Trello is my newest, hopefully enduring, writing tool. It’s a tool for teams, although I’m finding it very useful for my individual work. Basically, it organizes projects into boards. Looking at a board, you can tell everything you need about your work. The trick is in how you set it up. Continue reading
Category Archives: Productivity
17Hats
Hey! I tried 17Hats when it was first out and loved it. Then my life got beyond complicated – I’m sure you all know what I mean. So, now I’m back to 17Hats. It’s even better than it was, and I’m including a referral link so you can check it out. Seriously, you can also go there directly, but either way, do the trial. The part I like is the Workflow. It’s like I can finally delegate something and have it get done. I’m looking forward to a smoother 2018!
17 Hats
I am convinced that if I just find the way that works for me, I can not only accomplish everything I plan to do in a timely fashion, but without the overwhelming feeling of impending doom that currently haunts my days.
In my seemingly never-ending search for a way to track work and projects and tasks and money and leads and everything else that goes with being a one-person show, I have come across 17hats, an app that seems to do what it promises.
Productivity
While it’s true that the single most important aspect of productivity is to actually sit down and get to work, I wish it were that simple. I find writing nonfiction is a journey with several steps that do not necessarily proceed in a linear fashion. More distressing is the fact that some steps loop around and may repeat. It’s easy to feel frantic as the days pass and the deadline looms larger. To make it all work? I try to relax into my process.
Creativity, Inc
I’ve just listened to a book about the creative process and managing creative people. This book – Creativity, Inc. by Ed Catmull – traces Catmull’s career, the genesis of computer animation, and the growth of Pixar, both pre- and post-Disney. As a co-founder of Pixar Animation Studios and recipient of the Gordon E. Sawyer Award for lifetime achievement in the field of computer graphics, Catmull definitely has the experience to back up his theories on the role and sustenance of creativity in the work place. His use of actual events to illustrate his points made the book even more useful to me.
This book piqued my interest for a number of reasons:
1. The switch from mainframes to PDAs has taken place in my professional lifetime.
2. I’ve always been curious about the development and introduction of computers in animation.
3. I often write about business and have an interest in Best Practices.
4. As a writer I find that I have a number of tricks that get me started and keep me going – but I could always use more.
5. I wanted to know if there was a replicable system or articulated set of assumptions and practices that led to the string of Pixar successes.
I found material that covered all of the above, as well as a very loving remembrance of Steve Jobs that I did not expect.
Tracking Freelance Work
I’m determined to be ultra-organized this year. I re-did my office over winter break so that I have clearly defined areas for each type of work. I also did a thorough search for some sort of database for tracking queries, book proposals, and contracted work for magazines and books. I was ready to create a database in FileMaker, but really didn’t want to add that to my To Do list.
The tracking program I discovered is Assignmint. Happily, this Web-based application is doing what I need, far better than what I would have created. Continue reading
Favorite Childhood Games
It’s occurred to me that the games we loved or hated as kids actually tell us a lot about ourselves as adults. I know. It’s the kind of thing you think about when listening to your child conjugate verbs before a quiz, but sometimes that’s all the time you’ve got…
I hated musical chairs. I hated the anxiety of waiting for the music to end. I hated the physical confrontation with the kid who was trying to push me off the chair we both needed. In short – I was a musical chair weenie who did not feel the Fun with Dick and Jane magic of the moment.
I loved kick the can. Racing up to send that can soaring and running on to hide again – I was born for that. Same for kickball. The ball was so big and soft, it wasn’t going to hurt anyone. Plus, you were aiming for the legs. All you needed to do was kick your hardest and run like crazy. Continue reading
2014 Organized or Bust
I’m determined to be more organized in 2014. I know, everyone says things at the start of a new year that they mean but don’t achieve. I think this year it is a matter of do it or give it up entirely. So here goes.
I. I broke the things requiring my attention into categories. I figure my span of control is about five categories – there’s that MBA piping in again. So far I’ve used four and they are, in no particular order:
- Speculative projects – Queries, Blogging, Platform, Freelance
- Contracted projects – Client1, Client2, Client3, Client4
- Continuing education – Certifications, Conferences, Reading
- Family/Household – Kids, Household
…
II. I have one marble notebook that has all the ToDos. I’ve been using it since August and it is working better than any ToDo scheme ever. Continue reading
Managing the Juggle
The fantasy of the freelance life is that you are your own boss, free to call the shots, work as you like, and pick the assignments that suit your interests. All of that is true when the economy is booming and there’s a lot of work to be had. When things are tight, it’s a bit more frantic with a lot less choice.
Productivity Tools: EasyBib Pro
My least favorite thing to do as a writer? Create citations for anything related to a Web page. It’s tedious. There is never the info I need, when I need it, where it need it. It’s just the most dismal and daunting part of the entire writing process.
But today — I know – I sound like one of those commercials for Ginsu Knives – I discovered EASYBib Pro.
All I have to do is enter the url and it generates the citation. If there is an author name or something it can’t find, I fill it in. If not, I press the cite button. It goes to a project and can be exported as a text file. I can open it with a Word file and, VOILA, happy me, happy my editor.
This little tool is at the top of my list!