Family guy and web developer
At the end of the day, plan tomorrow.
Travel light. Regularly empty out the bags and wallet of the accumulated debris.
Write down their names. Nobody minds at all.
Look for the best.
Plan 'down' time as specifically as 'work'
There are hundreds of books on self-help, productivity and organisation. You could spend a fortune on these or just use this list. Click through for the rest of Nicholas Bate's fantastic list for an easier life.
It's no biggie for Buster, and it shouldn't be for anyone else.
The multiverse, the universe, the world, history, everyone alive, your friends and family, you, your behavior, what you are doing right now. You can only change one of these things, and it’s not easy, and you’ll probably fail the first 38,000 times, but by eventually changing it you indirectly change all of the others. After figuring that out, the only remaining problem is figuring out what you want to change and why.
— No Biggie by Buster Benson
Don't do it. Don't dabble with If only. Ban it from your vocabulary for 2012.
Play with if.
You know it makes sense.
— The Dark Side of If by Nicholas Bate
Nicholas Bate's post pretty much narrows down my review of 2011. I had a couple of ideas for products but didn't act on them. I spent way too much time dabbling, trying to learn and really didn't get anywhere. With some positive news at home, I can now focus on getting these ideas off the ground.
But the brain-the mind-is not a muscle. It needs distinct periods of rest, of reflection, of relaxation to be at it best. If not-like a solider in combat who has simply seen too much- it switches off in order to be able to cope. And then the deeper problems occur.
— On Fatigue by Nicholas Bate
That's my goal sorted for 2012 then. It's something that I frequently do. Always putting things that need thinking in front of getting on the bike or taking my son to the park. No more putting this off. I'm going to start limiting my time on the computer so that I can actually do other things to keep myself healthy.
During November I took part in the annual National Novel Writing Month, or NaNoWriMo as it's more commonly known. The aim is simple, write a complete work of fiction in 30 days and your work should be at least fifty thousand words in length. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well I found out the hard way that writing isn't just about putting pen to paper, or finger to keyboard in my case.This is just a few observations I made during my month of novel writing.
Sounds simple advice doesn't it? Well I didn't plan ahead at all. In fact I didn't know what I was going to be writing about until a week before I started. A few things kind of got in the way and I just finished those up a few days before NaNoWriMo started.Planning ahead for something like this is important though, so make sure you give yourself a couple of weeks to mould an idea for a story. Whether it's an outline of your novel or just a list of events that will take place in your story, it helps to have something you can refer to during your writing.
Fifty thousand words in a month is a big ask, especially when there are other aspects of your life that need your attention. Family and work are two of the biggest things that you will need to balance during your time writing your novel.If the only time you can get to write is during the evening, then pick a time when you'll be least distracted. Writing with a five year old running about isn't going to benefit your focus at all. I usually waited until our son was in bed so that I could get a good couple of hours writing at night.I aimed for seventeen hundred words a day, but that isn't always possible. During the week I gave myself one night where I didn't have to meet my target number of words, but I always made up for it during the rest of the week. This was good as it gave me a little break from the routine of the week's writing.
As for the weekend, I always found that writing first thing in the morning was the best time. I set my alarm for 6am, got a coffee and started writing. Before anyone in the house had woken up and the rest of my crazy day began, I usually completed at least two thousand words. Doing this on the both days of the weekend meant I could keep the weekend nights free.Finally there's work. If you can get to your work half an hour early or an hour early, then do so. A quiet office is the perfect place to get just a few hundred words down, and even a couple of lunch hours a week can also be a good time to do some writing. I managed a few lunch breaks where I completed a few hundred words. It's didn't seem a lot at the time, but it did help.
The last bit of advice I would give is to just keep writing. Currently my novel has plot holes in it, both big and small. Okay, it's not perfect but that's why I am doing a rewrite of my novel later on. You'll get to your rewrite in good time, but during your first pass at your novel, just keep writing.Plot holes, character inconsistencies and sudden changes of themes are things you might come across and you'll be tempted to chuck the whole thing in at some point just because something in your novel doesn't make sense. Don't throw it away, just keep going. Keep writing and let your novel take care of itself.Once the month is complete, you'll have plenty of time in the next year to pace yourself and do a couple of rewrites and fix these problems in your novel. For this month though, it was all about setting the foundations of the story. It was all about just getting a story down on paper and taking part in NaNoWriMo was a great way to do it.
As for motivation, I continually turned to a couple of places that prompted me to write a novel in the first place and kept me on the right path.The first is Nicholas Bate's blog. It's not a specific blog on writing, but Nicholas has plenty of great tips on writing. It's not what you would call a how-to blog in the typical sense of the word, it's more about taking the first small steps in writing. I highly recommend you check out his writing category as it has some of the best advice and tips for getting started.
My second source of motivation was a present from my wife. After toying about writing for a few months, my wife bought me Stephen King's book, On Writing. It's a book of two parts.The first part is Stephen King's autobiography. I thought a career in writing would be a fairly straight forward and easy career, but after reading Stephen's account, I will never think that again. This month has shown me that there's a lot more to writing than I first thought.The second part is practical advice on writing from Stephen. I found this part to contain some really good writing tips. I've been able to already apply some of these to my writing, but I think I'll probably have to re-visit this book before I attempt any rewrites of my novel.
I'm used to writing blog posts, but that's the extent of my writing ever since I left school. Until I started blogging I didn't write anything, so taking part in NaNoWriMo was going to be a bit of a challenge. In the end though, I managed to succeed and on the last day of writing, I wrote my last two thousand words to finish my novel.A minor win in the grand scheme of things some might say, but for me it was a big win. I love a good story, and every week I have an idea for something different. Despite all these ideas though, I never set aside the time to turn them into something.Taking part in NaNoWriMo was daunting at first but it has shown me that I am capable of writing something. It might be good, it might be bad, but it's my first novel that I have written. NaNoWriMo was a great experience and one I hope to repeat in a couple of years.
One of the best mentors I had in business - and one whom I regrettably spent the least amount of time with - gave me three lessons about business life:
- Make some money
- Have some fun
- Leave some tracks
— Leaving Tracks by Lazarus Dodge
I've heard the quote from Steve Jobs mentioned lots of times about putting a dent in the universe, but there's something about the last bullet point in this list, that seems not as grand a task as Steve Jobs advice and therefore more achievable.
Some drafts flow while others need to be circled so all the weak spots can be tested. A few need to be neglected. Others deserve banishment.
— Draft by Execupundit
I'm just coming to the end of NaNoWriMo, and it's fair to say that I can't write to a level that I would consider worthy of publishing, but I have persevered and I'm at the stage where I have only about 3000 words left to write with two days to go. I'll consider the novel a draft, but it definitely won't be banished.
It's my second bit of freelance work of the year and my second bit of work in providing a website for a client. The experience has taught me a number of things regarding design, but perhaps the most important thing is that there are still hundreds of small companies out there still looking to make their mark on the web.
I'll never make it as a web designer, but there's plenty of business out there for developers and designers looking to earn extra experience and money.
The Kindle Fire is on trial for a number of different patent violations including one for having icons lead to an action on the screen, for instance opening an application. Others include patents from Palm for the ability to run more than one calendar at a time.
via venturebeat.com
Seriously, having an icon lead to an action on the screen has been around for decades. Patent trolls in the true sense of the word.
And Nicholas Bate has just the thing if it's your first time taking part in NaNoWriMo and you need a head start.
Me? I'm trying to clear some outstanding work so that I have more time for writing in November. Also I'm going to be using Buster Benson's terrific 750words.com each day.