Reading: The Providence Phoenix
Music: John Hiatt
TV/Movie: Dune (the SciFi channel version)
Link o' the Day: DVD Easter Eggs - Hidden Features on DVD

I've been playing a lot of catchup on jobs piling on my desk today. I have Big Jobs that span several days, and then a bunch of regular-sized jobs that need regular attention so that the presses are constantly running. I can set up a bunch of these jobs all in a huge batch, then free myself for uninterrupted time on Big Jobs, but I always have to keep in mind where the rest of the jobs are, and make sure I don't fall behind.

So today was getting out the smaller, more routine stuff. This afternoon I'll be back to Big Jobs.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

So I'm stoked that I placed another story this year. It's a good sign, and just more encouragement to write more. I'm entering the time of the month where things usually slow down for me, but with the next issue of the SFWA Bulletin in RUSH mode, and some Bearmanor Media projects in the wind, who knows?

But to help with some writing-on-the-fly projects, I've signed up for Google Notes which looks a lot like the old Yahoo Notepad. I've written a lot of first drafts on Yahoo Notepad, taking advantage of the ability to write from many different locations and computers, but Yahoo has gotten all screwy and I hate their new layouts. If my notepads there still exist, I sure as hell can't find them.

So now it's Google, which offers a lot of the same services that the MyYahoo pages used to offer. And with simpler layout.

So how do I use these notepad functions?

For me, they're kind of like file transfers for text-only files--kinda. Say I work on a poem or short story using the small text editor common to most personal computers. At the end of the day, I might copy the file to flash drive, or e-mail it to myself--but when I do that I end up with a dozen versions of a file with the same name. Instead now, what I do is copy said plain text into Notepad on Google, save it there, then later I can either edit it online from home, work, my bathroom, McDonalds, wherever I can get access. If I'm working from home, I can copy and paste it into a a fresh text editing window, work on it, then repaste it back.

I'll do this until I get at least a complete first draft. After that I may take it offline and work on it solely at home, but if I know I wo't have access to my home computer for a while, I'll often put it back online to work on when time and opportunity allows.

I wouldn't recommend it for works longer than short stories. But for short pieces, it works fine for me.

This is just one method I use...among others... to keep track, and edit works. As the Kipling quote goes: "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays..." so there are 900 and sixy ways to take advantage of the tools modern society hath wrought.

Just a thought.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Today's quick link leads to DVD Easter Eggs - Hidden Features on DVD which lists a huge number of DVDs and their secrets.

Enjoy!

--John