I've been out of the loop, I know. For far too long. *ducks head in shame* I have a slew of posts in my head, but haven't had any time to get them here. But I will!
I will even figure out how to get the fabulous photos off my phone and post them (I really want to post these pics; I think that may be what's holding me back more than anything else). I keep emailing them to myself, but they never appear in my inbox. But I will conquer the Android. Oh yes, I will.
So what have I been doing? In the past week, I've become a new writer for a kids' science magazine (commissioned!), as well as a fact-checker and copy-editor for a small publisher. I'm actually earning a bit of money at this writing thing, now. I've also been working on revisions for a picture book (at the request of an editor!), and querying my MG. It's been busy, to say the least. But I'm feeling hopeful, and it's not just because spring is right around the corner.
I will be back on Monday with another fabulous Marketing Monday post, this time a joint interview with Angela Cerrito (author of The End Of The Line) and Terry Borzumato-Greenberg, VP of Marketing at Holiday House--how great is that?
Wishing you all a wonderful weekend! See you on Monday.
Showing posts with label technical stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label technical stuff. Show all posts
Friday, March 9, 2012
Thursday, April 7, 2011
F is for Follow Faster
One of the things that drives me crazy about blogging is the unbelievably slow process of following and commenting. I don't know if it's the time of day, the pull of the moon on the electrons flowing through the computer, or frequent storms of vermicious knids, but I quite often find that when I want to follow a new blog, Blogger won't let me. If it does, I am required to wait at least fifteen minutes for said request to process, and I usually give up before it finishes.
But guess what? I found a shortcut. And it works for following Wordpress blogs, so all the blogs you follow can be in one place, rather than having some posts showing up in your inbox. Copy the URL of the blog, then go to your Blogger dashboard and scroll down to your Reading List. Under the Blogs I'm Following tab, click on Add. Paste the URL, click Next, and you're good to go. If you choose the follow publicly option, your avatar will still show up on the person's blog, so they'll know you're there.
This takes 15 seconds, rather than 15 minutes. And then you have an extra 14 minutes and 45 seconds to write something.
Does Blogger do this to you? Or is it just me?
But guess what? I found a shortcut. And it works for following Wordpress blogs, so all the blogs you follow can be in one place, rather than having some posts showing up in your inbox. Copy the URL of the blog, then go to your Blogger dashboard and scroll down to your Reading List. Under the Blogs I'm Following tab, click on Add. Paste the URL, click Next, and you're good to go. If you choose the follow publicly option, your avatar will still show up on the person's blog, so they'll know you're there.
This takes 15 seconds, rather than 15 minutes. And then you have an extra 14 minutes and 45 seconds to write something.
Does Blogger do this to you? Or is it just me?
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Time savers and security blankets
There are so many terrific writing blogs out there, it makes my head spin. Really. There's just so much to take in, sometimes. But every now and then I come across a tip or trick that has really made my life easier. Here are the three that I use on a daily basis.
Document map. If you are writing something lengthy (like, say, a novel, or an in-depth non-fiction book), and you write using Word, document map is your friend. I learned about this from Casey McCormick's blog, Literary Rambles.
Highlight the item you want to map, right click and select paragraph. In the upper right corner, change Outline Level from Body Text to Level 1. Voila! If you don't see the document map (table of contents to the left of your document), go to View > Document Map. Saves an untold amount of time in not searching for that thing you wrote... you know... back in that scene... the one that was, like... three scenes ago? Yep. I've probably saved hours with this one.
Dropbox. How often do you back up your files? How do you do it? Save to the computer, plus a memory stick or external hard drive? Burn to a CD that you carry with you everywhere you go? I do some of those, but I no longer have to worry about having my backups in the same place because I also use Dropbox.
Dropbox stores your documents (in a secure format) on a cloud (computer cloud, not the fluffy white kind). You can set up Dropbox on any number of computers, so that you can access your work from anywhere. And the kicker? It automatically syncs what's on the cloud with what's on your computer when you boot up. It also saves older versions in case you need to back-track. So you always have the version you need, wherever you might be. If you are interested in Dropbox, send me an email (anpstevens [at] gmail). If I 'refer' you, we both get extra storage space.*
Unison. Unison is free software that synchronizes your files between two drives (e.g., your hard drive and a memory stick, external hard drive, or remote site). It checks the files on both sources and compares them. This is really helpful if you're inconsistent about where you save your work, in which case you don't want to copy everything from one drive to the other and risk losing recent work.
When Unison is ready to sync, you can see exactly which files have changed, and the arrows make it clear which file is the newer version. You have complete control over whether or not Unison changes anything (you can skip a file or revert to the older version during a synchronization event) before you allow it to proceed, and it syncs in both directions. You can download Unison here.
* This is not a paid endorsement for any of these things, nor am I telling you about Dropbox because I want more storage space. I just think it's an incredibly handy way to back things up and have them accessible from anywhere.
What are your favorite writing tricks?
Document map. If you are writing something lengthy (like, say, a novel, or an in-depth non-fiction book), and you write using Word, document map is your friend. I learned about this from Casey McCormick's blog, Literary Rambles.
Highlight the item you want to map, right click and select paragraph. In the upper right corner, change Outline Level from Body Text to Level 1. Voila! If you don't see the document map (table of contents to the left of your document), go to View > Document Map. Saves an untold amount of time in not searching for that thing you wrote... you know... back in that scene... the one that was, like... three scenes ago? Yep. I've probably saved hours with this one.
Dropbox. How often do you back up your files? How do you do it? Save to the computer, plus a memory stick or external hard drive? Burn to a CD that you carry with you everywhere you go? I do some of those, but I no longer have to worry about having my backups in the same place because I also use Dropbox.
Dropbox stores your documents (in a secure format) on a cloud (computer cloud, not the fluffy white kind). You can set up Dropbox on any number of computers, so that you can access your work from anywhere. And the kicker? It automatically syncs what's on the cloud with what's on your computer when you boot up. It also saves older versions in case you need to back-track. So you always have the version you need, wherever you might be. If you are interested in Dropbox, send me an email (anpstevens [at] gmail). If I 'refer' you, we both get extra storage space.*
Unison. Unison is free software that synchronizes your files between two drives (e.g., your hard drive and a memory stick, external hard drive, or remote site). It checks the files on both sources and compares them. This is really helpful if you're inconsistent about where you save your work, in which case you don't want to copy everything from one drive to the other and risk losing recent work.
When Unison is ready to sync, you can see exactly which files have changed, and the arrows make it clear which file is the newer version. You have complete control over whether or not Unison changes anything (you can skip a file or revert to the older version during a synchronization event) before you allow it to proceed, and it syncs in both directions. You can download Unison here.
* This is not a paid endorsement for any of these things, nor am I telling you about Dropbox because I want more storage space. I just think it's an incredibly handy way to back things up and have them accessible from anywhere.
What are your favorite writing tricks?
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