Don't worry if that title doesn't make a whole lot of sense to you. It isn't that clear to me either. It's meant to suggest some sort of adversarial something or other. Yeah, I know. It rhymes real nice though, don't it?
This week has been a fairly rough one for me. I started off good, getting a lot done on Monday. But I got really sick Monday night (stomach bug), and spent the next few days moaning and groaning. And deeply disinterested in doing anything but lying in bed. I wasn't able to avoid work, so I basically stumbled through my day like a zombie then came home and crashed. Not fun.
Even so, I managed to write a short story (based on a rather feverish dream I had, and remarkably non-Lovecraftian considering that fact.) I did a critique for a friend on Thursday, as well as one for the online critique group I frequent (Critters.com, great group BTW.) I did several revisions on old stories that needed touching up and turned in eight submissions to various paying markets.
One of which has already come back with an accompanying rejection. Sigh.
On the plus side, the nausea helped kick my weight loss into high gear. I am down about ten pounds since New Year's, right on schedule and feeling great about it, even though I didn't feel so great. Some times we have to dig a little deeper to find the bright side of things, huh?
I did manage to get some voice recorder work done on Monday, but when I decided to reorder the structure of the story I was working on, I got a little thrown. I am planning on taking another run at that story tomorrow. I also wrote the dream story start-to-finish on voice recorder, then transcribed it (with heavy edits.) That was more the normal process, though, which works great for short pieces (this one is about 2k.)
This week, like the last few months and like the months that preceded NaNoWriMo, has been fairly unproductive compared to my first six months or so writing. I take solace in the fact that my actual output, while smaller, is of a higher quality.
All of this is meant to be a short explanation of why I don't feel like doing the blog this week. Snort.
Media Breakdown:
I finally saw the new Underworld movie (Awakening.) Great special effects, fun fight scenes, barely passable plotting, as illogical as ever. The movie felt (and was) very short and incomplete. I suspect this was originally a very long movie that's been chopped into two parts.
I also caught the first episode of the second part of the second season of The Walking Dead (phew.) It was good. Not much in terms of action, except for one brief and fairly awesome scene, but I am still enjoying the often hammy and overly dramatic zombie goodness. The show is one step away from a soap opera, and mostly keeps my attention by virtue of being the only zombie show on TV, and therefore the best. Plus the zombies look great and the squick factor is very high.
That's it for this week. See you next time.
Welcome to the Journey is Silver Bowen's blog on writing, self-epubbing, growth, and gadgets. All as experienced by a growing writer. Learn with me.
Showing posts with label Voice Recorders. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Voice Recorders. Show all posts
Sunday, February 26, 2012
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Double-Fisting the Voice Recorders
Despite the suggestive title, today's blog this isn't about excessive alcohol consumption (or deviant about sexual practices.) Rather, it's about one of my favorite subjects--using a voice recorder to increase my productivity. Or in this case, two voice recorders.
Why on earth would I need two? you might be asking yourself. Also How do I indicate italics in html so I can write this blog on a text editor instead of fighting with Blogger's crappy tablet web-interface? Or maybe that's just me.
Edit--figured out the italics thing. Ya! Now I'm gonna use way too many italics today, just to celebrate.
Turns out you don't really need two, but it sure is handy. At least, I think it would be handy. This is all theory, since what I am using currently is an MP3 player and a recorder. If this new process pans out, however, I likely will investing a second recorder, mainly to save myself effort in transfering files back and forth from recorder to player.
The idea is this: record a Zero Draft on my recorder (what I am already doing), then transfer it to MP3 player, then record a first draft on the recorder, rinse-and-repeat until I have a near final draft to transcribe and final edit. This is basically just looping the recording phase in an attempt to minimize the amount of typing/editing/time I have to spend when I am at home in front of the computer.
Important caveat: I spend a lot of my work time driving. It is practical for me to spend that time recording, but not typing. Using a recorder doesn't really save me time, since I can certainly write faster and better at the keyboard than I can by voice. Doing stories by voice is a clunky process for me. But it is a more productive use of available time than staring at traffic or listening to podcasts or whatever.
In order to make the looping efficient,and easy to parse, I am now recording very short files, generally one paragraph at a time. This makes it easy to loop them when I am transcribing (and thinking while I type) as well as helping me to organize better when I am on the road recording. By doing short files and multiple passes I am hoping to reorganize the way I think when I am writing verbally, as well.
I already use a basic version of this system when I record a Brain Dump about a story prior to recording the Zero Draft, and that's worked well for me so far. So this expansion of that system ought to work out great. I'm finding, like all things, that the more time and effort I put into writing verbally, the more my process improves. Practice makes perfect, or at least more efficient. Especially since I make it a point to regurlary evaluate what I might do differently to improve my process.
One more note--Writing Verbally (or Verbal Writing) is my new preferred term/keyword for Writing Using a Voice Recoder. Much less clunky, no?
Media Breakdown--I listened to the audiobook version of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. I have enjoyed much of his short fiction, but often been somewhat unsatisfied whith the endings. I went into this book worried that I would have a repeat experience, enjoying it up until the end then finishing unsatisfied. I am happy to report that my fears are unfounded. Little Brother is an awesome book from start to finish. I highly recomend it for anyone with an interest in crypto, civil liberties, and hacker culture. I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel, Homeland.
And that's it for this week. See you guys next time
Why on earth would I need two? you might be asking yourself. Also How do I indicate italics in html so I can write this blog on a text editor instead of fighting with Blogger's crappy tablet web-interface? Or maybe that's just me.
Edit--figured out the italics thing. Ya! Now I'm gonna use way too many italics today, just to celebrate.
Turns out you don't really need two, but it sure is handy. At least, I think it would be handy. This is all theory, since what I am using currently is an MP3 player and a recorder. If this new process pans out, however, I likely will investing a second recorder, mainly to save myself effort in transfering files back and forth from recorder to player.
The idea is this: record a Zero Draft on my recorder (what I am already doing), then transfer it to MP3 player, then record a first draft on the recorder, rinse-and-repeat until I have a near final draft to transcribe and final edit. This is basically just looping the recording phase in an attempt to minimize the amount of typing/editing/time I have to spend when I am at home in front of the computer.
Important caveat: I spend a lot of my work time driving. It is practical for me to spend that time recording, but not typing. Using a recorder doesn't really save me time, since I can certainly write faster and better at the keyboard than I can by voice. Doing stories by voice is a clunky process for me. But it is a more productive use of available time than staring at traffic or listening to podcasts or whatever.
In order to make the looping efficient,and easy to parse, I am now recording very short files, generally one paragraph at a time. This makes it easy to loop them when I am transcribing (and thinking while I type) as well as helping me to organize better when I am on the road recording. By doing short files and multiple passes I am hoping to reorganize the way I think when I am writing verbally, as well.
I already use a basic version of this system when I record a Brain Dump about a story prior to recording the Zero Draft, and that's worked well for me so far. So this expansion of that system ought to work out great. I'm finding, like all things, that the more time and effort I put into writing verbally, the more my process improves. Practice makes perfect, or at least more efficient. Especially since I make it a point to regurlary evaluate what I might do differently to improve my process.
One more note--Writing Verbally (or Verbal Writing) is my new preferred term/keyword for Writing Using a Voice Recoder. Much less clunky, no?
Media Breakdown--I listened to the audiobook version of Cory Doctorow's Little Brother. I have enjoyed much of his short fiction, but often been somewhat unsatisfied whith the endings. I went into this book worried that I would have a repeat experience, enjoying it up until the end then finishing unsatisfied. I am happy to report that my fears are unfounded. Little Brother is an awesome book from start to finish. I highly recomend it for anyone with an interest in crypto, civil liberties, and hacker culture. I'm looking forward to the upcoming sequel, Homeland.
And that's it for this week. See you guys next time
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Two Out of Four Ain't Bad
Today's blog is about goal-setting, specifically expectations versus achievements. I set some pretty high goals for myself as part of my New Year's resolutions. I expected this first week to be as much about learning how to meet those goals as actually hitting them, and I was right. In that same vein, the coming week will be about learning how to recover from missed goals.
Goal #1 is 400k by year's end, broken down into 10k a week (which leaves me every 4th or 5th week off, ie. plenty of room for screw-ups.) And this week was a screw-up. Between my addiction to the Wii game Fortune Street, my organizational efforts in other areas, and a dollop of laziness, I have only manage about 3,800 words this week. So that's one out of four missed so far.
In order to counteract the seductive pull of Fortune Street, and deftly sidestep my natural inertial laziness--or lazinertia--I am adopting the following new rule/guideline: My weekly minimum is 8k, broken into 1,150 per day. Both metrics leave a little breathing room. This is required to be met pre-Internet anything, video game, reading, or anything else I like. The goal is still 2k daily, 10k weekly; the minimum should at least keep me from falling behind.
Goal #2 is to self-epub (and what an awkward term that is) 40 titles this year, which breaks down into 1 a week (again leaving every 4th or 5th week off for a margin of safety.) I have a few JPEGs and a vague idea how to arrange them to make a cover for the title I intend to publish later today. I am not nearly confident enough in my work habits to take this for granted as likely to happen, however. So that's two out of four missed so far.
Seeing a pattern here?
My countermeasure for this is simple: when I finish my wordcount for the day, I will work on my ESP (a way cool acronym for E-Self-Pubbing.) Leisure time comes after my wordcount is done and after I have a title pubbed for the week. Gosh darnit and doggone dagnabit. To heck.
Goal #3 is to lose forty pounds this year, to the tune of one pound a week (same margin of error.) I am happy to announce that I have dropped from 235 to 233. I am keeping meticulous records of my weight, eating habits, and exercise habits; this will keep me on track. So one out of four made, and comfortably at that.
Go me.
Goal #4 is to be 40% nicer. Which I totally have, in so far as this one is even measurable. I have noticed a distinctly pleasant uptick in my daily interactions as a result, and thus my general level of happiness. So two out of four made, for a batting average of .500. Not that bad, actually.
The two I missed are fixable, with some tighter discipline on my part. The two I made are arguably more important, health and happiness trump productivity any day. And may actually improve my productivity long-term.
I will do a more condensed version of this weekly weigh-in next week, and every week after until I make my goals, the year is over, or I die. Hopefully the first rather than the last.
Weekly Media breakdown - Tried to watch "Bag of Bones"--made for TV movie based on the Stephen King book. Only made it about 15 minutes in. No dice. That's all I watched this week. I haven't read anything, either (been busy not writing.) My son likes G1 Transformers better than Voltron and Xena, but he likes Planet hulk even better still. And... erm... that's it. Short segment this week, huh?
Other stuff--I've been using the heck out of the Olympus VN8100PC I got for Xmas. Plan on putting up an in depth review later in the week, but tl;dr is: this is the best cheap-voice-recorder-for-writers currently available.
Writing on a voice recorder is a very different experience from typing. More difficult, definitely, because of the lack of visual input and editing capabilities. Even so, I am finding it quite usable for a zero-draft level of writing. It's probably not much of a time-saver just yet, but I think with practice it will be.
As I get more competent with the process/workflow I will do a blog on how to get the most from spare time and a voice recorder (for writers.) Nitty gritty sirt if stuff.
For now, though, I will say that he key is practice, and lots of it. You can't expect a new productivity tool to change your life immediately. Sometimes they do, but often it's the work put in now that pays off down the line. Like an investment in yourself.
I learned this from Fortune Street.
And that's all I got for this week. Next week will be quarterly report number three (slightly overdue.) See you then.
Goal #1 is 400k by year's end, broken down into 10k a week (which leaves me every 4th or 5th week off, ie. plenty of room for screw-ups.) And this week was a screw-up. Between my addiction to the Wii game Fortune Street, my organizational efforts in other areas, and a dollop of laziness, I have only manage about 3,800 words this week. So that's one out of four missed so far.
In order to counteract the seductive pull of Fortune Street, and deftly sidestep my natural inertial laziness--or lazinertia--I am adopting the following new rule/guideline: My weekly minimum is 8k, broken into 1,150 per day. Both metrics leave a little breathing room. This is required to be met pre-Internet anything, video game, reading, or anything else I like. The goal is still 2k daily, 10k weekly; the minimum should at least keep me from falling behind.
Goal #2 is to self-epub (and what an awkward term that is) 40 titles this year, which breaks down into 1 a week (again leaving every 4th or 5th week off for a margin of safety.) I have a few JPEGs and a vague idea how to arrange them to make a cover for the title I intend to publish later today. I am not nearly confident enough in my work habits to take this for granted as likely to happen, however. So that's two out of four missed so far.
Seeing a pattern here?
My countermeasure for this is simple: when I finish my wordcount for the day, I will work on my ESP (a way cool acronym for E-Self-Pubbing.) Leisure time comes after my wordcount is done and after I have a title pubbed for the week. Gosh darnit and doggone dagnabit. To heck.
Goal #3 is to lose forty pounds this year, to the tune of one pound a week (same margin of error.) I am happy to announce that I have dropped from 235 to 233. I am keeping meticulous records of my weight, eating habits, and exercise habits; this will keep me on track. So one out of four made, and comfortably at that.
Go me.
Goal #4 is to be 40% nicer. Which I totally have, in so far as this one is even measurable. I have noticed a distinctly pleasant uptick in my daily interactions as a result, and thus my general level of happiness. So two out of four made, for a batting average of .500. Not that bad, actually.
The two I missed are fixable, with some tighter discipline on my part. The two I made are arguably more important, health and happiness trump productivity any day. And may actually improve my productivity long-term.
I will do a more condensed version of this weekly weigh-in next week, and every week after until I make my goals, the year is over, or I die. Hopefully the first rather than the last.
Weekly Media breakdown - Tried to watch "Bag of Bones"--made for TV movie based on the Stephen King book. Only made it about 15 minutes in. No dice. That's all I watched this week. I haven't read anything, either (been busy not writing.) My son likes G1 Transformers better than Voltron and Xena, but he likes Planet hulk even better still. And... erm... that's it. Short segment this week, huh?
Other stuff--I've been using the heck out of the Olympus VN8100PC I got for Xmas. Plan on putting up an in depth review later in the week, but tl;dr is: this is the best cheap-voice-recorder-for-writers currently available.
Writing on a voice recorder is a very different experience from typing. More difficult, definitely, because of the lack of visual input and editing capabilities. Even so, I am finding it quite usable for a zero-draft level of writing. It's probably not much of a time-saver just yet, but I think with practice it will be.
As I get more competent with the process/workflow I will do a blog on how to get the most from spare time and a voice recorder (for writers.) Nitty gritty sirt if stuff.
For now, though, I will say that he key is practice, and lots of it. You can't expect a new productivity tool to change your life immediately. Sometimes they do, but often it's the work put in now that pays off down the line. Like an investment in yourself.
I learned this from Fortune Street.
And that's all I got for this week. Next week will be quarterly report number three (slightly overdue.) See you then.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Armadillocon 2011
Today is the day. While you are reading this, I am off at the yearly Armadillocon writer's workshop. Hopefully I am learning a lot of stuff, and really improving. Hopefully I'm not twiddling my thumbs and wishing I had saved my money. I'll let you know in a few days, one way or the other.
The road to the con was a bit twisty for me. I've been to a bunch of gaming conventions, back when I was a sproutling. This is the first writing (or professional, period) convention I've gone to, though. I'm really hoping to meet some new people and expand my circle of writing friends. So, if you go to the con, and you see me, do me a favor and introduce yourself.
I wanted to bring a voice recorder, and make some recordings of the panels I attended, maybe podcast them. My podcasting career has got off to a rocky start however, and you can check out my post on the voice recorder I bought and returned to see how that went. I do still have the ability to make recordings with my mp3 player, so maybe I'll try that.
I don't have much of a plan of attack. I'm not sure what the panels actually are, and I don't have any friends going, so I guess I'm just gonna wing it. No travel involved, I don't live far from downtown, and the con. This is one of the big reasons I am able to attend, actually. If there were travel costs involved, I wouldn't be be to go.
Anyway, I'll post some updates on the con and what's happening/happened there over the next few days, if I can. I may cut myself some slack and let the daily posting challenge slide, just for this weekend. We'll see. And see you there.
The road to the con was a bit twisty for me. I've been to a bunch of gaming conventions, back when I was a sproutling. This is the first writing (or professional, period) convention I've gone to, though. I'm really hoping to meet some new people and expand my circle of writing friends. So, if you go to the con, and you see me, do me a favor and introduce yourself.
I wanted to bring a voice recorder, and make some recordings of the panels I attended, maybe podcast them. My podcasting career has got off to a rocky start however, and you can check out my post on the voice recorder I bought and returned to see how that went. I do still have the ability to make recordings with my mp3 player, so maybe I'll try that.
I don't have much of a plan of attack. I'm not sure what the panels actually are, and I don't have any friends going, so I guess I'm just gonna wing it. No travel involved, I don't live far from downtown, and the con. This is one of the big reasons I am able to attend, actually. If there were travel costs involved, I wouldn't be be to go.
Anyway, I'll post some updates on the con and what's happening/happened there over the next few days, if I can. I may cut myself some slack and let the daily posting challenge slide, just for this weekend. We'll see. And see you there.
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