Technology plays into fiction writing in many ways, including in figuring out what the trade-offs are in what not to do. This image shows a face made of out glowing blue particles.
Face of glowing blue particles, consciousness, technology, soul

Image © Lidiia Moor

One of the things that came out of my annual review class was using tools like Instapaper or YouTube to save links of interest from the year (when you do the annual review, you list them).  In the Gold Rush days of the internet, people about curation, but they explained it, other than collecting and sharing links.  The links have to mean something to you personally.  Otherwise, it’s just clutter.

How do I Stay Productive In a One Room Apartment? & Getting Things Done During an Isolating Pandemic

One of my neighbors barely has left their apartment in almost a year.  Most of the tenants end up putting the packages at their door because they will not go down the few steps to get them.  I don’t get that.  How can you lock yourself away and not go crazy?  Cal Newport talks about staying productive during a pandemic—you have to get outside.  Especially as a writer, I need just to walk among trees and birds to let the creative side do what it does best.  I’ve gone outside in the morning and followed the sunrise.  It’s magical to do that.

Supporting Your Brain Health in a Pandemic

This topic is at the 59-minute mark and connects to what Cal Newport said above about getting outside.   There’s some discussion that people who have gotten COVID-19 have had a vitamin D deficiency.  The numbers they mention in the podcast are astounding.  A huge amount of the population is suboptimal in Vitamin D levels.  It comes best from sunlight, even if it is gray and cloudy outside.  I’ve been going out, even with the temperatures below freezing.  Earlier in the week, I just stood on the doorstep for some sunshine because the steps were too icy.  Writing tends to be an indoor activity, so making sure I get enough sunshine is imperative so I can continue writing.

The Key to Making Risky Decisions

Scott Young on how to deal with something that looks shiny but might not be a good idea.  I’ve been thinking a lot of doing things in terms of trade-offs.  “I’m thinking of doing X.  What’s the trade-off if I don’t do it?”  (I had to ask this about a couple of work tasks I was doing, and it turned out that the answer didn’t lend itself to me doing the task).  But for indie publishing, I asked this question after I got my W-4.  I’ve been publishing to Amazon, Smashwords, and Draft to Digital.  But I discovered I was making a trade-off of time for Smashwords.  The site is complicated because I have to publish, then go somewhere else for the ISBN, then go somewhere else to deselect some of the vendor options.  The time was not worth the sales I was getting.  So, I took it off my checklist and sped through publishing three short stories, Last Gamble, Lost Night, and Murder in the Lodge in record time.

The History of Control + Alt + Delete

Veering into nerd territory for this.  We all use Ctrl+Alt=Delete at some point or another.  It turns out it was just a programmer’s tool that became an industry standard.  It was something to save time for his fellow programmers.  I still remember the non-standard problems of switching between problems.  Print in WordPerfect was one keyboard shortcut, in CorelDraw, it was another, and in WordStar, it was yet another.  I was always mixing those up!

Writing Worksheets

Also have a look at my Writing Worksheets page.  I’m still working on getting the Writing Worksheets Bundle done, but I have some worksheets like Word Count Tracking and Reverse outline available.  These worksheets will specifically focus on pantsers and  come with instructions.  The Pantser Bundle will be out by the end of February.