Category: Sorta Productivity

Feb 16

Getting Shit Done: the iPad Way

I wanted to get this post up on my new site that goes with the new thing I’m working on but CSS is kicking my arse and it looks hackneyed. :P So I decided to post it here and when the site is live, I’ll move it over there…

It’s no secret, I’m a sucker for all things Apple. I have an iPhone (and have had one since they first came out), a MacBook Pro, a Mac Mini that’s hooked up to my TV (along with a Roku box and AppleTV), an old G4 iBook, an iMac and the most recent edition to my little Apple family is my iPad. And I’ve named it “Crow.” Yes. I name my gadgets.

So, Crow and I have been together since Christmas 2010 when my dad, my technology pusher, gave it to me as a gift. This past week my husband gave me an Apple wireless keyboard so I can type faster on Crow. It’s not like the on-screen keyboard is bad or anything, I just lose about 40 WPM off my normal typing speed and my thoughts don’t get translated directly when I write on it.

In the few days I’ve had the keyboard bluetooth’ed to Crow, I’ve written the majority of an ebook. It was so easy and helped me focus so well that I decided that I’d write and design the entire ebook on Crow (that’s my iPad if you’re still confused).

So here’s what I’m using:

And here’s how I’ve been using each one:

I sketch some ideas and created the main title graphic as well as various illustrations for my ebook using Adobe Ideas. You can draw with your finger or a stylus which is what I use. Color selection is limited to the “themes” you can build using photographs (this is my favorite feature).

This app is free, but you can buy Layers for $4.99. These work like layers in most graphics programs.

You can save images as pdfs and email them or save them to your iPad’s photo album.

Then I take the sketches and open them in the PhotoShop Express app, which is also free. I can crop to my heart’s content and save those as well into my photos.

Now, writing in Pages on my iPad is a completely new and intimate experience. I tweeted this the other day and I do mean intimate. I can touch my document. Move things around with my fingers. Pinch to resize images I place in my document from Crow’s photo album. And since the iPad’s MO is single-focus, I’m not distracted or tempted to click away from what I’m working on.

Pages is $9.99. There are other word processors out there, and you could use Google Docs if you wanted, but they don’t have the layout capabilities that Pages does.

I can’t describe how giddy I am with this whole new way of creating. I don’t have to wait for programs to launch. I don’t have to worry about being distracted. I’m using my hands to interact with my creations instead of just a keyboard and mouse. I feel more creative using my iPad, and things just flow.

I’m sensing a whole new level of creative output for me… Keep an eye out for the product I’m launching soon on getting a grip on those hundreds of ideas floating around your head. I’m creating the ebook part of it entirely on my iPad. The graphics, the text, and the final PDF will not go through my MacBook Pro except to read it.

And that’s how I’m getting this shit done. Do you have an iPad? Or some other tablet that helps you get your shit done? What do you use? What do you find about this new way of computering?

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Posted in Sorta Productivity

Nov 06

Getting a grip on all those slippery little ideas

Highly creative folks have a gift and a curse.

We constantly come up with ideas, and either end up with a pile of half-formed that-would-be-nice-to-do things, or a head so full of stuff that it’s hard to figure out what to do next.

Until I decided to start capturing those ideas, they’d just pass through my head and disappear or knock around until they drove me crazy. I now write down every one, no matter how odd, incomplete, or insignificant.

You never know which one will turn into a work of pure creative genius.

So here’s how you can rope in all those brilliant ideas swimming around your head:

Have a Ubiquitous Capture Device on your person at all times.
You can use a stack of 3×5 cards like the Hipster PDA or a small notebook. Make sure you also have a pen or pencil with it. There’s nothing worse than trying capture an idea without something to write with.

I carry around a pocket moleskine and a bag of pens in my purse wherever I go. I also have pen & paper ready in every room of my house. There’s a journal on my night stand, in my office, in the kitchen, on the bookshelf in the living room. The bathroom is a great place for pen & paper, too. You never know when inspiration strikes.

Start an Idea Book.
At least once a week, go through all the ideas you’ve written down and when you come across one that really speaks to you in that moment, take some time to flesh it out.

Do a “brain dump” of everything that comes to mind when you think about that idea. Plans, dreams, processes — anything and everything. No censoring!

My Idea Book is a 9×12 leather monstrosity I made with almost 300 pages of blank cream-colored paper that takes every kind of media well. This way I can be as creative and wild as I want to be with all kinds of pens, markers & even paint.

I’d recommend getting as large a book as you can with blank pages. That way you’re not artificially limiting yourself with lines. Hard cover sketch books from the art store would work nicely.

Do this often enough and you’ll have a huge repository of ideas you can pick from whenever you want to start a new project.

And you’ll find yourself coming up with even more ideas because you’ve had a chance to clear your brain of the things that were taking up precious brain space before.

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Posted in Sorta Productivity

Aug 07

I love Google Calendar

I recently started using iCal more often because of all the excellent teleseminars & courses I’ve been signing up to attend. I am rather scatterbrained so remembering stuff (even stuff I want to do) is a little difficult for me. I’m notorious for forgetting about doctor appointments and even classes I’m teaching.

iCal is fantastic because I can sync it with my iPhone and it’s generally easy to use.

However, I use Gmail for all of my e-course/teleclass registrations.

So in order to remember the date, time & call-in info, I had to open iCal, create a new event, type in all the information.

Despite how easy it is to add events, it’s still way too many steps, and I’d often forget to add them.

So one day I looked at the upper right hand corner of my Gmail screen when I had an event confirmation email open, and there was a link right there asking me if I wanted to add the event to my Google Calendar.
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