Savvy Freelance Writer
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Apps to the Rescue
Jan 14, 2012
I’ve been running like a fool, trying to keep track of too many things between too many devices. The result? An exhausted, frazzled me. One hot mess of notes, notecards, notebooks, pads, scraps of paper…
Today I decided it was time to tackle it all and find a way to get my iPad, iPhone, and Mac to play nice with the software I use most often. SUCCESS!
I use Scrivener for my nonfiction projects. I’ve also started to use if for organizing other projects. For instance, I’m using it to keep track of everything associated with the redesign of my website and the associated considerations for the type of business I’d like to pursue this year. If I were in my office all day, I would just work in Scrivener on my computer but most days I have at least an hour or two of accumulated time when I could be doing something work-related but I’m not in my office. Don’t get me wrong! If I’m caught up with my work, I actually read or catch up on my emails with friends. But sometimes that’s just not possible.
I’d read somewhere that I can use simplenote to synch with Scrivener! The Scrivener program is on my desktop, with the data file in Dropbox so I can access it from my laptop if I want. The simple note app is on my iPad2 and my iPhone4. The data file is in the cloud in Dropbox. I watched a video about synching the notes I make or the changes I make to existing content and voila, I can do work on my iPad and synch it back to Scrivener. It really works!
I also have started using Evernote to keep track of my ideas. There is an app for my desktop or laptop as well as for my iPad2 and my iPhone. The data is stored in the cloud so all I need to do is log in and add a note or make a change. It’s available to all my devices whenever I want to plan or work. It’s simple to use and I have the notes categorized with tabs to I can see by market, stage of progress, overall topic, etc. For me at least, it’s far more useful than a simple reminder or ToDo list.
SUCCESS
What software and/or apps do you use to keep track of your ideas and work in progress? Please share your experience!
“The Book” is Due Monday
Oct 7, 2011
No more time. No more, one more thing. No more, I just remembered.
My book is due to my editor on Monday. With endnotes and bibliography. With illustrations and diagrams.
It’s terrifying and exhilarating. Terrifying because this was my first book and there are sooooooo many things I’d do differently that it leaves me hoping I got it all right this time. Exhilarating because on Tuesday I will awaken to a schedule with no long-term project waiting for attention.
In the process of writing this book, I have fallen utterly in love with the history of technology as it played out at the start of the twentieth century. Who could have known? I certainly had no idea how thrilling it would be to discover words written so long ago and to find them full of emotion that I have the privilege of putting in context and bringing forward to a new generation.
As a mother I know I touch the future. As a writer I choose to touch the past. Introducing the latter to the former is the greatest reason for being a writer that I can articulate.
How about you? What do you write? Why do you write?
The Right Pen
Sep 25, 2011
Real Simple recently had a piece about pens. I read it with interest because the right pen makes a world of difference to me. The Real Simple article included pens in categories from gel to superfine. I agreed completely with their assessment of the Flair Felt Tip.
Still, my hands down favorite pen du jour is the Lamy Al-Star Rollerball. I can get them locally or online, along with a lot of other amazing writer-stuff, at Fahrney’s Pens. I can also get them online from Levenger.
The Lamy comes in plastic or metal. The metal is a bit slicker in the hand but the plastic edges are a bit harder against the sides of the fingers. I prefer the metal but a tiny bit.
The rollerball is flawless. It’s not fine point but the resulting writing is not thick and it doesn’t leave blotches or drips.
The pen just feels good.
I also love the Sharpie-Fine Point pens. The only drawback to them is that if one of your kids gets hold of it with a heavy hand, the point is ruined in a blink. Ditto if it gets dropped on the floor without the cap on.
So – What about you? If you were stranded on a desert island, which pen would you consider a must-have? Leave a comment and I’ll take the answers and create a poll 
Long Live Dropbox
Sep 23, 2011 — 1 Comment
I chose to freelance for three excellent reasons – my kids. Freelancing gives me the flexibility I need to do “the juggle.” With time, I’ve gotten reasonably proficient. The only persistent problem has been having the files I need in the place I need them when I need them.
You know what I mean? You have twenty unexpected minutes to get something done and you didn’t bring the laptop. You brought the laptop but the file is on the desktop. You have the working file on the jump drive but the other information you need to complete the project is back at home on the computer.
The best solution I’ve found is Dropbox. It’s cross-platform and everything for a project lives in a folder in Dropbox. It’s not the same as Documents to Go or similar programs that require me to sync before the files are available on the receiving computer. My files reside in Dropbox in the “cloud” and I work on them while they stay in the cloud. My Dropbox account is password protected. I’m not sure I’d put something highly confidential up there but my latest essay and research notes are hardly state secrets.
For the first time in my freelance career, I can just get to work without a lot of prep work. I also know I have one and only one version of a document – let’s not even go there! You can use Dropbox on your iPad, too, if you’d like. There’s really no reason you can’t have what you need where you need it when you need it. All in all, it makes me more anxious to see what other cloud offerings are on the horizon. You do need internet access to get to your Dropbox files. That’s not a problem where I live because there’s free wireless available pretty much wherever I am. When there’s not, I use my iPhone as a hotspot.
There are obviously other ways to accomplish the goal of having what you need where you need it when you need it. A jump drive is one and I have a jump drive. It’s with me all the time. Still, it just isn’t the same as using Dropbox. Not a lot of help, I know, but it’s true. I also have iDisk but I could never get it to work the way I needed. Maybe it’s successor, iCloud, will be an improvement. If it is, it could give Dropbox some serious competition.
Technology is finally at the point I need! The productivity gains they promised in the 80′s have arrived and I could not be more thrilled.
Long Live Dropbox. It’s added hours to my workweek without having to give up more sleep!
“The Book”
Sep 18, 2011
For the next two weeks I’ll be putting the finishing touches on what is known around here as, “The Book.” My kids have learned to view “The Book” as another sibling. A demanding, impetuous, frustrating sibling who will not be denied. Personally, I think it’s good for them, as well as for me, because it’s forced us all to put my writing in a place of prominence on a daily basis.
“The Book” started with a contract longer ago then I care to remember. It’s a dream book for Springer Verlag – to my mind the preeminent science publisher worldwide – and it’s about a topic that’s dear to me – hydrodynamics. Okay. Now that I’ve outed myself as the geek of the century, I’ll continue.
The first step in writing “The Book” was to learn the hard way (is there any other ????) that writing a book is not the same as writing a series of articles. Nor is it the same as writing a work of fiction. I’ve now done all three and I can tell you firsthand that writing a work of nonfiction is a thing unto itself.
First, there was a tremendous amount of research to be done. With an article, the scope is narrow and defined by the word count if nothing else. Not the case with a book. So the research took longer than I anticipated. Still, it did reach the point where the things I uncovered were redundant or branches of what I’d already uncovered. If I’m certain I’ve searched widely enough, I always take that as a sign that I’ve done enough research. While I let all of that data ferment in the back of my brain, I worked on interviews with people who are noted in the field.
The interviews were also a new slant on an old skill because these people would not be quoted. In an article they definitely would have been but with “The Book” the interviews were to garner the most up-to-date info or a peek behind the scenes. I’ll thank each of these people, profusely, in my acknowledgments but they won’t be named in the text. That still feels a little awkward to me but the interviews were thrilling. The top of the list? My meeting in April with Dr. John Anderson, Curator of Aeronautics at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum.
Of course, being new to all of this, I worried the entire time I was doing the research and interviews. I worried I was missing something important. I worried it was taking too long. I worried I wasn’t writing. That was the worst part because the better thing would have been to set aside a certain amount of time for research, reading, and interviews. During that time I would not have worried that I wasn’t writing. I think the entire process would have gone better if I’d done that, rather than beating myself up that I wasn’t writing soon enough. Especially when it had all taken so long that a second round of research and interviews was called for – but we won’t go there.
Fast forward to today. I now know that research, reading, and interviews are a necessary and legitimate use of time during which very little writing will take place. I also now know a second round of research, reading, and interviews is inevitable. Next time I’ll view it as the bonus round rather than proof that I’m an imbecile. I also now know that the footnotes and the illustrations are submitted at the same time as the manuscript.
That’s all okay. And life certainly has not stood still while I’ve been writing “The Book.” During the time it’s taken to research, synthesize, and write “The Book,” my college-aged oldest survived a semester in Beijing with a severe nut allergy, my youngest entered middle school, and my middle entered high school. Of course, this was also the time for my career as a freelance writer to pick up steam. NOTE: That was not a complaint! Fortunately, my kids proved once again that they are terrific writer-kids as I’ve kept up with them and also managed to write a weekly column for Rockville Patch, several science essays for EBSCO, curriculum for a project, six short science experiment books, and a number of articles on health, business, and local news for Patch.com.
No doubt it’s been a juggle but it’s a juggle I’m proud to call my own!
Once “The Book” is out the door in two weeks, my kids and I will have a bacchanalian celebration. Next I’ll restore my house to some semblance of order and re-stock the fridge, freezer, and pantry. Then we’ll sit down and decide if NaNoWriMo is a good use of our collective energy this year. My kids get a vote this time since even the most amazing writer-kids need to know their support in pursuit of “The Book” has been noted and appreciated!
Hurricane Irene
Aug 26, 2011
I had planned to begin a blogging schedule with the start of school but now it looks like