Tag: writing

This is a follow up to my distractions post. The Neo2 arrived today, and I’ve been testing it out. This post will be the first thing I’ve written on it.

The typing experience is good. The keys themselves are solid, and use a plastic spring mechanism. I like the feel. It’s somewhere between an old clicky-clack keyboard and the newer chiclet style found on MacBooks. It’s quiet and I’m not worried about the noise being a distraction in quiet places like a library.

It’s time for my weekly word count check-in. At the end of every week, I post a screen shot from my writing results spreadsheet. This shows the current week and the three before.

This week was remarkable close to last week. I had two days this week that were completely wrecked for writing. Working on a longer landing page project on Sunday night saved the week’s productivity.

My week starts on Monday, the numbers are current through Sunday night.

Just for laughs I just bought a used Alphasmart NEO2 “keyboard computer” from eBay. I’m not entirely sure why. I think it might be a “I can do better for cheaper” response to the Hemingwrite. I had been following the Hemingwrite Kickstarter since it launched. I was mildly interested, but the overall workflow seemed contrived. I didn’t become a backer, and mentally “saved” myself about $400.

Now, that old chestnut: Do you have any advice for young writers?

BALLARD

A lifetime’s experience urges me to utter a warning cry: do anything else, take someone’s golden retriever for a walk, run away with a saxophone player. Perhaps what’s wrong with being a writer is that one can’t even say “good luck”—luck plays no part in the writing of a novel. No happy accidents as with the paint pot or chisel. I don’t think you can say anything, really. I’ve always wanted to juggle and ride a unicycle, but I daresay if I ever asked the advice of an acrobat he would say, “All you do is get on and start pedaling …” §

My first response was “focus.”

If I am fully engaged in a task, a bomb could go off and I won’t notice. I think this is a universal concept. Books have been written about The Zone or getting into Flow. The fastest way for me to realize that I’ve been in a state of focus is the surprise when I’m knocked out of it. When something as simple as a soft word or electronic beep jolts me out of the chair, that was focus.

My main writing tool is Ulysses III. Simply put, it’s where my text is. In a way, it’s like an office. When I open the app I write.

Most importantly, Ulysses is a writing environment. All writing is done on “sheets,” which are managed by the app. The sheets (documents) are kept in a library, organized with a database. This means all files are kept out of sight and don’t clutter up the documents folder.1

I keep a fairly detailed spreadsheet in which I keep track of my writing. Each time I sit down to write I log the start time, starting word count, location, project, ending word count, and end time. I have it set up in a way that makes the data entry straightforward. One nice thing about Apple Numbers, I can just enter the 24-hour time. Then it converts it into a date value, using the current date. Entering two times and two notes, and start and finish word count gives me the writing session duration, total words, and words-per-hour.

On January 5th, John of Desk writing community started a 10 days to a better blog challenge. The steps were simple with a new writing exercise each day.

Like any program or class, you only get out what you put in. I committed to following the steps, and seeing what happened. So, I wrote my daily posts.

What I liked:

What bothered me:

Verdict:

The good outweighs the bad, and I thoroughly enjoyed the story.

Notes:

The novel’s publishing history is also remarkable. Originally it was released as a series on the author’s website, then as a ebook. When it exploded on Amazon, it was picked up by a print publisher.

I have one goal for this blog in 2105:

Poast moar!

A post per day is unrealistic. I have other writing that takes priority. Since blogging doesn’t pay, it has to slip down a few rungs on the priority ladder.

What would qualify as more posts?