Jitters Are Your Friend

Posted on | January 21, 2010 | No Comments

Got it straight from Holy Kaw! Guy Kawasaki had this note on his blog that tells us that our coffee addiction can be good for our health. Now we need to look at the health benefits of our writing addiction. More on that later.

Whiz On Your Wizard

Posted on | January 19, 2010 | No Comments

David J. Parker is one tough dude.

If you plan to write a fantasy novel, pay close attention to the “exam” Parker published in Rinkworks. With only 75 bullets, he mows down trite plot devices and weak characters like Al Pacino with his little friend in Scarface.

After reading his list you may ask yourself, “What is left for me to develop?” The answer? Plenty. But it won’t be another “me, too” rehash of everyone else’s work.

Get out your trusty literary shovel and dig deep. The great ideas are right there, just below the surface, waiting for you to dig them out.

WARNING: This is NOT a commercial

Posted on | December 26, 2009 | No Comments

I don’t know if I write to support my coffee habit or if I’m hooked on coffee because it fuels my writing. Regardless, I’ve been shopping for a new brewer. This is not a commercial, but a guide to how I chose my new life support system. Your results may vary, choices subject to dealer availability, not applicable where prohibited by law, employees and family of Jot and Jitter need not apply … oops – just slipped into the small print.

After scouting the market for small coffee makers I added an additional guideline – it must be a single cup machine.

Like most of us, space in my home office is at a premium. I want my joe and I want it now, but where do I put the machine? I could always ditch the scanner. Or maybe the color inkjet. Or maybe the old, but reliable laser printer. Maybe I could get rid of one of the workstations. Duh! That’s not happening.

We spent an eye crossing weekend surfing for all known variants and followed that with a weekend of touch and feel shopping. The quandary was this – how good would the coffee taste from each machine. Even though a sweet little lady was hawking samples in Bed, Bath & Beyond, she flatly refused to set up all of her machines and brew me a cup. She had the nerve to say I was unreasonable and that she might have to call a security consultant to help me speed my shopping.

My long suffering wife yanked on my choke chain and hauled my snarling body out of the store. She suggested that we should do just a bit more research and possibly adjust my meds before we made a final choice of brewers. We were saved by a call from my sister-in-law who needed us to ferry some of her belongings to her new home. The five hour drive would give me time to reflect on the endless possibilities available in the realm of coffee brewers. So, Thermos in hand, we set out to spend some quality time together and indulge in some over-the-road analysis. (Job induced moves are always a pain – especially on short notice. But that’s another post.)

After we arrived in that other city, which in NOT where I live – I schlepped a van full of “stuff” up to the second floor. Little sissie, the quintessential Southern hostess, asked if I would like a cup of coffee. Duh! Double Duh! Does a wild bear tiptoe lightly through the woodland? Does a koala like Vick’s?

She knows that I bleed brown, but I replied sweetly, “Why yes, dear. I believe that I could drink just the tiniest bit of your divine brew.” I hate sugar in my coffee, but sometimes it just comes dribbling out of my mouth.

Now, keep in mind that my little sissie lives alone and drinks a measly one cup of java a day. On her countertop sat a tiny little machine that became the answer to all of my searching.

I watched as she pressed one large chrome button. The machine’s jaw popped open in anticipation and she treated it to a tiny little plastic cup. When she patted it on the head it closed its little mouth and popped its little top. She poured in a precisely measured bit of water and pressed its little cap back into place. Suddenly a little blue light began to blink – just like the old blue light specials at K-Mart. Sissie pressed the blue light and walked away.

Less than three minutes later my trembling hands lifted a perfectly brewed cup of coffee to my lips. I was hooked. I was in love. I even liked my sister-in-law.

We made a pilgrimage to where she bought her sleek, black brewer. On the shelf was my ultimate machine – and it had just been released in Road Rage Red. All around me were boxes and boxes of the tiny little treats that the machine loved to chew. Dozens of flavors and brews. But WAIT! I also saw little boxes of teas and cocoa. All for my new little friend.

After thoroughly testing the machine back at the office, it met all of my requirements and more. Maybe these are additional benefits or maybe I’m trying to justify popping 90 bucks on a single cup brewer, but after extensive use I’ve noticed the following:

The winner, at least in my case, is the Keurig Mini. I’ve enclosed a photo of my little buddy in the wild. Notice the bottle of filtered water that is precisely enough for two cups of coffee.

What is your favorite brewer and coffee combination?

No mo’ NaNoWriMo

Posted on | November 15, 2009 | No Comments

National Novel Writing Month runs from November 1 through November 30. All of my sincere plans to join this year’s fray were set aside by the annoying habit of eating. And the need to buy the food to eat.

For those of you who took up the challenge, way to go!

On a sadder note, Linda Lowen, wrote an excellent article entitled “Is There a Bias Against Women Writers?” I encourage you to take a look at it and chime in with your thoughts.

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Build your online portfolio

Posted on | November 14, 2009 | No Comments

Puking on Paper

Posted on | September 20, 2009 | No Comments

My wife is a great fan of the NPR program “This I Believe.” Each time she hears a new episode, she scans through her mental files and decides that she needs to write an essay for the program. Her roadblock? The title.

My wife is a passionate and compassionate woman. There are many, MANY things that she cares about. This makes it difficult for her to choose a single topic and, therein, lies her dilemma. What do you call an essay that addresses all of the things central to your being?

I think she is missing the boat by thinking about the title. For me, most articles are written long before the title is chosen. I may have an idea or a theme rattling in my head, but nothing I can pin down with a title or slug line. So, she asks, “What do I do?”

Puke on paper.

I thought she would hurl when she heard the words, but she heard me through with the long suffering patience I’ve come to love.

Sometimes an idea rattles around just out of reach. Thinking about it just doesn’t bring it out. It’s like when you’re feeling queasy and you try to hold it back. It just seems to get worse and the best way to relieve the queasiness is to barf. And I don’t mean just a token retch. I’m talking about heaving until you are totally empty.

That is the way I approach essays, blog posts, magazine article, and any other writing assignment. Skip the title. Skip the slug line. Go straight to the keyboard and start puking words on paper. And keep puking words until I’m totally empty.

Wash your face and brush your teeth

Now it’s time to go back and clean up the mess. Spell checks. Grammar checks. Moving ideas around. As I approach the end, a title suddenly appears. I grab it, tuck it into the top of the page, and then sink back into my chair exhausted.

How do you handle the title dilemma?

Digital Dawdling Dings Productivity

Posted on | August 16, 2009 | No Comments

I’ve learned to turn off the TV. I’ve learned to ignore the phone. What I haven’t done is overcome the temptation to surf the net when I should be writing.

I’ve found any number of rationalizations. These include “research” and “looking for ideas.” What’s been hard to come by is the rationalization of getting some work done.

Oh, sure. I’m large and it shows that I like to eat. But that, for some reason, doesn’t seem to be enough to whip me into shape. Still I dawdle on the web.

Now I’ve got it. Every time I find a good idea, I clip it to Evernote. After I clip several good ideas I can close the web, read the clips, and usually find that there is something good to write about.

After my fingers start moving on the keyboard, it’s easier to continue on to things that have a deadline. My mind is focused on the act of writing.

What are your ways to prompt or trick yourself into being productive?

How Good Is FREE

Posted on | June 16, 2009 | No Comments

For most of my life I believed the old saw, “You get what you pay for.” With the advent of the Internet I’ve had to rethink my opinion.

Last night I parsed through my writer’s toolbox looking for goodies to share with you and was struck by the fact that many of them are free. I’m not talking about stripped down trial versions, but full featured programs that make the writing life easier. And we all want that, right?

Look out Google!

Anyone who has spent even a few minutes online is familiar with the G-word. Google has made an art form of making a living by giving stuff away. But they are not the only game in town.

Zoho, by Zoho Development Centre, is a suite of online applications designed for collaboration and productivity. The suite includes a word processor, spreadsheet, database, presentation program, email client, contact manager and much more. Holding it all together and giving easy access to all functions is a well thought out desktop.

I’ve been using Zoho Writer, the word processor, since 2006, and I’ve watched the suite grow steadily since then. New features are being added on an almost daily basis. Support is handled through a forum system that I’ve found to be very responsive. In addition, Zoho Development Centre is open to user feedback and requests for features.

Features

• Uncluttered interface
• Live word count
• Contextual comments
• Imports/exports most popular formats
• Excellent user interface
• Thesaurus
• Group collaboration
• Headers, footer, endnotes and footnotes export to other formats

Real world test

Before a recent family trip, I made a giant leap of faith and uploaded all of my working files to Zoho. I left the laptop at home and was confident that I could still make deadlines. After a welcome party and a few toddies on the patio, I borrowed my friend’s laptop and logged on to Zoho. All of my working files were waiting for me – as well as all of my email. One login, full access. How good is that?

A couple of hours of rattling the keyboard later I was done. Not just the writing and proofing, but uploading to the blogs directly from Zoho Writer. That’s a bit of sweetness that makes this Suite a hit for me.

Give it a try. It’s free and you might get hooked on it just like me.

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Tools: Plan It and Do It

Posted on | April 11, 2009 | 1 Comment

One thing that all of us have in common is time. We each share the same 24 hours. What sets us apart is how we handle those hours. Since procrastination is one of my biggest problems, the ever present paper agenda is my life line.

My agenda is always with me. It doesn’t need plugs or batteries – and booting up is just a page flip away. I don’t need the micro planning capability of a 2 page-per-day agenda; the half hour increments of the 2 page-per-week model is just right for my work style.

Karen Doherty, Vice President of Marketing at Exaclair, Inc., gave me an opportunity to test drive a couple of agendas distributed by her company. I admit to being totally uninformed about Exacompta and Quo Vadis, the companies that produce the planners in her line. I’ve been missing out on some great products.

After scouring her website, I decided on the Visual Weekly Planner. Here is the marketing copy from the site:

Compact weekly date book with daily write/call memos

• 12 months weekly, January to December
• 16 months monthly, September 2009 to December 2010
• 8 AM to 9 PM schedule
• Annual and Monthly planning calendars for 2010 and 2011
• 90g, acid-free and pH neutral paper
• Current and following month calendars
• Elegant round corners — tear-off corner opens to week in progress
• Soft green tinted vellum paper
• Travel expense record
• Sewn binding, lays flat when open
• Separate address book insert
• Refillable

You just read the marketing copy. Now here’s the straight skinny on this agenda. It’s all that and more. No hype. No inflated claims. Just outstanding quality at a fair price.

A lot of thought went into making this agenda. From the rounded corners to the gilt edging, this is a top quality product. What really makes this a go-to planner for me is the quality of the paper. I am a fountain pen junkie and this 90g paper is perfect for that. The smooth surface lets the nib glide across the page and the heavy weight keeps the ink from bleeding through. Uncommon features today since not many of us still use fountain pens on a daily basis.

The cover is the Soya model, which is a faux leather finish. It is well made a feels as if it will hold up well to the abuse I dish out.

Exaclair has a wide selection of agendas from which to choose. My next one will be their Space 24 model. It just ever so slightly is a better fit to my planning habits. The Visual has hooked me on the product line. Now I’ll home in on the perfect fit.

I give this agenda a 4 1/2 star rating. The missing half star is my fault for not choosing the right model for MY work style. Stop by their website to check out their full line of products. For you pen junkies, they distribute some of the finest inks on the planet.

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2 Great Free Tools for Writers

Posted on | March 26, 2009 | No Comments

Finding the right word to describe that idea or concept whirling around just out of reach is something we’ve all experienced. The sure cure is a well-thumbed and dog-eared thesaurus. But what do you do when playing Digital Nomad? There is a limit to the extras you can carry when traveling – unless you have your own personal Sherpa.

I often find myself writing in places that have power for my laptop, but lack any type of Internet access. I found a couple of great solutions in my tool kit to share with you. They are fast, powerful, and take up little space on the hard drive. In fact, they fit in nicely with my new pared down netbook.

The two tools are WordWeb 5.52 and The Sage 1.4.0. My unscientific comparison indicates they may share the same dictionary database. Comparing about a dozen words in the two programs, I received the same definitions in both – word for word.

What sets the two apart, for me, is the user interface.

The Sage appears to be an academically oriented program. This should be expected since it was developed by Princeton University. It is simple, clean and easy to read. Clicking the colored buttons in each row lets you drill down for more information.

The WordWeb interface appears geared more toward the working writer — at least this working writer. The tabbed layout allows fast access to additional features such as Wikipedia, Wictionary and the WordWeb website. I especially like the pronunciation button in the toolbar. It’s always nice to know that I am saying a word correctly before I embarrass myself in public.

Both programs are available as freeware at their respective sites. Download both and put them through their paces.

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