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Posts Tagged ‘work’

Quick Week

Posted in Entertainment, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on July 2, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Canada Day was July 1st and American Independence Day is July 4th, neatly bookending the week with parties and fireworks and associated festivities. Yay. That said, work must be done and so I am a wee bit crunched for time. In lieu of a long essay on the state of the world and/or gracing you with my recipe for meringue, say, allow me to direct you to “The New Provisions,” a story by Adam-Troy Castro fresh out at Lightspeed.

It’s not true, but it’s not all false, either. Enjoy!

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Getting From Here to There

Posted in Funny, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on June 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

It’s the middle of the week and I don’t know about you but Friday, and finishing everything on my list, feels pretty far away. Must be time for an inspirational quote and fabulous photo. Like… so!

You can’t get a suit of armour and a rubber chicken just like that. You have to plan ahead.
— Michael Palin

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On Practice

Posted in Holidays, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , on May 30, 2014| Leave a Comment »

This may be the best advice I’ve given myself all week:

Don’t worry about being good – worry about getting better.

 

P.S. More good advice – don’t run barefoot over these sand dunes in the middle of summer. Ask me how I know!
 

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Writing Objects, Not Ideas

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on May 2, 2014| 1 Comment »

Best writing advice I’ve read all week:

How to avoid abstractitis: “Write physically. Write with physical objects… No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”

“What is a concrete noun?” a student might ask.

“It’s something you can drop on your foot,” I always answer. “It’s that simple.”

“So if I am writing about markets, productivity and wealth, I am going to….”

“Yes indeed — you are going to write about things you can drop on your foot, and people, too. Green peppers, ears of corn, windshield wipers, or a grimy mechanic changing your car’s oil. No matter how abstract your topic, how intangible, your first step is to find things you can drop on your foot.”

From John Maguire’s 2012 essay in The Atlantic, “The Secret to Good Writing: It’s About Objects, Not Ideas.”

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Excising “To Be” With Applescript

Posted in Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , on April 28, 2014| 1 Comment »

I code sometimes. I also write. Occasionally the two come together.

As I’ve mentioned, coding helps me find new ways to think about my work. Here’s a new Applescript I whipped up to highlight instances of “to be” in my drafts, as well as certain filler words that don’t add much to the text. Open your document in MS Word, then run the following code. The selected words will be replaced with bold versions of themselves.

Alter the list as necessary, or use this as an example of how to do a list-based loop in Applescript (hint: the “repeat” line is key;). Enjoy!

set my_word_list to {"am", "are", "be", "been", "being", "felt", "had", "has", "have", "heard", "is", "looked", "was", "wasn't", "were", "weren't"}
repeat with each_word in my_word_list
	set FindWordsToReplace to each_word as text
	tell application "Microsoft Word"
		set GetTxt to find object of selection
		tell GetTxt
			clear formatting
			set its content to FindWordsToReplace
			tell its replacement
				clear formatting
				set its content to FindWordsToReplace
				tell its font object
					set bold to true
				end tell
			end tell
			execute find wrap find find continue replace replace all with match forward and match whole word without match case
		end tell
	end tell
end repeat

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Writing at Lightspeed

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on April 11, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Ah, that’s better! I’ve just finished switching over to a new computer, and it’s bigger better faster and all kinds of more awesome than the six-year old tower I had been using. This is it, still wrapped in the thoughtfully designed protective blankie covering in which it was delivered. Under all the styrofoam and cardboard, of course.

imac

I find there are always transition issues with a new computer, even when that computer is a Mac. Take, for example, the soul-crushing realization that a favorite app, DockStar from Ecamm, is not compatible with the new Mavericks OS. Granted, Apple’s Mail has a tiny bit of DockStar’s functionality built in, but I do mean tiny. Ecamm, I hope you find a buyer for the program soon. Alternatively, Apple needs to incorporate that functionality into its system, stat!

The new machine is so fast. Henceforth, all writing will take place at the speed of light. Or 99.9% of same (see, Neil deGrasse Tyson, I was listening to you in episode 1.04 of Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey, and not just because it included voice acting by SirPatStew;).

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April Fool

Posted in Other, Writing, tagged , , , , , , on April 1, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Some days are just off, for whatever reason. Days when you hit all the wrong buttons on your computer, make foolish mistakes because your brain isn’t firing on all cylinders, fumble everything you touch and your nose won’t stop bleeding. Yeah, it’s that kind of day for me.

What to do in the face of such pitfalls?

Keep going.

Apologize to self and others for calls not made, for eating too much cake (or not enough), for not finishing the to-do list or not writing the perfect story. Do better next time.

Persist.

Even if it happens to be April Fool’s Day.

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No Place Like 127.0.0.1

Posted in Likes, tagged , , , , , , , , , on March 18, 2014| Leave a Comment »

I’m home from a trip and happily catching up on work. Lots to do, so I will leave you with this link to Nina Paley’s essay on The Cult of Originality:

The trick is, what’s completely obvious to you isn’t obvious to anyone else. Many people can tell exactly the same story about exactly the same event, but if each speaks from their authentic point of view, each story will seem “original.”

Well, that helps take the pressure off. Now to see if I can’t apply some of that originality to my current projects. In other news, this weekend I discovered the Rijksmuseum’s terrific online digital library, learned to stack wood, and can now tell a male partridge apart from a female.

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Scrivener Deal Through AppSumo

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , on March 14, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Here’s a deal for anyone interested in the (excellent) writing program Scrivener: for the next five-ish days, the deal site AppSumo is offering the program for $20. Scrivener usually sells for $45, and even the NaNoWriMo winner price is 50% off. (That’s how I got my copy and it was 20-odd bucks very well spent.) It’s also a wonderful way to write, in my experience. I used to write in Word. I’m much happier now.

No ties to either AppSumo or Literature & Latte, just a satisfied user of the latter. Still not sure if Scrivener is right for you? Check out the free trial versions for Mac and Windows, and bask in the joys of a program written by writers, for writers.

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Amtrak Writers Residency Is Officially Official

Posted in Likes, Writing, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 8, 2014| Leave a Comment »

Yes, after much social media back and forth, The Amtrak Residency for Writers Is Now Accepting Applications. Like the idea of riding the rails with nothing to do but be inspired by the scenery and write write write? I know I do:) Check out all the details at Amtrak’s site:

#AmtrakResidency was designed to allow creative professionals who are passionate about train travel and writing to work on their craft in an inspiring environment. Round-trip train travel will be provided on an Amtrak long-distance route. Each resident will be given a private sleeper car, equipped with a desk, a bed and a window to watch the American countryside roll by for inspiration. Routes will be determined based on availability.

A desk too? Heaven!

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