More than anything, this space is a conduit for Jorge to share and reflect on things pertaining to the web, life, current events, photography and anything of interest. Feel free to or learn more about him.
One of my commitments for 2010 is to regain once again the habit of keeping a weekly planner. There’s just too many dates, errands and work related stuff to remember and honestly the process of inputing it all on the iPhone is an inconvenience since I don’t carry it with me during work hours. Desktop apps don’t work either since I’m not in front of a computer all day and plus, I still prefer the feel of jotting down on paper.
What generally prevents me from using a planner is thinking that I need to first find the perfect one but sometimes the best mentality to accomplish something is to stop searching for that perfect tool and choose what will get the job done because the search takes away the focus of doing what you’re suppose to and in my case that’s taking notes.
I went with At A Glance’s Planning & Note Taking Hybrid and have been consistent with the pen and paper thus far.
Writing can sometimes be a nebulous process. In school we’re taught that to establish an early sense of purpose in what we write, there’s the need to take that information to mold, to stretch and to dig deep into its potential by creating an outline of what we hope to get across. Some still practice it, some don’t. Larry Brooks distinguishes the two by name. The Organic writers and the Outliners. You choose the approach that works for you without sacrificing quality.
To write a successful story, you can’t wing it and expect to get to the promised land. That doesn’t mean you need an outline, it means you need a foundational core competency in story architecture. No matter how you write.
Once you have it, you can wing it all you want. Your stories will come out in the right sequence with proper pacing. Or, you can get there by constructing outlines that yield stories in which everything is in the right place at the right time.
Compelling article that discusses how much information is enough? How much is too much? And, most importantly, how much information is optimal? Should your website have concise or in-depth content? Here’s the breakdown:
I’m a fan of both “in a nutshell” and “extended” display of content on blogs. As long as the content is appealing enough to me, I make time for dedicated reading of it regardless of the length.
I wish I could have that kind of open affair with my Moleskine like every other proud owner has had with their notebook. I own quite a few, each varying in size and paper formats and my intention investing in them was so that they could serve as an invitation to pour out casual ideas while on the go but lately I’ve done more carrying than writing with it. I think I’ve become just enamored with the concept of owning a Moleskine with zero substance in saying that I used them.
It’s not that expectations weren’t met with them but I’ve concluded that it’s my commitment to the actual note taking with a pen and paper that I lack. I do well in a work setting but not in my personal life. Most of my organizing, scheduling and writing is accomplished electronically and I’m more quick to whip out my iPhone than to scrambled to find something to write on.
Just recently I was grumbling about my aversion towards Marker Felt, which as you know is the default font in the Notes application. Simply put, it’s just ugly to look at and if the purpose of taking notes is to ultimately refer back to these important tidbits of information, the font itself will keep me away from ever looking at them again and that’s just silly.
Fast forward to a couple days later and DF goes and writes a detailed piece on an app that truly lives up to its name: Simplenote. Gruber writes:
Simplenote’s developers clearly studied what is good about Notes and thought about how to make something that is good in the same ways, but improves upon its major shortcomings.
I love the minimal elegant interface, the instant search feature but above all the syncing that the application uses with a secure web app. There’s no need to transcribe anything back to your desktop because it’s readily available for you to copy & paste anywhere you want or to continue any thought you had started on your iPhone.
Copying an idea just doesn’t work. You have to improve on what’s already out there and Simplenote does an exceptional job in accomplishing that. Mostly importantly to me, it’s instilled back the beauty of on-the-go note taking even if there’s no pen involved. Ultimately it’s the content that matters.
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