Combining Files

Combining Files

Combining files at the end of the month is kind of scattered and out of order. Write Monkey, just like CMD in Windows, combines the files by name. I can’t get the files to go in a logical order. Perhaps I should go back to numbering the files. That will give me a better order than what I have now. It will take some more work (I’m not going to go back and change things), but going forward, I think it is useful to see files in their proper cronology.

I’ll be much happier at the end of the month, with my many fragmented files, if I’m able to browse through them in cronologial order.

Reading to the end

One of the things that keeps me from starting the longer articles in my Instapaper account is that I feel like I need to read them straight through. Instapaper does a great job with keeping my place in sync (especially since I only have an iPad to read on now). I should take advantage of that feature.

What Can I Write?

One of the short snips I wrote last month was about writing blog posts, instead of just random thoughts, to make each thing I put into the window part of (or at least something with the potential to become) a future blog post.

I didn’t do anything with that idea. Having the idea was as far as I went with it.

I don’t expect this month to be any different.

Finding Purpose

But I should write on purpose. The things I put down here should be going somewhere. It will make the whole effort, the whole process far more satisfying, more fulfilling to know that the effort I’m putting in is going to do something, is going to be something, and is not going to just sit dormant in my Dropbox forever.

I want to make something new. I want what I make to matter.

I found a purpose

Today I get to write an email to promote a webinar hosted by Jane Pine Wood about the end of the Grandfather clause, and how labs and hospitals will have to deal with the change.

Jane Pine Wood

Jane will give the presentation

I’m glad to have something specific to write. It makes it much easier to know where I’m going with this.

From Scratch

Making things from scratch is hard. It’s far easier to work from a template, to write from an outline, to speak from prepared notes, to think after reading.

Starting any of those things cold is very difficult, and sometimes impossible. Keeping ideas straight is hard work. But very worth it. Makeing things from scratch, in plain text is a good way to work out my thoughts.

What I think

Figuring out how to take the things I think and put them into clear and coherent prose is incredibly difficult for me. It will take more than just practice. It will take a level of mental discipline I have not applied to myself in many years. 

The Rut

For many of my projects, I feel like I’m stuck in a rut. Some of them have been on my todo list for a few weeks now, and I have not made any progress. I need to keep pushing forward on everything. I need to be more willing to do the hard work it takes to get things done, to make things happen.

How do I get out of that? How do I change those sorts of patterns and turn them into something more productive?

I don’t know what I want most of the time, and that slows me way down.

I need to figure out what I want and what I want to accomplish. Making small changes every day will help. Writing every day will help. Reading some of what I write every day will help.

Editing and revising my thoughts and getting them in more coherent forms will help.

Almost anything I do will help.

It doesn’t seem like moping around will help. Or reading or watching videos. Or listening to podcasts.

None of the things I do recreationally are going to help. It is more my contributions that will help.

Blogging will help.

Tweeting will help.

Recording my voice and calling friends on the phone will help.

There are so many little things I can do to make a difference. I need to take advantage of those things to make living more special and life more enjoyable.

Living like there is a tomorrow that I want to be better is the way to operate.

Force a better day always.

Make something matter now and follow where it will lead.

Tweet my heart.

Share anything that is important to me.

It might be important to someone else too. 

A Strong Connection

A strong internet connection is going to change a lot of what I do at home.

Lately, I’ve been focused entierly on reading at home, but I think with the connection, I’ll be more tempted to writing, sharing, blogging, following social media, etc.

I’ll be more willing to write because of the confidence I get from knowing what I’m doing is being backed up consistenly.

Making good use of that new strong conneciton will be difficult for me, but it’s there now, and that means I have to make the most of it. Work and play are both important. They both contribute to who I am.

You really cool if Dragon dictation was able to record my voice and make it into good sentences. I’m getting through ideas this way would be really kind of a neat way to share my thoughts and get them typed up in a editable shareable plaintext format I’ll I don’t know how long of a recording I can make what I can do it that so I guess I’ll just stop here and see what happens Makanani attendance what I’ve written so far as it cannot start a new notes or cannot you just go on. One problem with Dragon dictation on the iPad is that it does require Internet connection to function.

The Internet is Here

Today is my first night at home with the Internet. Yeah!

That’s about it.

Usually, I would just read what I’ve saved for offline consumption. Tonight I’m using stuff that’s online.

Not that big of a difference. Unless it is.

Making Saturday Better

It would be great if I could learn to use my quiet time on Saturday better. I waste too much of it to pointless things. Making different use of my time will make me happier. Then I can spend the non-quiet time more attentive to my kids and wife.

Little changes are all it takes. Cutting out a few things that get in the way will make a big difference. I don’t know how to change quickly. I need to though. I need to make things happen differently because I can’t go on like this forever. I need to change. Even if just one thing, one thing a month. That would do it over time, and as long as those incrimental changes stuck, I’d be infinitly happier.

It doesn’t take much to change who I am or what I am doing, but it does take some effort. It won’t happen automatically, and I do need to take personal responsibility for what happens and the outcomes that follow.

Here are some ideas of what I will do differenly.

• Start each session at the computer with the keyboard and a text editor.
• Make an effort to unsubscribe from more feeds
• Get and keep my Google Reader feeds down to less than 150 and my Twitter list to below 150
• Read Twitter and Google Reader only a few times a day rather than constantly all day.
• Post to Twitter each time I go to read it. That will keep a steady stream of my own thoughts and Tweets in the mix, and will encourage me to participate, rather than just sitting on the sidelines.
• Getting serious about blogging. Rather than just talking about it start making posts every day (even if they don’t get published).
• Brainstorm bullet point lists every day (Good ideas can come from anywhere, but are more likely to appear when I’m looking for them).
• Write a lot every day, even when I don’t feel like it, perhaps extra when I don’t feel like it.

I put out a lot of junk text, that may as well be typing practice, or is true stream of conciousness. It’s depressing to think that this is what my conciousness looks like. Can’t I think something better? What’s wrong with me?

I’ve poisioned my mind with all kinds of Garbage. It wil take a while to center myself and figure out what I really should be focused on and what I can do to make my writing meaningful, and interesting.

It will take a long time to figure out what I’m going to write about. That’s why I’m making a daily effort to write and practice so when the time comes with the right Idea, I’ll be ready to execute it.

// I think with the keyboard, iA Writer is actually the better program to work in. It keeps my cursor near the top of the screen and more white space to think in. Horizontal is good too, because it make the font size bigger and fills the screen better. The auto bullets is missing, but that’s a feature I only have in Byword. With the keyboard though, adding my own bullet point is easy, and made more deliberate.

With Baby in Tow

I’m typing right now with Daniel playing in my lap. Matthew is down for his nap, and probably will stay down for a few hours still. I am surprised Daniel is awake, he hasn’t slept much today and I expected him to be down for a longer nap. It’s okay that he’s up though. He is easy enought to multi-task with.

He makes a good keyboard stand. Not.

He’s down again now, so I can do some more typing.

It’s tricky to find an egonormically comfortable place to write at home. Right now, I’m sitting on the floor with my back to the red sofa, with a pillow on my lap, the keyboard on that, and the iPad on the floor to my right. I know this is less than ideal, and if I’m going to spend a great deal of time doing this kind of writing and working at home, I should put in the effort to get the right conditions.

My wrists are fairly comfortable, but not perfect.

From Dragon

I really need to just get good at recording. Using Dragon dictation and other dictation software to turn my voice into text will be far more efficient than anything I can do with the keyboard. As long as I can get my thoughts and ideas onto the screen. Then I can do Hardwork later on and turn it into something usable after-the-fact.

That last recording was actually pretty accurate. I was impressed at how well it caught most my words. That’s probably because I was speaking much more clearly, slowly, and taking the time to speak my punctuation.

The suspect was actually incredibly accurate I think that it can do the job. Getting the hang of speaking the punctuation, and making sure that I do that every time, will take some getting used to, but any and thinking through Palasades Enza as well as you wanted to communicate will be Barchet beneficial.

What’s really going to come problematic is if I do a large amount of recording at once and then look back on it not being figure out what it was I was saying or trying to say.

But I think as long as I begin the editing process soon after recording I should be able to figure it out fairly well.

That came out pretty well. And some more.

I’m getting on this. As long as I have a good. Time homolog, when the kids are sleeping in Gaddys at work, I should be able to make this for me

That last recording did not come out very well. If it’s going to be hit or miss, it might be more of a hassle than it’s worth.

But will have to practice with it and see. My understanding is that it does learn from my manner of speaking, and that means that over time it should get better.

To help the program learn my voice and get better I do have to go through it on the screen here and make the suggested changes and my own edits before cutting it out and pasting it over into a writer or byword.

OMM I wonder how much I can fit on the screen without it’s spilling over too far.

That actually might work out for me pretty well.

Dragon

I’m typing again. Dragon does have some good advantages to it, but I think it’s too cumbersom and unreliable. I need a program I can count on to be right 100% of the time, or close enough to perfect, to justify the extra time I will have to take to correct and revise the rest of the material. Having the program, though, is helpful. It will make me a more clear speaker if anything, even if I end up sounding like a robot.

The real thing that will make me better at all of this is to learn to type faster, and more accuratly, to keep my thoughts active, to have good research, and to have a strong understanding of what it is I’m trying to say. Once all that is in place the typing part is easy and should come out fairly quickly.

Sleeping Babies

Daniel has been having a difficult time settling down in his crib. He keeps waking up and skwaking.

It is hard enough for me to find any kind of flow or rhythm in my writing and typing without being interrupted every 5–10 minutes. However, that is the reality of modern life, and parenting in particular. I will have to get used to working with him around, and with Matthew. I chose this parenting path, and now I must learn to deal with everything that goes with that sacrifice.

Making Work Work

Work is going to be part of my life. It has to be. I’m okay with it being with me every waking day. To make it meaningful though, I will have to be sure that I am always moving forward, like a shark, filling my mind with new ideas, learning new skills, figuring out how to deal with others better than I have in the past.

There are a lot of areas where I could use a lot of improvement. There will be time for that. I will make something happen. It has to happen. What I do matters, and I need to be sure I’m making good, and the right kind, of progress every day.

Words

I’m just about at 1,500 words for this document, so I’m going to close down the writing session in just a bit, in order to try my hand at another set of recording.

With all the great computers and tools around me now, the iPad is winning for the one I want to use when I’m at home. It’s not the most efficent tool for some things, but for others it is ideal for getting the job done.

I will keep using it, until there is something else that comes along that needs a different sort of attention.

Yeah!

Making things work

Writing at home is good. It’s peaceful and relaxing. I can do it easily while the kids and wife nap. I should use that time well.

I is valuable, and it need to respect the opportunites I have since they are so few and far between.

Getting faster at typing with the iPad screen keyboard will make me a better writer. I will have this device with me almost everywhere and I can always just get ideas out of my head and onto the screen.

Sometimes, I don’t feel like i have any good ideas to write. Other times, I’m overwhelmed by the number of ideas. Whether there are too many or not enough, I don’t do enought with the ideas that do appear. I need to start putting more of the ideas into use. Just having them is not enough.

Writing lists of bullet points helps.

Byword

But Byword is the better app for writing bullet points. Overall, Byword is the superior writing app. That is why it has earned the spot in my doc. For writing with my wireless keyboard, iA Writer does have a better look and feel, but for writing on the screen Byword wins.

It gives me more screen real estate to work with, has my word count available, gives me some handy markdown tools, and works great for writing bulleted lists, which can be incredibly useful.

Brain Dump

I have some time now, so I have to take advantage and do another session of brainstorming. These bullet lists do end up with a few gems.

• Get comfortable to think. Less things on my mind means I can let my mind work.
• Letting my mind work first means I can write what I already know.
• Waiting for ideas will not work. I need to actively generate them.
• Do something with my lists of ideas.
• An idea does not do anything.
• Acing on ideas is the only way to get things done.
• Time is so precious. Wasting it really shouldn’t be an option.
• Use a calendar to schedule tasks and work. Putting a date and time on things will help me to get things done. Timers help too. Time is a powerful tool. It is finite which means it is like money. Budgeting it helps, and can help it grow. There is plenty of time in each day to do what I like, but that means I have to scheduled things. No more unscheduled Internet-ing. It will help me prune my lists so I can enjoy what i’m reading and doing more.
• Take myself more seriously. Life is serious. What I do matters. Start acting like it does. This life is all I have. I have to make it work for me. I have to provide for my own and my family’s emotional and financial well being. What am I doing right now to accomplish that?
• Using Downcast and having Internet at home is letting me have music play a bigger part in my life. I missed it. I should listen to music more at work. I can do it on my iPad. A long as I only listen while I’m actually getting things done, I shouldn’t have to worry about being snuck up on, embarrassed, or disturbed while listening.
• Most of the writing I do is just a brain dump, a step zero. I need to find my step one, the next thing I do with all these words I put down. At the same time, I need to keep collecting, keep practicing, keep trying to make myself better. I should start finding good words to use. I really enjoy coming across good words. Even if the words I want to use dictate what I write, that will be a good jump start to what I do. Twitter is a good platform for using new words I learn.
• Keep a file of future Tweets.
• The more ideas I have the bigger the pool I’ll have to draw from when it comes time to do something. Write down everything. Keep the fingers moving on the keyboard.
• I can get image links from Dropbox. http://db.tt/zDPdjU4l test
• Or this
• And one more oops.
• 
• There are some places I can find images to copy into byword, but it takes some finagling, and I have to make sure the image is not also linking to another page. I need to get to the final step, it has to be online in a browser. I don’t think I can copy them from anywhere but safari. I’ll try it out from Instapaper now. *It doesn’t look like it will work for me. Bummer. Thats okay though, I’m more focused on words than images, especially since I can be responsible for making the words, while I am not as talented at making the images.
• 

This was a semi-successful session. I spent most of the time fiddling with embedding images. That’s not really where my focus should be.

Links should be king.

Sharing links to things is much more what I want to do. Write about the links I read and enjoy.

this is a link to the .jpg

Linking to images, even the static ones lets me focus on the words and sharing images through hypertext rather than just embedding or hot linking them within my work. That covers the problem with hot linking and attributing links all at once. I can just describe enough of the image and link away to it.

Glasses

I’m starting the hunt for a pair of glasses.

Warby Parker has some good frames for good prices, and the company comes highly recommended from my friends at 5by5.tv.

I like this pair best right now, but I will use their home try-on program as well as soliciting feedback on Facebook to make sure I get the best possible pair.

Switching back to glasses will be fun. Perhaps. I don’t have great memories of wearing glasses as a kid, but they were not a fashion statement then. 

The Daily Dose

Yesterday, I did not write at all. I’m determined to not make the same lazy mistake today. To become a writer, it will take a daily committment, a daily dosage of words on the screen. There is no other way around it.

Keeping a regular interval of work and focus will help me keep my thoughts together and to help me get ideas out of my head.

On the iPad I’ve been successful in jotting down lists of ideas in bulleted format. I’ll try something similar on the computer to see what I can come up with.

The More Ideas the Better

• Be confident in new ideas. Act as though they are the greatest idea and others might think they’re pretty good.
• Acting as though an idea is good gives it a level of respect that might otherwise be lost.
• When a list of ideas gets too long, the good ones can get lost in the mix. Figure out how to regularly separate the wheat from the chaff.
• Make something from good ideas. A private list is just a bunch of binary.
• Set ideas free and see what they become.
• Don’t be so caught up in what you did a year ago. Worry most about what you’re doing today and what you will do tomorrow.
• Get comfortable with obscurity. Embrase incomplete data and filling the gaps with imagination.
• Interaction is where the real meaning comes. Find more and better ways to interact with those around me, and those with whome I share space on the Internet.
• Online connections can be as real as ones IRL. Treat those relationships well, and you’ll get better face-to-face.
• I connect with the world through the screen. Making a effort to create there will help me be a better citizen and neighbor of that realm.

Session

That session went fairly well. There was a theme and thread to most of the bullet points. Perhaps that’s one way I could get blog posts started. Once I have a general theme, I could brainstorm bullets on that theme for a while and then put together a post based on my ideas.

Audio Engineering

Tomorrow afternoon, I will be responsible for recording the audio from the Teleconfernce. The setup will just be the Podcasting Mic recording from Matt’s office speaker phone. It is not ideal. It would be better if I had the equipment to record VOIP audio, but this will have to do.

This is new ground for me. It will be interesting to see how it turns out.

The plain voice recordings I made of myself sounded pretty good. I could try some solo podcasting with the mic and Audacity if I came up with some good things to share. They could go on Tumblr or Facebook.

Anything like this will be good practice. I need to get up my confidence in recording and sharing with the world.

Little changes is all it takes. Figuring out what I want to talk about is the first hard part. The second hard part is talking about it intelligently. The easy part is hitting record and making it sound good.

Remember, tools are easy, Art is hard.

Roku

As soon as I hit order for the Roku player, I had some doubts and reservations. Should I have waited for news about the new Apple TV? Was I being cheap?

But then I remembered that I have been looking for an excuse to buy from Woot for a while, and this does fix for us a very specific need.

We were looking for something that will help us stream Netflix videos to our TV better. There’s added bonuses, with Hulu, Vimeo, Pandora, and other Channels, but the real thing we wanted was to have Netflix come directly to our TV.

Instant Queue

The selection for Instant play movies on Netflix is not as robust as what they offer by mail, but it is slowly changing as their business model moves away from shipping DVDs and to streaming. To stay competitive, they’ll have to offer more options.

There are several movies in our DVD queue that I’m moving over to the instant queue. There are more instant play movies available than we’ll ever be able to watch, but the key is having the movies we want to watch available.

Music

Why don’t I listen to music more at work. I feel like I’m more focused and moving in the right directions when there is some background noise. Having that extra bit of sound in my head lets me focus my hands and eyes on my screen and the things I should be working on.

I have not done too much work so far today, but I think this afternoon will be more productive.

Sounds better

Good music in my head while I’m working helps me to focus on what I’m doing. Getting the sound right helps me focus and do what I’m most interesting in accomplishing. It gives me the freedom to think and focus. 

Focus Mode

With WriteMonkey’s focus mode, should I keep separating out individual files, or should I just work in one space, hitting F6 as needed, if I want to give my attention to a particular bit of content. I could also go back to numbering files by day, letting each day has it’s own text file.

I think having it set up by month makes the most sense. I’m spending too much time starting new files and naming them. That time could be better used coming up with section titles and keeping my fingers moving on the keys.

This was a good decision.

With focus mode, I can work in one larger text file, doing all the things that a big file can do without the hassles.

I don’t know how this strategy will translate into working on the iPad during the weekends. I may end up starting new files at that point and then, pasting in what I do in those Untitled files, saving everything to the the root of my Dropbox directory.

I have something here

WriteMonkey is an extraoridinary app, which lets me focus on what’s important and tune out the rest. I am learning how to use it better everyday, through practice, and it will be key in my efforts to become a better writer. It is too bad that I don’t have this tool on my other computers.

That just means I have to take more advantage of the time on this computer, focusing on writing.

I can use the iPad and other computers for browsing and other such activities.

Big Files

I don’t do much (if anything) with old individual .txt files so it’s probably not worth it to break out what I’m doing into such small chunck, unless I’m attempting a specific workflow.

For regular journaling and writing to myself, it makes more sense to just keep the flow of ideas going at a constant rate. The less friction there is the better.

When I’m ready to do something with what I’ve written, I can move it to a new file and get going again. I’m still working with very small document, and they are backed up redundantly and well. That means I can work with little friction and fear of losing my place.

Moving into focused batches and getting things out quickly is usually better for me with what I like to accomplish with my personal writing.

Personal to Public

At some point though, I want to move my writing from personal to public and to start sharing my own ideas on my blog and elsewhere on the Internet.

I can’t hide away here forever, as comforatly as it is, without driving myself crazy.

Lottery

I didn’t win the lottery again. I don’t play because I’m bad at math. The fact is, somebody wins. And it’s fun to think about how I’d live if I didn’t have to work for money. It lets me think critically about what I love, where my priorities are, and how I can improve my life today.

Another Brainstorm Session

• Writing and listening to Podcasts is possible. Listening suffers though.
• Reading and listening to talk is more difficult though.
• Think about asking for a ergonmic keyboard.
• Focus on doing on hard thing from your to-do list every day.
• Be more serious about work. It does matter. It’s part of who I am.
• New things are helpful, but focusing on the right things is always better.
• I don’t need new tools or toys. I need to get better about what I’m doing.
• Writing is difficult. Speaking is hard. All the things I want to do are difficult. I need to learn to live with that and start getting serious about the things I want to do.
• To-do lists are helpful. But since they are so flexible, I can fiddle around with the ordreing or items. It is not conducive for getting things done though. I need to figure out how to get things done. But that means I have to be more serious (care more) about doing things.
• Arange to-do items around projects. Pull a current project to the top of the screen and start working at it. Making things happen is hard.
• The hard thing on my list is making the HemeFISH Alt Assessments.

Writing ideas is good. Executing ideas is even better. Sharing good ideas is important too…

I need to get comfortable sharing my ideas. That takes confidence. That takes the willingness to dig into my ideas and see what I can do about them.

What can I do about my ideas? How can I make things happen? I know that I have the things in my list, the things in my head, but it will take purposefulness.

What should I do next?

Getting one thing done should always lead me to the next thing I want to do.

My Resume

It has been quite a while since I’ve re-visited my resume. It might be time to put together a new copy of it and try to brush it up again. This could mean putting some effort into my LinkedIn profile, or going the old fashioned route of a Word document or PDF.

I shouldn’t think about it too much. I want to stick around here for a while still, at least a year, but it is a good exercise to keep my skills and abilities in check. Taking an inventory of what I do and understanding it’s value is very important to me. If I can stay on top of my skills and abilities, I will be much better at communicating my value to others.

Use today!

I have a whole day in front of me. There are things on my todo list, things I want to accomplish myself. There are endless opportunities. Use them! Make something happen. Make something fun. Post it somewhere. I need to do something better with my time, better with my life.

I have today to do it.

It’s what I have. Make it worth it. Make it work.

With a little bit of progress each day, I’ll get to perfect. I need to accept that I can’t be perfect instantly, but I can improve instantly.

Closer Monitor

I moved my monitor closer to the front edge of the desk yesterday. That puts it much closer to my face. Everything looks clerear and I don’t have to strain my eyes at all. This would be amazing if it were a retina display. I’d be close and have pixle perfect vision of everything that is available to see.

Get started on something hard

Today, I think I should get started on one of my hard projects, on making the MDS and AML courses. That is taking me more time that I would have anticipated to get going. But once I’m started, it should go pretty well. I just need to get going with it and start pumping out the information.

Starting anything is always the hardest part for me.

Making things is hard

My job includes making things. Ultimatly, that’s what it is. That’s what I do. When I’m not doing that, I don’t have a purpose. I need to keep moving forward on all these projects, making sure I’m always making progress.

The better I am about moving forward on projects the happier I’ll ultimatly be.

Do something today.

I have plenty of little things I can get done this morning before the impact call.

I’m getting things done. I got the Teleconference email set-up and have the licenses uptodate on the website.

Now I feel ike I can pay closer attention to the speakers during the Impact Call.

Fragments work for me.

I liked the focus mode yesterday, but I also like fragments. I like how the pieces come together over time.

When I’m working in one big file, I don’t have that same perspective. I don’t have that singular unit of work.

Keeping things small means I can always start at the beginning.

Always starting at the beginning means I have always have a good persepctive on where things start and how they can progress from there. Rather than always being at the end of a document, or trying to continue on my train of thought, I can start at the beginning and work forward from there. It makes me much happier.

Fiddling and futssing with this stuff is probably a waste of time, but it feels important. It feels like it’s accomplising something, and that is always a good feeling. Getting things out makes me feel like I’m on track with a set of ideas that weren’t there before. Getting things out of my head and into fragments of thoughts on the screen make me feel one step closer to where I’m going. I don’t know where that is, but I’m glad I’m moving towards it. Each step counts. Each step matters.

Getting rid of what doesn’t belong

Making time for writing at home will make me happier. So will spending time with the wife and kiddos. So will spending time organizing and simplifying our lives by getting rid of things that don’t belong, or that don’t have a place in our lives right now.

Changing those little things will make a big difference. It will mean that we have more space to breathe, more space to spend our time, less to clean, less to organize. It will be worth it to get rid of all the junk. Our life has too much of it in the way right now. 

Write more

I need to make sure I’m writing more. I didn’t do much writing at all over the weekend, despite having all the right gear, tools, and even a little bit of time.

I need to pull out the iPad keyboard more frequently if I’m going to make a regular habit out of writing at home. I have several other computers I could work on, but the iPad is my favorite home computer right now. I think it will stay that way too as long as I have it there.

There is so much to write. I have words inside that need to get out, and much of it is just random thoughts that come and go randomly. I need to spend time writing so that those thoughts don’t get clogged up inside of me.

I don’t know what the words should be about, but I do also need to start writing about something.

I don’t need to change how I approach it as much as I need to go back through what I’ve written and make a point of extracting the original thoughts and ideas, and edit and distill them into something I can publish on my blog or Tweet about later.

Ediditng has to become a bigger part of what I do with writing. “Making the clakety sound” is a good beginning, but then I need to do something with the words that come out. I have lots of talents, but unless I do somehting with them, they will be wasted. Typing is good for me. It gets important thoughts on the page, but if it just stays there, it will be a waste.

What I do matters. I don’t treat it like it does. I give it time, but not the best time. I give it effort, but not my best effort.

But more words is not enough

What I really need is more thoughts, more attention to my own ideas. Getting a strong relationship between what I’m thinking and what I’m writing will make a difference.

Writing is thinking

Getting good thoughts out of my head will make me a better thinker. Thinking things that I wouldn’t have thought otherwise will make me smarter, will make me wiser.

Everyday

I really should blog every day. Like Seth Godin, Like Mitch Joel, Like any of the other very successful bloggers who understand the value of consistency.

Getting new thoughts out every day will make a bigger difference for me than anything.

Word count matters

Getting the words out matters. That’s the first step. Nothing else can happen until that happens. Making the right beginning is the way to get to a good middle and a good end.

Writing lots of words is practice. It is what it takes to write well. Lots of ideas, the more ideas the better. The more ideas that come out, the more raw materials I will have to work with. Typing faster means I can get more of those ideas out. Making room for every thought I have on the screen. I can look back over those thoughts later. I can scan through a large document, looking at the headlines to see what I’m writing about.

Comment on links.

I read a lot. I should make a standard habit of having a document to comment on what I’m reading. Even if that just means working along side what’s open in Instapaper. I should be taking notes when I read. That doesn’t just mean highlighting things. That means commenting next in a .txt document with the link pointitng to the thing I’m reading.

I need to think along with reading. That means no more blank reading. I need to write about what I read.

A VC: MBA Mondays: Best Hiring Practices

Hiring is a process and should be treated as such. It is serious business.

When this series on Best Hiring Practices is completed, I should share it with Cindy and Jennifer in HR. I don’t know how helpful it will be to them, but there are some really good nuggets here.

We’re doing it right with the progress we’re having on the Jobs page on the company website.

But there has to be a better description about what we do and why someone would want to come and work with us.

Recruiting is really hard. There’s no doubt about that. It takes great effort to find the right candidates, vet them properly, and then integrate them into the company culture.

The clackity noise

Making great stories and text requires making the Clackity Noise. There’s no other way to make it happen. It takes committment, effort and time. All the effort is worth it if it makes someone happy. Or if it makes someone think.

Thinking. Ideas. Doing.

It’s infinitly valuable. And all it takes to start something like that is to make the clackity noise. A lot. Everyday.

Start.

All Merlin’s thought here are inspired by this very personal and descriptive passage:

When I was a percussionist in high school, we were responsible for keeping the jazz band, full orchestra, concert band, and marching band in time, and we did so through a haze of marijuana and hormones and passed-down stories of some guy’s uncle who saw Gene Krupa perform a 12-minute solo using every part of a high hat while eschewing the rest of the kit. And to this day, when I see videos like this, I get an urge to skip class and go make out with a bassoonist in a sound-proof practice room. After all, life is short, and lunch period is even shorter.

It does seem very real. The author, Sonny Payne, makes it feel like I’m there.

Key.

I’ve learned that my job is to just sit down and start making the clackity noise. If I make the clackity noise long enough every day, the “writing” seems to take care of itself. On the other hand, if there’s no clackity noise, no writing. No little stories. 

Writing what I read

Writing about the things that I read does help me to think more critically about what’s on the screen in front of me.

But just taking the time to write (anything) is where the real value lies. I need to keep a steady flow of words coming out every day.

That 1,000 words per day goal I imposed on myself in the past was very helpful. It kept me on pace. It kept the volume of ideas coming out at a stedy pace.

1. Making something regular helps. And when I have a regular activity, a habit, I get better at it.
2. Perfection is not necessary. I just need to make sure I’m doing something all the time. The more the better.
3. Revise and perfect. But once I’ve put in the initial effort, I should make sure I’m doing something to make it better, to take my initial work to the next level.

Even a short bit of writing like this makes a difference. I need to be comfortable getting a screen full of words out and sharing it. Making things appear on the screen shouldn’t be as hard as I make it.

I need to get comfortable with my ideas. Getting meta data and other useless things out of the way would be a good first step. Each post should stand alone. It shouldn’t need tags or other details.

The words on the screen look good. I make them look good with formatting tricks and good CSS, but it shouldn’t matter as much as the words. What I write, the un-designed content, needs to be the ultimate focus, the thrust behind what I’m doing with my computer. If I get that part right, the rest will follow well.

Clicking on the keyboard does make me feel better. It makes me feel like I’m making somthing, some progress. It makes me feel right. Getting better at writing is really hard. There is no shortcut. There are many manuals, but none of them help with the fundamental step zero, sitting in front of a keyboard and clacking away until something appears on the screen.

Making little stories is hard too. I make these personal files, these journal entries, but they are surprisingly not personal. But they also are not interesting enough to share. They are lost in a gray limbo between what I want to accomplish and random words on a screen. 

Smaller files

Working with smaller files is good for me. Starting a new file is a small bit of friction, but I think the payoff is there. Having free space, and fragments to draw from is better.

From a technological standpoint,

• I am syncing small sets of bits;
• it is more secure, since if a file gets corrupted, it is only one small portion of a whole;
• it lets me focus on the primary unit of work;
• it lets me think about one thing at a time;
• it gives me a sense of programming, since I am working with singular units of though.

But how much does it really help. I’m starting with small simple pieces, but then I spend lots of time renaming them and organizing them, and in the end I just end up combining them into one big file anyway.

I’m probably going to end up going back and forth on this concept indefinitly.

There are pros and cons to both views.

• Well named files are helpful, but how helpful are they?
• Small files are easier to work with, but what do I plan to do with them?
• The details matter, but how much do they matter?
• What is getting in my way of doing things? 

Previewing

I’m pretty good at Markdown now, at least the parts I use regularily.

I probably don’t need to spend much if any time during the day looking to see what my text output looks like.

An app like Marked.app is all about feeding that desire to see the output of a Markdown based document, but I shouldn’t get hung up on that. I need only the text infront of me. I can see the output when it comes time to publish.

Anything before then is a waste of time. 

Apple

There was plenty of interesting news out from Apple at the WWDC Keynote today. There wasn’t, however, much that was predicted in the shows and blogs I’ve been following.

// It appears that WriteMonkey’s auto backups don’t start until the file has been saved at least once. It won’t hold on to scratch documents.

The only Apple Hardware I’m in the market for right now is the new iPhones. But only a new iOS was announced, iOS 6.

That means I won’t have to spend an extra amount of money for a few months longer.

I don’t know if I want a new information phone though. They are a lot of trouble, and tend to make it more difficult for me to focus on doing the things that are most important to me.

Type on the iPad.

I have a great external keyboard for my iPad. I should use it at home. I can get comfortable on the couch and go to work with it. Some every day will make it happen.

I just need to setup somewhere with the iPad on it’s stand in portrait mode and my keyboard close by, and type. Type and type and type.

I have the right tools and good ideas, but it will take the dedication of the my fingers clicking away on the keyboard to make words appear on the screen.

It will take the dedication of time and effort to make things happen quickly.

With good internet access at home, I can work in iA Writer’s focus mode and really move quickly with my words. I don’t need any of Bywords special features when I have the keyboard enabled. I just need to type–and type and type and type.

Then when I’m all done, I can edit it and do something with it on the computer. But the iPad is perfect for getting the ideas out the first time, for pushing as much as I can. That works much Better. Good job iA Writer. 

Productivity

Today was an especially productive day. (But that means I didn’t do much writing.)

I need to figure out a better balance between the two, something where I’m able to commit to doing a lot of my work, as well as dedicate some time to writing.

Perhaps tonight, I’ll spend some time with the keyboard and iPad, and crank out a few hundred words (or perhaps 1,000).

Having something come out every day is critical. Consistency is the key to writing well. I need to focus on making something new every day so that I can keep my mind strong and my fingers nimble.

Thinking of Gabi

Earlier this week Gabi challenged me to spend 5-minutes thinking about how we can improve our relationship. Since I seem to have such difficulty spending any significant amount of time with my mind on one thing, I figure the best way I can complete the exercise (and the best way I can have something substancial to report) is to write it down. Besides, this way, I kill two birds with one stone, getting my daily writing out of the way as well.

To our Relationship

Our relationship is surprisingly good considering how we spend most of our time apart. I’m at work during the week. She’s at work during the weekends, and we spend much of our evenings on our own things. Still, we manage to talk frequently about all sorts of things. Mostly we talk about our kids. I don’t share much of the day to day stuff at work. It’s not terribly conversation worthy, but she might still like to hear about it.

She tells me all the details about her days. And the kids’ days. Even though I’m not here, I get filled in on all the extra details and important stuff that I might otherwise miss out on. That is a real blessing. Without her, I’d miss out on so much of my childrens’ lives.

What do I have to share with her? What can I give to equal that gift?

I don’t know. I don’t know what I could possibly do to match what she gives me. But that needs to change. That’s what I should be doing here right now. Thinking about what I can do to change that. I need to be listing off bullets of what I’m going to do differenly to be a better husband.

• Tell her I love her every day.
• Greet her with a kiss every time I get home (sweat or not).
• Listen to all her stories, and really care what she says. Don’t just pretent to listen.
• Get her flowers more freqently. When I drive to work, I should make a detour on the way home to pick her up something nice.
• Be more proacive in helping in the kitchen.
• Keep a running list in my head of things to talk to her about. When it comes to be talk time, I should have things to say. It should never be me being silent.
• When Gabi has something important to talk to me about (especially when it concerns our relationship) pay extra close attention and be ready for my turn to contribut to the conversation.

What I Need

So far, I’ve focused mainly on what I can do differently in this relationship. That is a good place to start, and I should probably return to that part later. Focusing on what I can do is important, because, really, I can only control my own actions.

However, Gabi does ask me regularily what she can do to be better. I should also think of what I need from her, not just what I should be doing differently.

But she really is wonderful. It’s not just a cop out. It’s not that I’m worried she will take advice the wrong way.

Although, we did joke that when she asks what she can do better, she’s really just setting me up to tell her that she’s perfect.

I need her love. I need her attention. I also need her to give me space. I have to have time alone. That’s part of who I am. That’s part of what energizes me. However, I don’t need to be all the way alone. I do really well when it’s just the two of us, in the evenings, alone together, doing our own things in each other’s presence. That constant companionship is comforting. It is good to know she’s there, that I’m not alone, that I have someone to go through all the challenges of daily life with.

I don’t need anything new from her. She will be happy that I can truthfully say she’s perfect.

I on the other hand am not perfect. And that’s okay. Because I can change myself. I can’t change her. Nor would I want to. I married her for who she is.

Life will not always be like this. We will not always be like this. Change will happen, inevitablly.

But there is no-one else I’d rather go through it with. She is my mate, my love, my one and only. Together we will face all our lives have to offer. Together we’ll grow. Together we’ll raise this family, these kids. We’ll develope together. We’ll grow old together.

It will be a very great adventure. I’m glad that I get to be on it with her.

Progress

We are making good progress as a couple. I think our bond as a couple is stronger than ever. We connect now on a different level that we once did. The activites (a constant makeout session) we participate in together now are not how we began, and what we’re doing now is probably not how we will always interact together.

The New Start

Since we are a young couple, we are able to alway have a new start. Every day is a new chance to love each other in new ways, to explore the depth and possibilities of the bond we share.

It really is something special. I cannot overstate it. That is why we will have to work so hard at this relationship. That is why we have to dedicate time and effort to strengthening our love and deepening our dedication to one another.

We will grow together. That is the nature of what happens to two people that spend as much time together as we do. There is no avoiding our love growing.

The question is how rapidly we will bound down this path together, how far we are willing to go, how deep we can penetrate. 

Molecular Email Image Tag-Line

Dean’s Tag-Lines

• Molecular Gets Amplified!
• Advanced Molecular Testing
• Molecular Testing Highlights!

What we need to communicate

We need to show that there are a number of new moleculat tests in our menu, but that the list is still growing, that this is only the beginning.

My Ideas

• Molecular Menu Growth
• Neo’s Molecular Menu Grows Again
• Molecular’s Growing Menu
• Amplified Molecular Menu

Text for Molecular Email

RE: Check Out Neo’s Expanding Molecular Test Menu

The NeoGenomics molecular lab has some serious momentum and is bringing you expanded and enhanced diagnostic, prognostic, and predictive testing services. This spring we have already added 6 new molecular tests and enhanced 7 others with quantitative reporting and/or gene sequencing for broader mutation detection. More tests are on the way.

New and enhanced tests include:

• ABL1 Kinase Domain Mutation Analysis
• AML Panel
  • FLT3 Mutation Analysis
  • NPM1 Mutation Analysis
• BCL2 Translocation, t(14;18)
• BCR-ABL1 Translocation, t(9;22)
• BRAF Mutation Analysis
• EGFR Mutation Analysis
• IgVH Mutation Analysis
• KRAS Mutation Analysis
• Microsatellite Instability Analysis (MSI)
• MPN Panel
  • JAK2 V617F Mutation Analysis
  • JAK2 Exon 12–14 Mutation Analysis
  • MPL Mutation Analysis

Test details, specimen requirements, and a glimpse of what’s coming are availablehere.

These new tests are part of our ongoing campaign to build comprehensive molecular services that include convenient and cost-effective reflex test pathways.

Click here to download our latest Pathology Requisition.

See all the latest (and soon to come) additions to our test menu.



Title

Sub title

Sub-sub title

Regular

bold

Italic

bold italic

• Bullet
• Bullet
• Bullet

and regular text

1. number
2. number
3. number

I’ve wasted some more time fiddling with the typography on my blog. It’s not really a waste though. A better looking blog will inspire me to put more on there.

But inspiration is not enough. I also need action.

Headlines are hard.

I’m trying to write a good headline for an email campaign that will be going out late this week or early next week, and I’m having a very hard time coming up with the right wording for it.

The subject isn’t terribly exciting or compelling, so I have to excercise my creative muscles to make something for it.

Making things on the computer makes me happy. I like to see what comes of my work, what comes out of the effort I put into something. But I want to get better at it. I want to figure out how to take the things I do everyday and make the most of them.

I want to start making things on my website again, but I don’t know what to post. I’m worried that what I put there is not a good reflection of who I am. On the other hand, not putting anything there reflects that I am not good at sticking with things. I want to keep growing the site, making new posts, revising the theme and stylings.

Making it my home on the web is important to me. I need to keep working at it.

It does make me happy. Not doing anything with it makes me sad.

I have no end of sources of inspiration for the site. I can pull out anything from my Instapaper archive and make a post based on it. I have the handy extension in Chrome to pull the page title, link, and highlighted quote all at once into Markdown, making getting the main part of the post really easy.

I need to start doing it again. It’s too important to ignore.

Maybe I just need to start working directly in Tumblr, skipping all the other editors and windows and just focusing on getting the words out. I can change the mode to Markdown if that will help me, but I think I just need to focus on doing things, making posts. They can get dripped out over time still, but I need to be making them regularily. I need to keep the content flowing and the site growing.

Only then will my writing skill really improve.

The Tumblr New Post web interface is as good as any other place for writing posts. It’s as good as any other text editor. In some ways it’s better because it auto-saves, is focused on having the least amount of space between what I’m writing and publishing.

Also, with the AfterTheDeadline extensiton, it has spelling and grammar check built right in.

That sounds great. But I still need something to write about, something to blog about. My passions are not strong. I don’t have a particular subject I’m crazy about. I don’t have strongly held convictions or opinions to defend. I don’t have zanney ideas to share (like Scott Adams). I don’t know what I have.

And I won’t know what I have until I start writing every day, until I start giving of myself, until I start sharing what’s on my minds.

Body copy is hard too

It’s not just the overarching idea that stumps me when I try to write. I have trouble with the particulars too. Once I know the basics of what something is supposed to be about, I shouldn’t have such a difficult time getting the basics down. Those should be easy.

I make it difficult on myself.

I need to stop saying, “I don’t know why,” because I usually do, or I usually can figure out the answer if I pause to think about it. Acting like I don’t know the answer to something is a problem, because I should be willing to seek out those answers.

Solve the problem

I have a problem with writing. It’s what I love to do. It’s what I want to be good at.

But

It’s clear it’s something I’m afraid of. It’s something that I’m hesitant to start doing. I avoid doing it out of fear. I stay away from it because I’m afraid of what it means that I’m not publishing more, that I’m hesitant to share what’s on my mind.

• It’s fear that’s holding me back.
• It’s an unwillingness to accept that I’m not good yet.
• It’s any number of things.
• The problem is I’m not writing.

Until I get over the simple problems, I will not be able to tackle the hard ones.

• Do a dash.
• Make a list of ideas.
• Revise the list down.
• Pick one at random.
• Set a timer.
• Work on that idea until the timer beeps.

There. That’s a good start to something.

---

New Beginnings.

I don’t need to stop journaling like this. If anything, I need to do more of it. Then I will have enough material to work with, enough raw idea power to explore further with what’s in my head.

Getting the first steps down is usually the hardest part of writing.

But once that’s done, I can focus on the rest. I can let myself write freely about everything that’s on my mind.

Look inward

I shouldn’t need to look thorugh my Instapaper archive to dig up links to write about. I should know what I want to write about on my own. I should be my own source of inspriration.

• Be Your Own Source of Inspiraiton

That’s a good concept. Being the source, muse, and executor of ideas and inspriation is a good position to be in. The right thoughts are in my head. Getting them out is difficult. Writing is the only way to set them free. Making time in my day for this matters.

Writing every day makes me a writer. But I will need to publish regularily if I want other people to know I am a writer. Telling myself that I’m a writer isn’t nearly as valuable to me as having someone else recognize me as one. 

On Investing

Now that all my student loans are paid off, I’m turning my attention to investing.

Where can I put my money where it will earn a satifactory return without a significant amount of risk?

I need to find a good place to put my money so it will start working for me, so it will grow.

This is the first day I’ve though about investing in a Mutual Fund, ETF, or other collection of stocks in quite a while. It is time to bring that back to my attention. Making money with money is smart. Investing in new and exciting things is a valuable contribution to society as well. Leaving my money sitting in a bank (that is not currently even lending it out at much interest) is not a good way to contribute to the development of new technologies.

I should also think about other alternative investments, especially investments in myself. That could mean starting a business on the side, or learning some new skills, or applying my talents to other new ventures.

But ultimatly, it will be about putting our extra capital to good use, to makeing the most of the cash we have available to us.

Through any kind of investing, we will keep a comfortable emergeny cushion, but we will also need to be willing to take a risk.

• Make list of investment plans
• Follow advice from Mint more closely
• Pay attention to what Warren Buffet says
• Ignore everything hyped on the media or the web
• Invest in things I buy myself

Instapaper Zero

If I finish the current article in my Instapaper queue, I can tweet:

@marcoarment, I just reached @instapaper #inboxzero. I think @hotdogsladies would be proud.

That will be a first for me since I got Instapaper on my iPad. I’m cheating a bit because I moved a bunch of fiction to a folder, but that’s not as timely as the other items.

I have one, very long article to read, and I’ll have to stay off Google Reader and Twitter if I plan to make it.

Reading is a joy. I’m exposed to new ideas everyday. But I need to start doing something with those ideas.

I also need to have ideas of my own. 

Business Idea - H Tag Copywriter

H Tag Copywriter - Web copywriting business focued only on headlines, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5 title tags. By focusing exclusivly on that, I can harness the power of the headline, the only thing most people ready, to provide value to my clients.

Domains:

• h1copy.com
• h1copywriter.com

RT

Marco Armondt RT one of my replies to him today. He has nearly 40,000 followers. That may be as far as any one of my posts have been broadcast thus far.

And it’s for something I thought and said myself.

I will be more successful on the web if I make and say things myself, rather than linking to others.

Originality spreads. That’s what I want.

I should get rid of my Twitter and Tumblr bookmarklets (or at least hide them better). I’ll be better off making things original. That means writing in the post box, directly in Markdown. I should cut out the steps between ideas and posts.

The less friction I have, the better.

Make things quickly and often and see, over time, the results of practice.

I know I can get good at writing. 

Amazon Affiliate Email Business Model

This business model could work two ways. It could be something like BulkBag or NextDraft with an affiliate link as part of an ad, or it could be modeled after Woot, but I would just focus on building up the email list and the copy writing, rather than maintaining the backend and shipping things needed.

With the second model, I’d be primarily an independent sales person, selling things from Amazon to a loyal following that I build up over time.

Copy would be the key to making that work.

The first method would be me being an independent writer, essentially running ads as part of the email.

The second method would be purely copywriting. I would have to be insanely entertaining to hold an audience and convert it.

Amazon pays well. The model could let me focus all my efforts on discovering great products and writing compelling and entertaining copy.

I could then cross-post the content on a blog.

Woot’s advantage in this model is that the offer is timely (and has a count down). Mine would let people see the offer and the buy at their leisure.

A bottom part of the email could link out to earlier posts to give reminders of what had been offered before.

I don’t know if I’ll do anything about this plan, but it is an interesting idea. It would take the same daily dedication to make this happen as it would to make any other online endeavor successful.

Writing every day

Even if it means writing at home on the iPad screen, I need to write every day. Ideally I will have a small amount of time to dedicate to writing during the day at work, but if that time doesn’t happen than I have to be willing to dedicate some time in the evenings.

I might even be more successful writing at night. Once the kids are off to bed, there are less distractions. There isn’t the nagging feeling that someone is looking over my shoulder, or that I should be working on something else, or that I should check Twitter or RSS again.

There are less updates at night, which means I have a quieter environment in which to write.

Habits are hard to form, but I’ve made some good progress on this writing habit. I don’t do as much as I’d like, but I can say it is a regular habit. It still feels like a daily struggle, but when I look back on a month’s worth of writing it does become clear that I’m making progress. There are thousands of words behind me each month.

I need to start doing something with those words. I’m racking them up quickly. They need to be the first draft though, the first attempt at something else.

• Instead of reading over my writing in the sterilely of Instapaper, I should make a copy of the big monthly document and start cutting, cutting out the extra stuff and revising the rest into something that I can use and publish.
• Take raw copy, make a new copy, edit relentlessly, and collect lots of new things to share.
• There is plenty to work with.
• Good ideas may be few and far between, but they are there, and so I should make the most of what I have.
• There could be a dozen blog posts in a months worth of journaling.

Working with what I have

There’s good material already. Editing and improving on what I’ve started is going to make me a better writer. Working with rough drafts and learning the editing process will help me improve.

I can’t hell but get better if I keep at the daily practice.

The other thing that will make me a better writer will be when I start putting stories into my words. I don’t tell stories right now. Not in my interactions with other people, not in my social media. But stories are what ties everything together. It’s what makes writing enjoyable to read. Stories form the core.

Perhaps writing on the iPad will help me get into the editing habit. It is difficult to type here. If I stop self correcting so much and just type as fast as I can, I’m bound to have to come back and fix a lot of what I type.

Byword’s Tools

• the tools are helpful, but they don’t substitute for knowing my way around the keyboards.
• They have their place but can’t take the place of knowing what to do.
• Writing will be hard, no matter what tool I’m using.
• Accepting the struggle will help me along the way.

I didn’t write at work today. Instead, I spent some time going through my May journal and picking out passages that I might be able to work into blog posts over the coming weeks.

I have been hesitant to post anything original on my blog, but I do so much writing that I really should start working with the first drafts of things I make and revising and fleshing them out into something good and useful. In time, those personal journals and brief rants could turn into something good, something worth sharing. But to accomplish that I will have to do more than just a series of first drafts.

First drafts typically suck. Mine are especially terrible, which is why I should start spending more of my time rewriting and editing the better parts of my journals into something more paletable, and publishable.

After I develop a habit of revision, I’ll be able to do more with my blog. Since I am a word guy (or at least aspire to be), that is the skill I will have to work on the most. I’m not going to post as many images to my site, unless I have something good to say about them, or unless the reinforce an idea I’m looking to share.

The iPad is really good for first drafts and for sketching out initial ideas, but I will need to spend time at work on the computer, revising, expanding, and developing my initial thoughts into something I can post.

I have to give up on the idea that I will get anything right on the first attempt. Anything that I do that will be good, will be the result of lots of tweaking and adjustments. I need to get picky about how I sound. That means I’ll have to start reading some of my writing outloud to hear the voice.

I want it to be my voice. Only better.

A Voice.

I need to find a voice. Mine (right now) is not what I want. I need it to be better. I need it to communicate a better version of myself. With revision, with the resources of the web, I should be able to adjust the way I sound. I should be able to make myself whatever I want to be.

But that may not be true. It will take more than a google search and a thesaurus to change who I am.

To really change my voice, I will have to change the way I think.

The ‘I’ is in my way

Writing every sentence with the personal pronoun ‘I’ is making it difficult to articulate sentences about other subjects. Every sentence becomes about me. The subject is static and the verbs are flat.

To make writing more interesting, there needs to be more interesting things to write about. That means thinking about more interesting things.

When I bore myself with all the ’i’s and ’me’s, it becomes difficult to imaging how excruciating it would be for anyone else to endure.

That all means that to become a better writer, I have to become more sensitive to topics, to having an object or idea to sit in the center of my mind as I work the keys.

When will thinking start?

With writing, there are distinct stages. Failed writers all skip one or more steps. Some very successful writers skip many of these steps but succeed so much at others that they make up for their shortcomings.

1. Some writers skip the writing part
2. Some skip the publishing part
3. Some skip the editing and proofreading part
4. Some skip the thinking part
5. Some skip the outlining part
6. Some skip the promotion part
7. Some write without the concept
8. Some write too closely aligned to a theme
9. Some skip writing every day
10. Some won’t accept or seek out feedback

These are things to work on. Doing all of them all the time is impossible, but picking out one factor a week to work on could happen.

With editing…

…I should go back to the daily goal of 1,000 words. I could spend each day writing my goal and then spend part of the afternoon, revising and plucking out the few gems to work on from the heap.

There need to be some space between first and second drafts. For that I could write a fresh 1,000 words and then revise the previous days work, or some such division.

The metric I should be after is not number of words written, but number of words published. Then I could take out all the failed words, the edited out numbers, the revised down amount, and add up only the outcomes. I wouldn’t even count block quotes. It doesn’t matter how much goes in. What matter is how much comes out.

This sounds good, but might prove unreasonable, since I don’t publish much now. Making some posts on my blog will give me momentum. Once I get that momentum going, I could start the Seinfeld thing of trying not to break the chain.

Blogging every day would make a big difference for me. It would help me express myself and would improve my clarity of thought. It would help in my decision making skills, editorial skills and development of an online personality, and persona. Getting into the daily blogging habit would put me among the likes of Godin, Joel, Wilson, and Adams and the other that influence me daily.

I have something to say.

I have to say something.

Tomorrow is the best day to get started with this. Tonight is too late, but I can make something happen if I promise to myself that I will begin and will dedicate the time it takes to make it happen.

Even is Gabi is the only one that reads it, it will be an improvement over keeping everything to myself.

Sharing is important. Making things is important. Being a part of a larger conversation is what I want to to with my time and energy.

Writing what I think

Thinking is the hardest part of writing for me. Putting my fingers to the keyboard and cranking out words is easy. I need to focus on the part of the process that gives me pause.

The hardest part is usually what should happen before I even open up my editor. The hard part is deciding what I should write about. It’s something I rarely even stop to think about.

There is a near infinite number of things I could write about. There are endless questions swimming through my head, any time I might stop to think about them.

I shouldn’t let anything stop me. I should be relentless in my efforts to figure out what I should say and how I should say it. I shouldn’t self-edit when I’m writing, but I should edit relentlessly afterwards.

Doing the right thing with my writing time is incredibly difficult for me. I don’t know why, but I hesitate to write blog posts. I hesitate to reread, edit, or revise what I’ve worked on before, and I don’t put forth the effort to make anything out of my writing. It really hurts me that I don’t do what I know I should. It’s stupid that I sabotage myself so completly. It’s stupid that I tell myself I want to be a writer, a blogger, whatever, but then I don’t do anything about it but cry to myself in my journal. I want to participate and communicate in a broader audience. I want to see my work out in the wild. I want to show up to a larger audience. I want to do something that matters, something that resonates with others, but I’m not willing to put in the effort that takes. I need to push harder, try harder, think harder. I need to do everything differenly to make the things I do different.

Clacking away at the keyboard is a good first step, but it is going to take a lot more than that to call myself a writer. I need to do more than that to change what I am.

Making things on the web (or anywhere) is really hard work. It takes focus and dedication. 

Irationality of opening pay stubs

It’s completly irrational to open my pay stub. It’s delivered to my desk on Thursday afternoons, every other week, and I open it as soon as I see it.

That makes sense right?

I want to see how much I made this pay period.

Wrong.

It doesn’t make any sense for a few reasons.

1. I already know how much is in the check. I already saw the pay stub on Mint.
2. I get a salary. So my paycheck is always the same.

Somehow though, that doesn’t stop me from opening up the new envelope sitting on my desk to see what’s inside.

I’m obviously crazy.

But even knowing I’m crazy doesn’t stop me from acting that way. I took a break from typing this to go on Mint again to verify that the direct deposit was pending.

There is no reason I should need to go on Mint more than once a day, but I often find myself there several times a day.

I have enough email alerts, and calendar reminders set up to be comfortable that my finances are in order, but I still find it necessary (or am compelled to) check early and often.

That should stop. I will be much happier knowing that my finances are automated, that my bills will be paid and that I do not have to worry about anything.

I should set up auto-pay for my credit cards and as many other services as possible. It will make me much happier to know that those things are taken care of.

Once those credit card payments are automated, I won’t have to worry so much about meeting my financial obligations since it will all be set to run automatically.

I will still check Mint daily to make sure there is not anything out of the ordinary, but then I will be able to relax about money and just enjoy life, and the other things that should have my attention. http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/06/i-shall-be-waiting-for-you.html

this makes more sense

But now I have learnt about the final enterprise on which you have decided and, though I cannot be with you to share the grand moment, I rejoice in the knowledge of it. It is said that on the eve of his final battle, the Chinese general, Hsiang Yü, valiant warrior though he was, grieved deeply about leaving Lady Yü, and that (in our own country) Kiso Yoshinaka lamented his parting from Lady Matsudono. I have now abandoned all hope about our future together in this world, and, mindful of their example, I have resolved to take the ultimate step while you are still alive. I shall be waiting for you at the end of what they call the road to death.

1.

Opportunity does not come cheap and so should not be taken for granted. Saving room to take advantage of new opportunities as they arise is always a good idea.

Seth said:

Now that just about everyone is in the business of selling their time in some form, it’s important to be aware that even if something doesn’t cost you cash out of your wallet, the opportunity cost is not only real, it’s just as valuable. Not only does it cost money to say ‘no’, it costs money to say ‘yes’.

2.

This makes me happy.

Perry skipping

I wish I had a platapus I could control.

3.

Outline

• this works for outlining

• very well
  • sub points catch
  • and how can I go back a level?
• it takes an extra click.
  • test

• okay! Good

• byword is my outlining app now

• it does all I need
  • in quick format
  • with plain text
    • deeply nested ideas come out clerly
    • everything is through dropbox
  • I can go in and out of ideas with two buttons
• from left
  • to
    • right
      • it can work for me

• Capitalize if needed.

• a

• Will it capitalize senntenaes for me?

• no it will not

Marketing Meeting: 06.25.12

• Something that you completed last week:
  • Made the July-December 2012 HER2 Assessment w/Dean’s help
  • Made CLL the Assessment Exam w/Tiffany’s help
• Something that you wish to complete this week:
  • Publish draft of BCR/ABL Assessment
  • IHC Panels email (w/Lori R.)
  • Updates to Careers section of Website (w/Cindy A. and Jennifer B.
• What you will be laying the ground work for that you wish to complete next week?
  • Updating pricebooks in Salesforce (w/Mike V. (perhaps) will be helping me gather the pricebook info)
    • I already locked down this module so field reps can’t edit the price list
  • Figure out how to video cast the Town Hall Meeting (w/David K.)
• Who is helping support your efforts, whether it be someone on our team or other departments?

todos from the meeting

• Update website NeoUniversity page to match DOS.
• Plan a quarterly email to those who have downloaded dos notifying them of updates. After flow section is updated.
• Molecular email stats: breakdown of clicks for various different tests.
• Do we have email contact info for each account? What kind of info do we have on this? Percent name and email address?
• sales force dot com assignment to fill out billing contact information. 

Omnifocus

If I switch to Mac, I should invest in Omnifocus:

There are the right kinds of tools and help that will make it a very useful tool for me.

I need to get better about using lists and publishing what’s on my mind.

Getting things out of my head and into the world is only half the battle though. I also need to do things.

Writing things down is only part of the project. 

Learning Template Image links

He likes it:

Merlin Mann (hotdogsladies) on Twitter

and bigger:

merlin_icon_184–1.png (184×184) Welcome to Flickr! Flickr: Explore!

[![Glowing Meadow..

Flickr - Photo Sharing!](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3051/5859800681_be57955f86_b.jpg)

](http://www.flickr.com/photos/atifsaeed/5859800681/ “Glowing Meadow..

Flickr - Photo Sharing!”)

This Image Works [![Glowing Meadow..

Flickr - Photo Sharing!](http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3051/5859800681_be57955f86_b.jpg)

](http://www.flickr.com/photos/atifsaeed/5859800681/ “Glowing Meadow..

Flickr - Photo Sharing!”)

[

](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/ “In Focus - The Atlantic”)

[

](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/the-2012-olympic-flame-halfway-to-london/100325/#img03 “In Focus - The 2012 Olympic Flame: Halfway to London - The Atlantic”)

[

](http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2012/06/the-2012-olympic-flame-halfway-to-london/100325/#img03 “In Focus - The 2012 Olympic Flame: Halfway to London - The Atlantic”) 

Forgetting

I forgot to write here.

Don’t forget to write. It’s too important to you.

Using time well

I’m in jury duty right now. Sitting in a chair, not being able to leave the room. And the way I decided to spend the first hour here was to read and browse around Twitter and Flipboard. Those are things I do every day, but today I have a unique opportunity to sit and think quietly. I should not take that opportunity of granted, but should instead use this time to write and think, even if that just means journaling in a stream of consciousness.

There are many benefits to that:

• I’m practicing typing on the iPad.
• it will make me a better thinker
• I will come up with an idea or two that I would otherwise miss
• writing is what I want to do
• it makes me happier than reading
• writing is more fulfilling

I’ve been posting to my blog again. I have a full hopper in the queue, and I have it set to only release one blog post per day. That makes it easier to keep up with it, but I should try to add a few things to the queue every day so that I can be more selective about what goes out.

I have such great tools available to me. I should be able to post there every day, and I really want to start sharing some of my own original writing. Sharing things is great, but when I’m putting out a link on Facebook and Twitter to something, it would be much better if it was something I made myself. Twitter and Facebook are great for sharing links to things I like, and my blog should be for the things that I make.

What I need…

…is a new beginning every day. I need to live and work like what I do really matters. I need urgency. I need purpose. I need to care about making really great stuff. Right not I don’t care that much about anything. Or at least I don’t act like I care. I tell myself I do but my daily activities don’t reflect that care in any meaningful way.

I need to change so many things about who I am and what I do. I need to make time for writing everyday. Even more than reading and Flipboard. I should only go to those things after the more important things are done. I should always do the things that matter to me first. That is the best way to convince myself what is most important.

• email is not most important
• twitter is not most important
• google reader is not most important
• Instapaper is not most important

I know what is most important to me. But that’s not what I do first.

It is really important to me to become a good writer. But I’m not living like that is number one. I put it off and leave it to chance, to fate.

Becoming a writer will be really hard. It will be a tremendous amount of work and I will have to work really hard at it every day if I am to become anything at all in it.

I will have to write every day. And I will have to edit relentlessly.

Right now I don’t do either of those things.

Limitations of the iPad.

• not great at switching back and forth between apps
• no good for editing
• no good way to post to blog 

From Dragon

I’m trying to make the most of my extra bit of time today. I had jury duty in the morning but then it got canceled. I’m home now watching a few videos that I’ve had saved on Vimeo and have not yet got to.

This seems like an okay way to spend the extra time this morning, but I will be going to the office this afternoon to try to get some additional work done and make the most of the day.

Dictating is difficult for me. I don’t always know what I’m trying to say or what points I want to make.

Still I think it could be very beneficial for me if I were able to better articulate my thoughts and get my ideas out quickly, and then later on go back and edit my work, filling in all the blanks. Dragon dictation actually does do a very good job understanding what I’m saying and translating it into text on the screen. I really should give it another chance especially now that we have a good Internet connection at home I can sit and talk to the screen, and just let it do its job well

My understanding is that it has a one minute time limits I don’t know how accurate that is and what happens at the end of a minute. What that means, is that I am looking at the screen to see if it still recording.

It is impressive how well this works. Dragon is probably by far the best dictation service. What comes out of this is at least as good as what I can type in a first draft. As I’m typing I do a lot of self editing, going backspaces and correcting typos as I go. With Dragon I’ll probably end up with a similar problem but it’s all about correction will happen in a later stage of the writing process

I like being able to sit and talk rather than having to claque round on my keyboard. The biggest problem for me though is that I don’t have that much time where I have an empty quiet house where I can dictate

When it ends recording suddenly on me, I suppose when I hit that it’s one minute mark, it is is a bit jarring and it’s easy for me to lose my train of thought.

New title

I wonder how well I can dictate markdown dictation?

I am happy with us it does do the job that it advertises pretty well. I don’t know of anything else on the iPad or other iOS device that would come close to what this DeBuck what this program can do.

I’m going to have to see how it Sibbalds for me. It will be especially great when I have an iPhone and I think Siri integration is deeper and I can do this kind of dictation in almost any app.

Can you work on the updates today and if time allows I will stop over for a sneak peek this afternoon?

I have a few more updates I am sending you.

That was a e-mail from Cindy I didn’t realize when I was first reading at how poor the grammar was. But as I try to dictate it ICF.

In using Dragon it’s weird to have to speak my punctuation. But it will be good practice

What’s can happen to me if I’m looking through a dragon dictation notes, and I have absolutely no idea what I was trying to say?

That is a realistic issue, especially for those few times when it picks up to something off-the-wall. I’m going to have trouble up during those times. It won’t be an issue, however, if I am more deeply aware of what I am talking about and what my subjunctives. During those times when I go back to what I’m writing it will be apparent what the subject is and I will make it easier to discern what the meaning should be.

This is a level III heading

How does that work?

Doesn’t matter how fast I speak? I think that’s if I were to really start using this I want to speak at a much faster pace.

Going quickly through ideas and rambling out thoughts will be very helpful for me especially if Biak can keep up with the case that I’m working out.

If it turns out that it is something really helpful I would consider investing in a desktop version for the PC so that I wouldn’t be limited with the same one minute and connection see the words appearing on the screen as I go.

I am happy without coming out there is the occasional mistake but I don’t know that it is any more.

I don’t know that it’s any worse than the errors that I make typing the issue is that I’m not able to correct it as I go like I would WhenI typing.

That is a limitation but I think as I get better with it and learn how to articulate better, it is going to become an even more powerful out for me

I have to get in the hang of speaking all the punctuation. That’s can any one of the biggest changes.

Giving myself the space of the time to think out things is going to be helpful I think just getting the ideas down quickly will be half the battle

• by making bulleted list
• and getting each idea how quickly
• will be really great as well

The above was just trying to see if I can make a bold list

• It doesn’t seem to register when I ask it to make a space after
• But it will not show up okay markdown
• We’ll have to see how well it works
• doesn’t register that one
• or this
• Okay Canonita bulleted list
• When I say instead of space
• This is the third point of the bulleted list 

Markdown

and the rest goes like this and I can make it work for me very well. It just takes practice. ­­­Once I get good at it though I’ll be able to go very quickly. I shouldn’t need to look at preview so often. I need confidence that I know what I’m doing in Markdown. I’m not completely comfortable with it yet, but I’m getting there. Soon I’ll be able to work blindly, never needing to preview until right before it goes to post.

The sooner I ween myself from preview the better. When I stop to preview, I’m essentially wasting time. I should know how it’s going to look. I know how it’s going to look because it is a very readable format. 

Fiction I plan to Read:

1. [Another Life

   New Yorker

   Jun. 25, 2012

   17 Minutes (4,307 words)](http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2012/07/02/120702fi_fiction_lafarge?currentPage=all)

2. [The Untitled Lincoln Love Story Project

   Joyland

   Apr. 5, 2012

   24 Minutes](http://www.joylandmagazine.com/stories/new_york/untitled_lincoln_love_story_project)

3. [Cross Off and Move On

   New York Review of Books

   Jun. 1, 2012

   42 Minutes](http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2012/jul/12/cross-and-move/)

4. [Wasps

   The New Yorker

   Jul. 30, 2007

   12 Minutes](http://www.newyorker.com/fiction/features/2007/07/30/070730fi_fiction_kennedy?currentPage=all)

5. [What to Do?

   Swing Magazine

   Jun. 13, 2012

   12 Minutes (3,221 words)](http://www.swinkmag.com/index.php?page=archives&artID=155&catID=1)

6. [The World Without You

   Guernica Magazine

   May. 31, 2012

   24 Minutes (6,020 words)](http://www.guernicamag.com/fiction/the-world-without-you/)

7. [North of

   Electric Literature

   Jun. 4, 2012

   21 Minutes (5,460 words)](http://recommendedreading.tumblr.com/post/24534755489/vol-1-no-3-editors-note-i-havent-been-as-won)

8. [Marjorie and the Birds

   Fifty-Two Stories

   May. 30, 2012

   13 Minutes (3,289 words)](http://www.fiftytwostories.com/?p=1447)

9. [Break All the Way Down

   Joyland

   May. 26, 2012

   24 Minutes (6,184 words)](http://www.joylandmagazine.com/stories/midwest/break_all_way_down)

10. Magazine - Honors Track - The Atlantic

11. [Great, Wondrous

    FiveChapters.com

    May. 23, 2012

    39 Minutes (9,950 words)](http://www.fivechapters.com/2012/great-wondrous/)

12. [Homecoming

    At Length

    Nov. 1, 2009

    57 Minutes (14,448 words)](http://atlengthmag.com/prose/homecoming/)

13. Hisham Matar: “Naima” : The New Yorker

Tweet Ideas

Keep it to two lines.

A tweet doesn’t go far and doesn’t last long, but while it’s there it counts.

Start more ideas more often and make them count. Setting up for success one tweet at a time and building the story as I go. It will take a while to succeed.

Keeping ideas to two lines will help me keep them fresh.

I need to start thinking in smaller chunks that could make it into Twitter. Wit is good and I could make it happen. Short wins.

Posting there regularily will be easier than updating my blog consistenly. But the blog get’s the buffer, keeping my stuff for after hours.

What if my tweet had a #Hashtag?

and that could make all the differenece. 

What is normal?

Nothing is normal and that is okay. Everything is new and will stay new everyday. That is beautiful to think about. Everything changes and always changes and is going to keep changing. So nothing is normal.

I’m going to do my best to keep up. Keep my head above water and make the most out of life. 

Bigger ideas

My ideas right now are small. I have a half baked comment on a quote with a link to a post I read to share, but nothing of my own.

There’s a wealth of ideas out there, but to make something of my own I have to start typing, start working out ideas for myself. I think each post on my blog should be at least 100 words of my own writing. That’s amost nothing.

I would love to start coming out with more regular instalments of 1,000+ word posts, but there is little chance of that happening until I begin with the courage to share my own ideas. I could do it. I know I can. I have the tools and some time I could dedicate to the task.

I’d have tons of time to spend on it if I gave up checking on Google Reader and Twitter so many times each day.

I’d have time to do it if I started with writing first when I have the energy and only moving to reading when my hands get tired.

I could do it if I used the more advanced tools at my disposal, such as Dragon Dictation.

Being a writer doesn’t mean I have to limit myself just to typing to get ideas out of my head. There is any number of ways that I could communicate my ideas, even if they will all ultimatly end up constructed in a sentence on a page.

Making things for the screen is very challenging, but it could also be extremely rewarding. I have a chance with this keyboard and words to share some important ideas with the world. I could come up with some interesting insights to share and it could become a lauch pad for many other accomplishments. I need to be willing to take new chances and try new things to become a writer. I have to start putting myself out there and trying my hand at what I want to be. I need to get to the front page of Hacker News or Digg. I need to show that my ideas are equally valuable and useful in the ‘thought market.’ (Right now my ideas are not that valuable, but I hope to change that in time).

Making things on the web is my favorite activity. That means I need to get better at writing longer works. I need to be willing to put myself out there. I need to try harder to express myself and figure out what My writing is all about.

Words are music. They are the language of the mind and are the best way for me to work through anything that going on in the world, or in my life, or in my mind.

This should be the launch point, the starting block for everything. New ideas will only become apparent as I work thorugh these thoughts. I have to be willing to figure out who I am. That means write.

Write and Write and Write.

And then when I’ve done that until my hands are soar , I should write some more to make sure I have enough words behind me to know that something good has come of it. I have to work. Writing is really hard, but it is the kind of work that matters to me.

Making beautiful words and expressing clear ideas is what I want to accomplish.

My thoughts are too scrambled right now, too fuzzy, and I usually approach the task of writing without any idea of what I’m trying to accomplish.

But it doesn’t have to be like that I could change it if I had to. I could make it different.

• Write a little bit each day
• but do it in chuncks
• so I can get into a flow
• and make a lot of ideas come out at once
• because that’s where I’ll develop inspiration.

Inspiration

I don’t need to go to the internet for inspiration. I need to find it through writing. There will come a time to turn to the internet for ideas and research, but I need to have somthing myself. I need to have a starting point that I can use to get ideas and work out of my head.

I need to inspire myself through writing. Through work. I can find the links later. I can find the quotes and picutures to support what I’m saying later. Right now I need to focus on making things. I need to focus on getting the right start.

Starting is always the hardest part for me, and I will keep struggling with it as long as I let myself.

Just start

But I want to just start. I need to get out the rut I’ve put myself in and just get going.

Making something on the internet is hard, but it happens one page at a time. I don’t need to make a great website. I just need to make a great page. And that page is made up of such small componnents.

Letters, words, sentenses, paragraphs, sections, essay.

That’s what it’s made of. It starts out small and then turns into something. I can turn it into something with hard work and practice.

Nothing happens overnight.

And I wouldn’t want it to. I want to develop myself through effort and practice. I want to make something of myself by practice and by patient and persistent effort.

I’ve bought lottery tickets thinking, “If I win, I’ll finally have the time to…”

But lottery tickets don’t give you time - just money. And money doesn’t make the kinds of things I want to make.

What I want to make takes

• time
• mental discipline
• patience
• practice
• dedication
• editing
• community
• thoughtfulness
• care

When I start taking those things seriously, I will be a writer. But before I start taking it seriously, I shouldn’t expect to have results any different than what I have now. 

Yikes

This works Great!

I should get away from using the Tumblr extension and start putting the first drafts of all my posts into plain text.

The biggest thing that will be missing is images.

like this:

I think the right way to handle it is to download the images I want to post to my computer and then upload them the proper way.

Hot linking is not a good practice, and it will not have the same longevity on my site. Hotlinking Tumblr images will be just fine though, sine it’s all on the same server anyway.

But for making posts of videos and links and other formats, I should work in the standard format without lots of friction or other featues. The bookmarklet is very handy, but it is not as good as making posts from scratch in plain text. This is the format that makes the most sense to me as a geek.

When I dont write…

… I feel like I’m missing an opportunity.

There is something missing from my day when I don’t take the time of express myself. I can spend plenty of time reading and dicking around, but when I don’t have my writing time, I feel lost, and like I missed out of doing something important.

I need to get better about writing first, only moving to social networks and my reading list after I have written a set number of words or have published something I’ve written on my blog.

It takes courage to write. Writing is the act of distilling thoughts and then putting them on display. They will be judged or ignored.

It is impossible to avoid both those outcomes, so it’s clear that I just have to accept one of them.

More dragon

Baby Daniel, I’m glad we get this time together.

Dragon dictation can let me talk while I am sitting on the floor playing with my baby. This is a good reason to have an app like this on an iPhone. I will be will to dictate and record stuff anywhere and everywhere. That was the first perfect recording I think I’ve had on this .

It is impressive how it’s able to capture my voice and turn it into words on the screen. I really should take full advantage of this technology.

It will take some effort to get into this new mode of thinking and expressing my thoughts.

But it could be really good for brainstorming out all kinds of ideas.

It just needs to be short and sweet and to the point.

That’s it.

It is starting to get to know me. They’re been far fewer errors, and I think more the errors I could be attributed to my own miss speeches and stuttering’s rather than to the app’s ability to understand me. That means that it is a viable alternative to typing with my fingers.

I really can’t wait for the new iPhone to come out where I can have this at the ready always. Instead of having to paste things from this app into byword or another text editor, I can just have it directly going into text boxes

From here I just need to practice with it and practice working on ideas. I need to have notes probably elsewhere to read off and keep bullets and idealists so that I can dictate them and flesh out the content.

I don’t know why I’m getting all these extra line breaks. It could be just the way that it starts each new recording. But it does give me some extra space to see, but to edit this I have to delete out all that extra whitespace.

Actually it seems to automatically started each time I record MSI specified in space for the information to go. It is easy to confuse it sometimes by saying specific words that are also used as punctuation marks markers.

It looks like I just lost a bunch of work by exiting out of the program following one of the ads that’s pretty annoying.

I am not sure what I did wrong or if it Sakewitz and yeah, but I’ll have to be very aware of those types of nuances if I’m going to let this Nuance program work for me.

I am joyfully mistaken the rest of the text that I was working on was just below the fold it wasn’t scrolling for one reason or another. I’m glad to know that this program does save my information and data better than I believed it too. Now I’m still trying to figure out if the program starts a new you know what at the end of each time I start over worker continues on the same line.

It does appear to continue on with the same lines so after I start recording again if I want a new you know what I have to say new paragraph just like that.

The words do come really fast with writing with Dragon dictation. I can turn out 500 words of pros very quickly with this program, in a way that I just Windywell to you about take with my fingers.

That said there is still plenty of delays just in the processing speed, and having to gather my thoughts together.

This does not replace be hardest part of writing, which is the thinking.

But it does get me into a better rhythm I think if I was to really sit down and just spend some time with it, I would find that I am able to express a lot of thoughts and a lot of my ideas onto the screen of relatively short period time.

I just hope that I don’t get too tripped up with the process saying and the length of the recording that I’m able to do. The other thing I’m concerned about is getting confused with having to speak all my punctuation.

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