Tech Tip Tuesday – Just Wait
Today’s tech tip tries to address the frustration we all feel at one point or another with our worst enemy and our best friend, our computer.
If you’re working hard and furiously, you may find yourself with several tabs on your Firefox browser open (Shameless plug, I know.). There’s Dictionary.com to make sure you’re using the right word or to use the thesaurus. Blip.fm is going in the background so you have your writing music playing. Then, there’s Twitter. Got to keep up with the tweets.
Oh, and email. Your publisher will be emailing you that contract any minute now. Of course, your word processor is open. Ideas are just flowing. Your GTD application is open so you keep your deadline. Then it happens. Your computer hangs up just as you’re about to do away with George the philanderer.
So many times I see users starting hitting this button and that, trying to close the offending program again and again. However, even Windows can only work so fast. My advice to you is this: instead of getting angry, wait. Oftentimes, the RAM is just tapped and Windows is trying the best it can. Wait and the text you entered will appear. The page will load. Exercise that patience you use when you’re waiting for that acceptance letter to come.
Invest In Yourself — Educate Yourself
One of the best decisions I made as an adult was to go back to school. I didn’t go back right away. I decided a degree in the school of hard knocks was worth pursuing first. When I did decide to attend college, it was because I wanted to do so. That made all of the difference in the world.
What a complicated place the world has become if we require our children to be ins school until 16. To pursue an education is a gift to oneself. The mind likes challenges. A college education can provide so many avenues for growth. It’s not an easy path. College requires dedication. It requires a time commitment. It also requires money.
Many opportunities exist for would-be students to seek out grant money or student loans. Taking out a loan also provides an opportunity to learn budgeting. It’s easy to pay the bills when that loan check first arrives, but it takes careful planning to keep afloat until the end of the quarter or semester. This is an excellent time to learn this lesson when perhaps you have a safety net on which to fall back.
The important thing is to research the financial part of your education. Seek financial advice before decisions are made. Once you’ve cleared these hurdles, your focus can turn to your education.
Later in my career, I worked with adults returning to school after a long absence. In no way should age deter anyone wanting to purse an education. Four years from now you can either be wishing you had a degree or you can be congratulating yourself on achieving your goal.
Education is a wonderful thing. College gave me the tools to pursue my dream to write.
Tech Tip Tuesday – Get There Fast With Auto Hotkeys
Today’s tech tip could be called a productivity tip. If you’re like me and I know am, you have your pet programs. These are the programs you use every day. They are instrumental to your work. You know how they work, you know where they’ll be useful, you want them handy.
Rather than trying to browse through my lengthy list of programs through the Start Menu, I’ve come to depend upon a nifty program called AutoHotkeys. It works like this.
First of all, make a list of your favorite programs. Decide on a hotkey, that is a shortcut to launch them. You can use the Windows, control, and alt keys in combination with the letters. I try to choose logical choices like Windows-F to open Firefox.
Then, open the AutoKey script in a text editor. Add your hotkeys. The syntax is easy.
#n::Run Notepad — Means Windows key plus n
^!c::Run calc.exe — Means CTRL-ALT plus c
This program is a timesaver. I launch my favorite programs quickly and easily. It is in fact, one of my pet programs.
Writing Tip — Use One Style Guide
The other day, I decided to pick up the Elements of Style. No, I wasn’t having trouble sleeping, but rather I wanted to review a few points of grammar.
I though that the particular point of grammar had a clear and fixed answer. Alas, the serial comma did not. While Strunk and White agreed with the Chicago Manual of Style and the Oxford University Press, The New York Times and the Associated Press thought differently.
How confusing that different sources have different takes on grammar. This discovery led me to the conclusion that in order to keep my writer’s sanity, I must follow one authority. So, dear Reader, I offer the same advice. Choose your authority and stick with it.
Photo by quacktaculous
Help Your Focus By Staying In Shape
It happened slowly. The writing was fast and furious. The words just flowed from my fingers to the keyboard. I was in a great writing mode.
Unfortunately, I discovered, as probably a lot of writers planted at their desks, that I was not in the best shape that I could have been. Writing was consuming my time. That realization made me step back and consider how to keep my focus and stay in shape.
Winter was tough this year, bitterly cold and very snowy. That was great for writing because I stayed in and wrote, but bad for a healthy lifestyle. A couple of solutions came to mind. I could get a treadmill or an exercise bike. There would be no excuses then. The point was that to bring the best to my writing, I had to give time to myself to exercise. I had to allow myself to take a break and do something not involved with the computer or writing.
While I wasn’t have any problems with writing, it felt like I would be writing for hours and suddenly realize it was almost time for dinner. I wanted balance, but I didn’t want to break so far away that I lost track of where I was in my writing. My solution? Have some exercise equipment in the next room so I could plan my breaks, get a bit of workout in, and return to the keyboard.
I learned to embrace these times. Without distractions, my mind could wander. I could think about my writing, maybe figure out some plot points. Even if I wasn’t writing, I was still working on it. When I got back to work, I was refreshed and anxious to get back at it. By not writing, I was able to focus.
Useful Writing Links
Here’s this week’s collection of useful writing links. Enjoy!
-Use Firefox Bookmarks as Daily Reminders
-Dr. Katherine Ramsland: The Forensic Resource You Need to See
-Daily News Habit Doubles Among U.S. Mobile Users
-How to Switch from Personal to Business Branding
Portable Office For Writers
Perhaps you’re visiting the relatives–without your computer. Or maybe you’re traveling. Won’t it be nice to have your own desk with its dictionary and thesaurus nearby, everything as you want it? That’s when a portable office can be a lifesaver for writers.
I work on a desktop. When we’re traveling, I’ll use my husband’s laptop. Without the programs that I usually use or the bookmarks in my browser, I’m lost. To keep my work with me, I set up my portable office. It works like this. I use a 8 gb USB drive on my desktop. Applications that I need most are loaded onto the USB drive. Using a platform like PortableApps, I have a mini operating system on the drive.
The platform comes in alone, with a light version, and the complete standard version. Since I wanted to select only the applications that I would use, I downloaded the platform only version.
Many applications have portable versions, so you don’t always have to do without your favorites. If not, many application forums post tweaks to make it work. Here are the applications in my portable office.
Q10
This simple application is built for writers. Some of its writer friendly features include a timer alarm for timed writing sessions, target count to help you reach your writing goals, and spell check. It even has typing sound effects to give you that Hemingway kind of feel. Free.
FireFox
Yes, Virginia, there is a portable version of FireFox. No more be without your bookmarks and customized desktop. Since I have my version of FireFox tricked out for what I want it to do, a portable version is a godsend.
Thunderbird
Just as my bookmarks are vital, so is my email client. My important emails are at my finger tips as is my contact list. With the Lightning extension, I also have my calendar with me.
PNotes
Some days I need a reminder or I’d never remember to pick up cat food. PNotes is a simple program that puts sticky notes on your computer screen for those tasks you can’t forget–and it doesn’t fall off your computer screen.
It’s not the end of the world if you can’t be at your own desk. With a portable USB drive and the right applications, you can write anywhere.
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