"...I recommend a site where one glance gives writers a feeling akin to what Emily Dickinson said about poetry:...I feel physically as if the top of my head were taken off...."
--Arthur Plotnik, author of Spunk & Bite: A writer's guide to punchier, more engaging language & style and many others on reading Vikk Simmons' Down the Writer's Path blog.
Books? Gifts? DOWN THE WRITER'S PATH BOOKSHOP.
Those of you who come here regularly have surely noticed the sporadic sprays of postings followed by long silence that's become a pattern over the last year or two. For that I'm sorry for my original intent for this blog was always to provide regular postings. However, when you're an only child with two elderly parents in their 90s their personal needs can easily override most other priorities.
During the last few years I've been in a fortunate position in my writing life because I haven't been under contract for any books. Most of my focus has been devoted to story development for a new book project. Five to six years ago I assumed the caregiving role for my parents. At first the demands were few. But as time went on and, in particular, my father's fight with emphysema became harder and harder, the demands on my time and energy grew. The past two years resulted in my gradual move into their home. My dad's battle grew in intensity the past year and finally became all-consuming. He required hospice care here at home April 10th and gave up the fight April 22nd. That explains my absence.
I'm still taking care of my mom and now must take care of all those things that require attention after someone passes away. I've also developed some health issues the past few months, probably as a result of chronic and acute stress, so I don't plan to do much blogging for the rest of the month. I need to rest, gather my thoughts, and let my energy rebuild. I hope to resume posting in June. You can view the tribute page to my dad online and, if you scroll to the end, you can also leave a message and/or sign the guest book, too. Thank you for your continued patience. I'm looking forward to hitting the keyboard once again.
I am old enough to remember life without the Internet, typewriters prior to word processors, and index cards before the dawn of Post-its. I love stickies. Canary yellow, pale pink, turquoise blue, and spring green, the list goes on and on. Now there are Super Sticky notes, ruled notes, sticky index cards, and even color-coded half-index-card stickies. It's a beautiful world for writers today.
My library is littered with flags and notes on stickies. I use stickies as I read through books that I use for research or that I'll review. I arc out a character's life on stickies. I manage a novel visually scene-by-scene using stickies in a blank book I keep close at hand. Notes, ideas, questions all mark up my stimulating rainbow of stickies.
But wait! Let me tell you about my desktop. It, too, is littered with Stickies. I've tried several note-taking software and my favorite is--what else?--a software called Stickies. Offered by Zhorn Software, this is a simple, clean program that will soothe the soul of any stickie manic. You can color-code, alarm, and play hide and seek with them. They can live on your desktop or hibernate in a particular file. They can be huge, tiny, or Post-it sized. Bless them, they can even be printed.
I use my cyber-stickies to capture random thoughts that accumulate during the day, to run ongoing shopping lists, and to capture quick notes for phone calls or emails. They function as terrific reminders. If you prefer to have a clean desktop, hide your stickies until you need them. What's the best thing about Stickies? It's free! Download it now.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK; USING GOOGLE ALERTS; USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH; USING THE BLOG READING LEVEL TOOL; USING VISUAL THESAURUS; USING JACKETFLAP.COM SOCIAL NETWORK
Social networking is here to stay. So if you're among the thousands of writers who have not made an attempt to tickle any social networks such as MySpace, Facebook or Twitter, it's time. Anyone remotely connected with the children's book industry should take a look at JacketFlap.com. You'll not only find authors and illustrators, but you'll run across reviewers, librarians, agents, booksellers, publicists, teachers, and even students. This is a growing community with a database of books, just released books, reviews, children's book-related blogs and publishers. If you're already published, you may discover your name and book is already listed. If that's the case, it's time to update your profile before anyone else does. Best of all, JacketFlap is free.
I came across JacketFlap yesterday during a search of my name. The site only had my name and the info on DIVIDED LOYALTIES. So I cruised around the site, read all about it, and updated my profile. It was easy and didn't take long. You can make it as concise as you wish. I was even able to have a feed to this blog show up on my profile page. If you're a writer or illustrator, JacketFlap is one more way to promote your books and your work. In addition you can find other writers and "friends" who will network with you. At the very least your profile is one more page that will show up on a Google Search. The best JacketFlap offers is a connection to the publishing community that may lead to more book sales and possible future work.
In order for the community to grow, JacketFlap awards points when you update publisher information, new contacts, or referrals. The points accumulate and gift certificates are earned. So, don't forget where you first heard about JacketFlap and spread the word. I find the site pretty impressive. Take a look and then come back and give me your thoughts. If you're in the kiddie lit field, why not join me--and don't forget to "friend" me--at JacketFlap.com.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK; USING GOOGLE ALERTS; USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH; USING THE BLOG READING LEVEL TOOL; USING VISUAL THESAURUS
Next time you want to challenge a writer friend, see if they can spell and define the word "susurrus." That's today's offering in the Visual Thesaurus Word of the Day. I signed up for Thinkmap's daily offering not only for the definitions, spelling, and word fun, but also because this tool offers a mindmapping representation of the day's word. But don't stop there. Make use of the "Look up a Word" feature. I'm a big fan and heavy user of mindmapping. Have been ever since Tony Buzan's book came out in the late 70s. I find mindmapping helpful in every aspect of writing and have been known to mindmap an entire novel's structure or a full day's workshop on writing. For example, when I'm working on some aspect of a character I'll look up the word description and see how other things relate. This simple process stimulates further creative thinking and often reveals hidden and wonderfully layered aspects to the work you're doing. Stop all that cyber susurrus and give it a try.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK, USING GOOGLE ALERTS, USING GOOGLE DESKTOP SEARCH,USING THE BLOG READING LEVEL TOOL
Several times lately I've needed to find a bit of information stored away in an old email or lost file. What once sucked up hours of time now happens in a blink. Using Google's Desktop Search tool, I'm able to unearth anything tucked away in some obscure file or buried in a pile inside that nest I call a hard drive. Check out this page for all the features and you'll see how helpful this tool can be. It's a handy tool that sits quietly waiting to help you out at a moment's notice. I don't know about you but anything I can find that will free up time for more writing is a good thing.
--UPDATE 04.09.08: This post made MySpace News. Please vote here.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK, USING GOOGLE ALERTS
If you're guilty of losing time on the Internet surfing for research and information, one great tool for writers is Google Alerts. Instead of you going out to find the information, Google surfs the net, mines the web for any info particular to your alert, and bundles it in an email that lands in your mailbox. You determine whether you want the alerts daily, weekly, monthly or whatever. The alert can be as broad as monitoring "dinosaurs" or as narrow and specific as your name. (Setting up an alert to monitor your name is something I think every writer should do; you'd be amazed at what you discover.)
You can create up to 1,000 Google Alerts. That should satisfy even the most versatile and research-needy of writers. Check the Google Alert FAQ page to learn the hard facts. Right now I maintain an alert on my name. I also have one that pertains to a subject for a future book and one that is directly related to one of my current characters. Both alerts float in once a week. Now Google doesn't know exactly what you are looking for but just having something that goes out and searches the web for every mention of that particular word or combination of words greatly reduces the time you spend foraging. The magic inherent in surfing isn't eclipsed, either. Serendipity snaps into focus the moment you click on a link that is even remotely interesting.
Google Alerts has an easy manager. This little program is so easy to set up and use that anyone will benefit from its use. Mine are sent directly to my gmail account. (You will need to open a Google account but you don't have to use Gmail.) Filters funnel the alerts so they are easily retrievable. They also show up in my Outlook in a folder titled ALERTS. There they sit, silently awaiting my attention on my timetable.
When you get an alert, it may contain one, two, three, even seven, eight or ten websites. They probably won't all directly relate to your needs but it only takes seconds to click, check and delete. Save the ones that may matter in the email. When I find one that obviously has something I'm going to want or need later--you guessed it--I Furl it.
If you haven't discovered Google Alerts, give it a try.
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More info: USING FURL; USING OUTLOOK
Are you sucked into a whirlpool of email every morning only to finally be spit out to discover 1-2-3 hours have gone by? Take advantage of the software and Internet tools to gain control. I use filters and folders so that much of my e-mail is automated. I do NOT have to read everything, nor do I need to read it immediately. Some items accumulate and if I don't have time at the end of the week or month I may even delete an entire folder's contents. That often happens with a few subscription-type emails.
I use Outlook and that has really helped me upgrade my efficiency in handling email and tasks. If I read an email that requires attention--not immediate--I'll flag it. If it's something I need to do, I'll task it. I make quick decisions that enable me to sort the mail that is not automatically sorted. There are only about 3 or 4 people whose emails I feel I should read quickly. Those are automatically filtered into folders but their folders are moved up to the "favorites" section so I see them first. Newsletters, alerts, and group email are immediately funneled to their appropriate folder to be checked. I use downloadable timers that are set to 2 minutes for immediate response and 15-20 minutes to limit the amount of total time spent on email. My goal is to go through all legitimate email every morning, usually within 15-20 min. so I can clear decks for the day's work ahead. If an email requires more than 2 minutes for a response I either flag it or convert it to a task. Since I don't use any sound to let me know when the emails come in, I'm able to maintain focus on my daily work and set specific times for email checks.
The use of filters, folders, flags and tasks allow me to move quickly through my email and the Internet. Any internal tension or anxiety about "growing email" or losing myself in the research abyss of the Internet is eliminated.
When I go online to research or surf, one of the Internet tools I rely on is FURL. If I find something that may be interesting but not something I need to read or spend time on right then, I FURL it. In seconds I've given given it a filter and a tag or two so I can find it easily later. t takes a few seconds. FURL is an online service. I use their online storage so it functions like a giant file cabinet full of links that I've already filtered and tagged. Instead of reading through the article, essay, tip, or site, I'm able to make a quick judgement, FURL it, and tag it. Everything is stored, ready for me to read later when I'm ready for to take in the content. With Furl Im able to stay focused during the time dedicated to online research. If you need a little help, give FURL a try.
Okay, I know I've been gone a while. Unfortunately life circumstances are making my ability to write and to blog a bit more difficult. But it's a new year and full of promise, so we'll start back up and see how we do.
The year turns and our hopes and resolutions are renewed. We promise ourselves we'll write every day; we'll complete last year's project this year, we'll take that class, read those books. Some of us may commit to working fitness into our writing life. Well...I'm here to tell you I have found the ultimate writer's exercise machine. The Sit-n-Stroll increases circulation, burns off calories, and reduces leg swelling.
Research I've found on the Internet shows that QVC has sold this machine and customers have given rave reviews. Apparently even doctor's are recommending as a type of physical therapy for patients. Anyone who has sat in a chair, ergonomic or not, for long periods of time can testify to the need to get up and walk around.
We all know it's important to move. We also know how absorbed we get creating new work and how lost we become in revisions. Time speeds by and we're unaware of its passage. At least with this machine, maybe we can counter some of the health disadvantages our work habits incur. Maybe using the machine might lead to more healthy habits.
Mine's on the way, so I'll be providing updates. Do let me know if you tried one.
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