has grown to include three additional souls. We moved in September to a larger place (which was, as it turns out, done just in the nick of time!)

I love the new place, but wish I had time WITH my man to do little things like finish arranging furniture to be more “us” and to hang a few pictures on the walls. That would be nice.

Right now, it’s not happening. We are barreling down on the holiday season, so I don’t think it will be happening any time soon. There are a slew of other unexpected demands on our time that keep pulling us away from the tasks we would like to start (or complete).

Overall, life is pretty sweet, despite all the challenges. And, as always, I cope by writing. When I get so stressed out that I can’t bear my own company, there is only ONE cure — I must write.

I realized the other day that writing is the one thing I do that can turn a horrible day into a great one. That’s quite a feat! It’s not something I’ve always known, I had to be taught. I have always known that finding the time to write made me happy, but I didn’t know that stopping everything else and TAKING the time to write could turn around a crappy day.

My boyfriend helped me figure that one out. He always asks me how my day is — not the kind of “how are you” that people ask you on the street and never pause to hear the answer and not the “how was your day” which is just a segue for many people to endure one or two sentences from you before driving a truck over you to tell you about their own. He really wants to know. And when I’ve had a rough one, he asks why. And when it’s been good, he asks why.

Sounds simple, huh? Well the other day, my morning was horrid. And by the afternoon, it was good. He asked me what turned it around. I told him I took off an hour to write on my novel. I went to a restaurant, sat down, ordered myself something to eat and typed. This was a luxury I’d never permit myself on a normal day.

I didn’t stop and I didn’t slow down. I just typed. I stopped only to eat my meal and in between bites, I typed some more.

I left the restaurant with an inspired feeling and a short scene to my novel in first draft form. And, I felt like I was walking on clouds! Even the guilt for eating out alone didn’t blemish my joy… much.

So now, I try to squeeze in some time to write. This is the first year in the last three that I didn’t stress out trying to do the daily blog in November. And that “write a novel in a month” deal is insane for me (it depressed me before and made me feel like a loser of gargantuan proportions.) I didn’t want to feel that way again this year. I’d do it if I were independently wealthy and didn’t have the kids all at home (not to mention the other demands on my time.) I just can’t even bear to try it again this year. Maybe next year.

Now, I’m using my iPhone’s recording feature to capture ideas when I’m driving down the road, I’ve loaded up podcasts of famous writers and writing topic courses and inspiration from iTunes University. I use the Amazing Note app to capture snippets of thoughts when wake up in the middle of the night with something on my mind, and no pencil or paper in sight. I carry a book with me everywhere I go. I purchased a small moleskine to keep with me again (I’d gotten out of that habit some time back), and I pay extra close attention to the people around me and the environments I find myself in each day. I notice how people walk, how they talk, what attitudes they radiate, how they weave their words and what makes them smile or scowl.

The Census work gets me out of the house (I’m actually doing recruiting and giving tests for them now before the big push in the spring.) It’s keeping me busy and is taking me outside of my usual element — and sometimes even my comfort zone.

Yeah, recruiting in some of the downtown areas in Lexington is a whole new world. But coincidentally, the novel I started nearly a year ago with a few rough notes and a hope for time to continue… is based in a town about the size of Lexington. How great is that?

So, the Census work is helping me to shape and sculpt my novel. It’s still in novel infancy, barely a bookish zygote, but it’s there. It’s real. It’s finally happening. And, discovering that it can turn a day from hell into a day of joy encourages me to give myself permission to write instead of doing all the other myriad of things that I really “should” be doing.

The fact is, I’m a better person when I carve out some time to write. I feel better. I’m a better mother, better daughter, better girlfriend. I’m just better.

So, my blog may be sparse. I’m still around kicking and scratching in the Internet world… just not with the same frequency that I once was.

I’m online updating FaceBook nearly every day, since that’s something I can do on the fly (I LOVE my iPhone!!) but I’ve not taken the time to blog properly.

I should probably say that I’m going to try to remedy that, but, as long as I’m feeling inspired, I’ll write on the novel. That’s the fact.

In the meantime, catch me on FaceBook. I don’t have the time or desire to twitter so much these days. From a marketing standpoint, with Google’s recent decision to spider the tweeting masses, I probably should — but that’s not what makes me happy. Not right now.

Right now, meeting my obligations, helping the kids, spending a few stolen minutes with my sweetie and running my business and holding down a second job is what I do. And when I have a few extra moments that I can sleep or write… I write.

It’s more than a hobby, it’s more than a desire, it’s a compulsion. And, it’s a compulsion that’s finally garnered my attention.

Writing the "wicked" way

I’ve been looking for the perfect word processor for the Mac for quite some time. When I first broke free of MS Word, I was loving the open-source community and I was all about OpenOffice.

Then, when I made the jump to Linux, I simply adored Abiword and wondered why I had dealt with the bloat of Word and even OpenOffice for so long. (I still use Open Office for other features, but don’t like waiting for the launch for a word processor.)

When I went to the Mac platform, I traded in my OpenOffice for a Mac-specific version of the same called NeoOffice. Frankly, I got tired of waiting so long for it to launch to jot down the idea that I was trying to wrestle, so I started looking for faster options. I looked at Mellel (which was reportedly a favorite of many writers). It came in one of my MacUpdate packages, which pleased me. I liked it ok. I used it for quite awhile. But it always seemed to be a bit lacking. Couldn’t quite put my finger on it, but it wasn’t exactly what I wanted.

I considered getting one of the “blackout” programs that turned the full screen into a writing surface without any distracting menus or pop-ups. I test drove a couple. WriteRoom (with the Windows version being DarkRoom) and even got the iPhone app for WriteRoom to try that one on the fly. Neither worked as I had hoped, I needed it to do a bit more than just blacken the screen for $25, so when the Mac trial ran out, I left it.

I also started looking into notes options that would launch quickly… something like the notepad gadget on Windows… but something with a bit more umph. From there, I discovered TextWrangler, TextEdit (which came with my Mac), and even played with Stickies (also came with the Mac) and a dozen or so others, all in an attempt to find a quick way to keep up with my notes.

I gave up finding the perfect tool(s) and hobbled along, busy with all the other balls I was juggling. Finding these holy grails joined the mass of items on the “I’ll get back to it” list. I find that locating the perfect tools (software) on a Mac can become a full-time hobby all by itself. There are so many options! There are dozens of options that I tried that didn’t even make it into the top contenders list.

But, recently, I found my perfect option. I have a four-pronged approach to the office suite thing – one is for quick notes on my Mac, one is for word processing and “darkening” my distractions, one is for full featured word processing (which I seldom touch these days) and one is mobile.

First, I have a quick-launching multi-note system in XPad. It offers a quick way to get the thoughts down and to make lists for specific projects, ideas and writing projects. It also offers a “slide out” list of all the mini-documents contained therein. It offers cool tools like fonts and highlighter and color options without cluttering the interface with more stuff than I need or want. XPad launches when I turn on my Mac and stays “at the ready” for me to use. And, it’s FREE!

Second, I have Bean. Bean is an oddly named, but beautifully built word processor that launches quickly and handles 90% of what I need. In addition to being there in a couple seconds (literally), it also offers bullets, formatting, highlighting and several advanced features. It even offers a “full screen” mode that blacks out the rest of my computer and helps me to concentrate on the business of writing. I changed the blue background with white text to the retro black background and electric green type of my youth. I love it. LOVE IT. And, it’s also free.

I keep a copy of NeoOffice on my machine, although I seldom launch it for anything other than the spreadsheet app. I don’t really do much with advanced features like mail-merge and the like, so I don’t need those “hefty” features because I don’t do admin work. And, I don’t want to sit and wait. I hate waiting for a program to launch. I despise it.

On the “mobile” front, I absolutely adore that feature-rich note system in Awesome Note for my iPhone. I love that it’s wherever I am, and that it’s able to sync with Google Docs — even the Google Apps version! So I can backup and restore my notes from any location. It’s richly textured and as graphically beautiful and visually appealing as it is functional. I may like bare-bones programs on my computer – clean and crisp is fine there – but on my iPhone apps, I expect beauty. I can’t explain that, but the graphics (even the icon for the app) seriously affects how often I’ll use an app. I’m iPhone shallow, I guess.

I’m a writer by trade — mostly a content and marketing writer for my clients. I write, do web work, and SEO submissions. That doesn’t take much word-processing power. It takes a little knowledge and a lot of creativity — and the ability to capture the creative sparks when they fly. I find that having to wait for my software to launch actually discourages my productivity. If it’s a quick launch, I’ll add a thought or an idea on the fly. If I know I have to sit and wait for it to launch — even for an additional 5-10 seconds — I think, “Oh, I’ll just remember this and jot it down next time I’m working on that.”

The fact is… I don’t remember and I’m not patient. I’ve quit trying to pretend that I will or that I am. I know my foibles and I now find the tools I need to work around them. Resistance is, after all, futile. It’s particularly so when fighting my own nature. These tools make my life better and my business stronger and for under five bucks, I have them ALL.

Even in this economy, that’s a GREAT deal!

iTalk Recorder – by Griffin Technology

A mobile writer’s best friend. I’ve fleshed out plot sequences, brainstormed settings and traced historical information for my characters using this app while driving down the road. Maybe not recommended, but alot better than trying to write down that amazing idea that always seems to occur when I have my hands at 10 and 2 (or 9 and 3 if you are younger). This app has a great big easy-to hit record and stop button. You can name the file later (if you are driving) and transcribe it at a later date or wi-fi it to your computer when you get back to the office. It permits continuation of an existing recording and has a choice of sound qualities. I’ve tried four of these types of apps and find this one to be the best, most clean cut of the group so far. Great app and the price couldn’t be better: Free!

WriteRoom – by HogBaySoftware

A distraction-free, basic black background with white type text app (landscape-keyboard-enabled for faster input). This tiny version is based on the desktop program WriteRoom by hogbaysoftware.com. The iPhone version offers support for multiple ongoing documents and basic statistics (number of paragraphs, words, characters) in a couple taps. You can also backup your work with a couple taps by sending yourself (or someone else) an email copy.($4.99)

TextGuru – by Brancipater Software

An easy way to file-share your works in progress and reference materials between your desktop and your iPhone. You can view HTML, Images (.jpg, .png, .tga., .tif, .tiff), PDF files, PowerPoint and Word documents. You can edit text files (but NOT Word documents). Text files can be saved in multiple formats including: .txt, .html/.htm, .php, .js, .c, .h, .cpp, .m/.mm, .pl, .py .taskpaper, .rb, .ja/.jar, .bin, and custom file extensions. Nice extras include cut and paste, find and replace, revert to last save (undo) and user-designated autosave timer.You can see file attributes including most recent modification timestamps, encoding and size.

TextGuru also offers multiple fonts, four background colors, multi-document search, basic statistics (paragraphs, words, character counts) and email for instant backup to your inbox when you are out and about. You can also submit your file to Pastie.org and Sprunge. For programmers, the TextGuru’s view as a webpage option is really nice as well. Although you can view most documents in both landscape and portrait formats, you can only enter text in portrait (unfortunately). If it did have a landscape keyboard, it could replace my need for WriteRoom. Maybe the developer will address this in the next update. ($4.99)

Margins – by Architechies

Offers a great way to keep all your notes on books you are reading (or are using for research) in your favorite all-in-one device. Email backup is offered for the notes on any individual book and it’s ISBN enabled so just a few taps (the ISBN number) will auto-fill all the information about the book for you. I wish this had a landscape keyboard option (maybe the developer will add that in an upcoming version.) It would also be nice to have a way to take a photo of the passage and manually “highlight” it in the app with a touch, rather than having to type it all in before making comments/notes on the printed text. ($3.99)

iStop WritersBlock – by Lab013 Studios

A fun little “muse in a box” concept for your iPhone with plot ideas, inspirational quotes and writing challenges for the creative writer. I hope this developer continues to add new plot and challenge ideas. It’s not a workhorse like some of the other apps, but it’s a cool writer’s tweak for a buck. ($.99 – until the end of November as a special for NaNoWriMo).

Idea Generator  – by The Directors Bureau

Cool little shake-it-up mix and match word phrase program. I didn’t really care for the words that came with the program — they were too far out — but I love the fact that I can add my own to create some interesting mashups of current topics, ideas and actions for a work in progress. Makes me look at some of the standard ideas in unusual ways. Fun, cheap, cool. ($.99)

Stanza – by Lexcycle, Inc

I’ve reviewed and raved about this iPhone Book Reading app before, but for the writer on the go, being able to load up reference materials to read while out and about is a great boost in the value of the iPhone for the writer’s toolbox. (Just wish my Palm ebooks .PDB files would work on it.) Price, as always, is free!

Names – by Richard Wilkes

Name randomizer gives you the choice of four male/four female names on a single iPhone screen. Refresh button gives you a whole new list. Rinse, lather, repeat. Great way to get out of the rut of using the same types and flavors of names for your characters. Besides being an inspiration for character names, it’s fun (at least fun for a writer… in that twisted kind of a wordy way that others will never understand). ($.99)

My Baby – by irona.com and vensi.com

This app offers the ability to search based on meaning, or by letters of the alphabet. You can select from female or male names and you can save the “contending” names in a My Names list. The My Names list is a one-touch operation and is extremely helpful when you are sorting through all the possible options. Do note that the Origins search doesn’t appear to work properly — but the resulting names from other searches does offer origins information. Free.

Wikipanion – by Robert Chin

No writer should be without access to Wikipedia. Period. There are a slew of Wikipedia apps out there and I think I’ve tested most of them. This one is free and is bulletproof (doesn’t crash or report “server” issues), unlike many of the others. I may invest in the plus version of this one to be able to download items in my queue for offline browsing at a later time. That seems like the best option for this resource. One app offerd in the app store downloads the whole wikipedia on your device, but I think that’s a bit of overkill (and eats space I need for other apps and stuff!). The online only versions (which is what the free version is here) sometimes is amazingly slow on cell signals. (Free/$4.99 for Plus version)

Still Under Investigation:

Dictionary/Thesaurus

I’m still holding out and hoping for the Complete (not Concise) Oxford and the full, unabridged Oxford Thesaurus. I’ve texted several free and low-cost versions and will continue to use WordBook – Dictionary/Thesaurus combo ($7.99) by TranCreative Software and Dictionaire: The Simple Dictionary (free) by Hampton Catlin until I find my killer options on these two essential resources.

Organization/Data Management

Capturing the snippets of infomation and ideas in one central location is a challenge. Doing it while mobiel is even more challenging. I’ve dedicated one homepage to just writing apps and resources. I’m also evaluating iDB Datamaster by Evince Technologies, Inc (with a section my databases dedicated for use with writing projects) to see if that organizes or unnecessarily complicates the process. I’m simultaneously testing 44 Jots by Shaila Klosterman of Infofission ($.99) at the moment to see if the multimedia options there are a help or a hindrance to my creative process.

Quotes Apps

I like Daily Quote by Miron Vranjes (free), but would like to not be limited to a single quote, since I tend to binge on those little granules of wisdom at any opportunity. It does offer the ability to save favorite quotes, which is nice and one-tap lookup of the person quoted in Wikipedia, which is also pretty sweet. I’d recommend it for those one quote a day types. It works well.

iQuotes free by Danile Perez has beautiful backgrounds and lovely quote selections, but they are often extremely difficult to read, which distresses me and makes me squint. It also makes me angry whenever I try to read the quotes and have to squint to do so. Squinting makes wrinkles. ‘Nuff said.

iQuote by Gihad Chibb ($1.99) offers over 10,000 quotes on a beautiful, easy-to-read interface, the option to read by category and author… and ability to add your own quotes. SCORE! You can also save your favorites and email quotes and rank your quotes.

Today is the end of November 2008. I have managed (with this post) to log a blog every single day of the month, as I committed with my participation in NaBlPoMo. Even when I was under the weather for several of these 30 days, I managed to blog a little. Yea, me!

But, I didn’t do as well toward my commitment for NaNoWriMo. Despite my several thousand words this month, I didn’t come near the 50,000 I had hoped to log. (Epic Failure!) Alex didn’t get hers logged either — but pressuring her to write was taking all the fun out of it for her, and that seemed counterproductive.

We did both manage to get started on a novel, albeit a less than prolific start. We plan to continue our work on said books… so at least we managed that much.

I may try again next year to participate in the Novel Writing Month. Hopefully I’ll be finished with the current effort by then. We shall see. I don’t know if I’ll do the blogging month commitment next year. I think doing both in the same month isn’t the best choice I ever made.

As far as the rest of this year goes, I’ll probably be blogging alot less during the last month of the year and spend my time trying to close out client accounts and close out my business books for the year.

I missed the Thanksgiving holiday with my family, since I (selfishly) wanted to keep my illness to myself. So I’m really looking forward to spending time with my family though the Christmas season.

For now, as I wind the blogging frenzy down a few notches, I wish you and yours an enjoyable remainder of 2008!

A friend contacted me last night with a quandary…

He wanted to learn to write with a bit more passion. He felt his style was more journalistic than persuasive. He asked if I had any pointers.

So, at midnight, during a 15-minute-cross-country-guerrilla-approach-to-writing session, we covered the following basics:

Grab them with the title

If you don’t pique the audience’s interest with the title, they won’t read any more of your story. Tell them in a quick, pithy style why the rest of the story is something they need to know. Advertise what’s in it for them or intrigue them.

Example:
Change the boring title, “The Current Economy’s Downturn Impacts Designers and Fashion Entrepreneurs in New York”  to “NYC Designers Weather Economy With Style!”

Starting out

At the top you summarize what you are going to say and ask the “w” question that your writing teacher never told you “Who gives a …. a…. hang?” (*Yeah, that works*) Tell them first why it matters to them.

You can’t give away all the information at the top because all the information isn’t contained inside your story. Online, the tentacles and supporting information will go out to hook other webpages.

After the first “w” question, THEN you go on to the classic “Who, What, Where, When and How” of the story.

Break down paragraphs

In standard writing, meaty paragraphs are a good thing. Paper likes large chunks of gray space. The web doesn’t. Online you should:

• Use short paragraphs
• Trim up your sentences
• Make your writing easy to scan

The shape of content to come

Forget what you learned in school and ditch the “reverse pyramid.” Writing is not a simple linear practice online. You don’t skip along from most important facts to least.

Think of your story structure more like an egg; less pointy, more rounded and appealing. The title is your hook, followed by a general statement that summarizes the story. Fill in the “yolk” with details and examples. Add links and sprinkle liberally with bullets to capsulize the essential points. Conclude with a summary.

On the web, content gains depth and dimension through diagrams, graphics, inter-textual links to related outside resources. This doesn’t happen in the lead paragraph. It happens in the middle.

Be conversational

Stilted, sterile language doesn’t work. Your visitors want a comfortable way to absorb information. If you don’t provide it, someone else will. Readers need clarity with warmth. They seek knowledgeable, easy-to-digest resources. Humor is worth bonus points.

The mantra in business used to be “keep it professional.” Internet trends have encouraged us to “keep it personal” online and find ways to bridge the geographic distance by decreasing the psychological and social distance between individuals.

So, speak to your audience the same way you would speak to a friend. Use natural word choices and tone. Let your personality shine through. After all, that’s what will keep them coming back.

When writing for the web, hook your reader with a title too interesting to ignore. Answer the first “w” question right away and tell them the gist of what you plan to say. Answer the five standard questions (who, what, where, when, why and how) and illustrate them with examples from additional resources. Then summarize the article and bid them farewell.

And, yes, amping up your web writing really can be this easy!

(photo courtesy of kesh of morguefile.com)

I’m not sure if I can do this NaNoWriMo thing and maintain any sense of dignity. What the HECK was I thinking to take that on when life has been such a challenge lately? And to let Alex commit to 25K words? Did I have a little mini-stroke that night that rendered me temporarily without any common sense?

Already Alex has told me that writing isn’t fun anymore, it’s more work than anything else. I’d have to agree (although I resist the urge to tell her). I’ve quit hounding her, after all… if I manage to take a talented writer-in-the making and turn her against writing, I fail. (Epic fail.)

So, I’ve looked at my own puny word count. I’m not saying that I’m throwing in the towel yet. But I didn’t anticipate the vBlog project (cool thing, more on that later), or the stuff that’s happened in my personal life, or the work load with one of my clients that has required so many off-site days of late when I said I’d do this.

Do I sound whiny? Maybe that’s because I am.

I also signed up to write a blog a day and I’m beginning to think that’s more my speed. Blogging, I can do. Heck, if I could add my word counts in from the blog, I’d proabably be much closer to my goal!

My issue is that I’m not “stuffing my editor in a closet” when I can take the time to sit down and actually write. When I write… that’s when she really comes out to play.

She’s a witch.

She whispers things like… “should that character really be from Mexico? What the heck do YOU know about Mexico, you can’t even remember your Spanish from a decade ago. Some star student… if you had to order your dinner in Spanish, you would starve.”

She says, “Shouldn’t you be spending this time on actually EARNING a living?”

She says, “Gee this room is a mess, wouldn’t it be easier to write and to be creative if you swept the floor first?”

“I’m hungry,” she moans, “I need to pee” and makes *swisshhhh* sounds until I need to go too.

“A good mother,” she leans toward me conspiratorially, “would spend this time with her daughter. They grow up so quickly, you know.”

She taunts, “Write what you know. REMEMBER?!?! So it should be female, single, middle-aged, and chubby who never gets enough sleep and dreams of being a novelist. After all, that’s what you REALLY know, isn’t it?”

Then she slumps back in the velvet chair beside my desk and crows, “Who are you fooling?”

Cross-legged, balancing her impossibly pointy red high heel shoe on the edge her right big toe, she declares, “You aren’t THAT kind of writer. You, my dear, are NO novelist!” Then she cackles like that was funniest thing in the world, until she’s rendered breathless… grasping for air and holding her sides.

Secretly, I hope she dies.

I push a few of the almonds from the little pile on my desktop toward her, hoping she pops one into her mouth and chokes on it.

(photo courtesy of dmscs on MorgueFile.com)

Logo courtesy of nanowrimo.org

I wanted to accept the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge last year, but I decided to do NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) instead. I found it challenging enough just to come up with a post for every single day in November, but I did it.

I was so proud of myself!

This year, I’m going to do both! And, to make the pot a little sweeter, my 10-year-old daughter is going to be joining me for the National Novel Writing Month youth challenge. When we went to sign her up on October 30th, the youth NaNoWriMo site crashed from an overload of traffic. Now THAT is a good sign! I love it that so many young people are interested in writing.

So, for the next thirty days, she and I will be hammering out 25,000 and 50,000 words respectively. She’s so excited she’s giddy. I can’t say I’m quite that exuberent, but I’m quite pleased with the decision. I may change my tune at the half-way point, but for now, I’m really looking forward to the prospect.

Juggling my blog, my work and NaNoWriMo will probably make for an interesting month… but as a client of mine recently stated… I can do anything for 30 days!

I’ve been trying to outline the plot on a novel that’s rattling around in my head for the past couple of months. Now… I am going to take the leap and just pound it all out. It may be good, it may be bad. It doesn’t really matter. Either way that first draft is going to be done..

50,000 words or bust!

Chuck Westbrook (www.ChuckWestbrook.com) had a great idea a few days ago… on how to promote some of the high-quality, but lesser-known blogs on the ‘net. He suggests that groups of bloggers go out and read and comment on some of these “gems in the rough.”

I can’t agree more. When bloggers get feedback, their desire to continue the blog skyrockets!

So slip on over to his October 23rd entry and sign up to do your part — and to help him promote the idea. It will also spread a little link-love his way!

When you are blogging, it’s ALL good!

Picked this up over on the Annarchy blog (thanks to following a recommended link from my buddy Judy V).

It’s amazing how complex life can become. Writing, it seems, is more difficult every day. I love to write, but whenever I sit down to do that (especially creative writing) I find myself torn by the constant dings of this program or flashing notifications of that one.

Sure, I should be more disciplined when I write. I should ignore all that noise. I should be able to just mentally turn it off — but I can’t.

Alternatively, I should be able to physically turn off all the distractions, disable the notifications, log out of all the programs that clamor for my attention before I even begin a serious attempt at writing…

But I won’t. I don’t. It’s too much trouble. Besides, once I’m finished, I’d have to go back and try to remember everything I turned off and flip it all back on. What a hassle. So… I tell myself:

“Maybe it’s just better to wait until things are quiet to write. Now’s not really the best time… later I’ll be more focused…”

And that’s how the writing I really want to do never actually happens.

Now, I have a way to do it all — keep all my techie stuff up and working and have a clean slate to do my writing without distraction. I’ve looked at several of the “blackout” programs that take your stuff off-screen and give you a blank slate for writing.

Most of them look like one of the old computers my father built in the late 70s and early 80s. So, there’s an attractiveness for me to that black background/green text look. It reminds me of the Multi-mate program I used when I was first hired as a reporter at the newspaper in St. Mary’s County, MD.

So, it has some sentimental value and a offers me a reminiscent feel that others may not enjoy.

Today, I tripped across one that was free! And it’s multi-platform. So no matter if you are a Mac user, a Windows buff or a Linux fan — there’s a version for you. You can change some of the colors to fit your own preferences and there’s even a PDF Manual available for those who need to know everything about a program.

This writer’s tool is called JDarkRoom. Check it out for yourself.

It’s not really a word processor. It’s not going to tell you if you have spelling errors or grammatical issues. It’s basically a typewriter — a distraction-free environment for those who take writing seriously and need a place on their computer to slip into the creative “zone” for a few minutes… or a few hours.It delivers your writing in a plain text file that you can then import into a word processor for editing, spellcheck and format tasks.

Personally, I find it terribly alluring. It’s already got a place of honor on my iMac’s Doc. I love it.

I have been listening to Garrison Keillor’s The Writer’s Almanac Podcast for over a year now, but I’ve never shared that information. I find that when I’m looking for some “writerly” inspiration, it’s a perfect springboard.

The podcast is only a few minutes long – I keep about 6 months worth on my iPhone at all times. It’s not a daily offering, but it’s close to daily. It usually gives a couple of fantastic quotes, a biography of a writer and sometimes even a short poem.

If you would like something interesting to listen to on your way to work, or when standing in line waiting, check it out on iTunes. It’s supported through brief advertising statements at the beginning/end and is brought to us by American Public Media. (You can also subscribe to the RSS feed by visiting The Writer’s Almanac Website.)

Worthwhile way to spend a few minutes each day.

This was sent to me by my friend across the pond, Bronwyn Robertson a London-area Virtual Assistant. It was in relation to my new, deeper dedication to niching my business. It couldn’t have been more timely (or more humorous).

Watch a video that offers the "Cure" for Writers

WickedBlog went a little “dark” for a couple weeks while I got my collective *ahem* stuff together and made the transition from the long-held WickedWordCraft.com to my new, more narrowly focused and less “freeflowing” site, WickedWriter.com.

I could no longer juggle all the things I was trying to do with my life — business and personal. So, after a couple months of spending every spare moment (and some that weren’t really spare), I’ve revamped things.

I’m no longer offering marketing services or tech support or the dozens of other things I offered incoming clients. I have a few (literally a handful) of long-term clients for whom I will continue to offer the services they have come to expect, but any new clients I accept will be those seeking writing services.

I have a great network of RemoteProfessionals that I can call on to provide the other types of services any client may need. It’s an enviable network to have and I’m going to use it more thoroughly.

I’m a writer. It’s what I do and what I enjoy most. It’s where I shine and where I find my bliss.

After all these years of advising clients, I’m finally following my own advice. I’m trimming down, niching hard and doing only what I really enjoy. I’m no longer building my business… it’s built. I’m no longer interested in making more and more money — that is no longer my definition of success. I just want to make “enough.”

What pleases me most now is the concept of having more time, not more money. They say you can either have time or money, but you can’t have both. I disagree. I think you CAN have both — as long as you are balanced and reasonable in how you define wealth, how many “toys” you need to be happy, and how well you spend the time you have.

So, welcome to my new philosophy!

I’m keeping WickedBlog to do what I’ve always done — write about everything under the sun that intrigues me. My business site is ALL business and is all about the business of writing. If I’m not working for clients, posting to my blog or networking online, I’ll be spending my time enjoying my life, watching my youngest become a young lady, sleeping more than four or five hours a night and maybe even getting some much-needed exercise. (Hey, it could happen!)

I’ll be posting regularly here on WB now that the new site is finished. My old site will be taken down September 1, just shy of the six year mark of doing business under that name. And next year will mark the TENTH year since I started offering services online. TEN YEARS! That amazes me.

I’ll still be practicing “Wicked WordCraft”… I’ll just be a WickedWriter while doing it.

Since last Tuesday, I’ve had no voice. Literally. I was in the middle of a meeting (by phone) with a client at 8 a.m. Tuesday morning when my voice started getting softer and higher pitched until it was completely gone.

It was like a frog jumped in my throat and squatted there, quite comfortable in the new digs, and refused to budge. (more…)

The writer’s strike resulted in “Black Monday” last week during which the major studios fired many of the best writers, producers, etc. in the entertainment industry. I don’t really watch public television, but I do purchase the shows I like, via iTunes, and the selection has been pretty slim and the episodes pretty strangely spaced and noticeably off since the strike ensued.

I don’t like it. I don’t like it because it messes with my fun, but primarily I don’t like it because this guarantees an abundance of default consumption of the stupidest stuff to ever hit the tube: Reality TV.

How does reality TV suck? Let me count the ways… (more…)

Some words are difficult to differentiate. For those with who struggle with how to use “ensure” vs. “assure” vs. “insure,” I offer the following information:

To “assure” a person of something is to make him or her confident of/about it.

According to the Associated Press Stylebook, to “ensure” that something happens is to make certain that it does.

To “insure” is to issue an insurance policy.

I’m tired of hearing the same old words used to describe nothing in particular — and I’m in a largish club. (more…)

http://www.nablopomo.com/

Tonight, when I revisited Joseph-Beth for the third time in as many days, I found a surprise waiting. Author Greg Iles was holding a book signing for his latest book Third Degree. Now, in all honesty, I’ve never heard of Greg Iles before tonight and the thriller genera has never held much attraction for me.

With that said, I must admit that I lurked above the scene as Greg talked to the seated guests at his signing. I leaned over the railing, looking down and found myself eavesdropping with great interest. (more…)

If you are building your first independently hosted blog for your real estate business and you have decided to go with WordPress, you have already made a great decision.

Now, there are some other items to consider:

(more…)