by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
I’m really tired.
Taking on the challenge of writing every day has been surprisingly exhausting. If I didn’t have a day job, I think the challenge would have been slightly easier, since I would have an open schedule to work with. Instead, I got up this morning at 3:30 so I could make it to work by 5:00. I got home at about 2:30 after fighting traffic for 25 miles and stopping off to pick up my dry cleaning – so I’ll have something clean to wear tomorrow when I get up at 3:30 to do it all again.
Don’t get me wrong – I’m very thankful for my day job, but (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Lifestyle Design, Productivity, Writing
Recently I wrote a post looking at how past success can play a part in present and future failures. Basically, if we focus too heavily on past successes, we run the risk of not working as hard on future projects; or we try too hard to top the last pinnacle and make a mess of things in the process.
Today, let’s look at it from a different angle. (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Yesterday I posted about my resistance to making traditional outlines for my written work. The problem with that is that the human brain (mine, anyway) can only organize and keep track of a limited amount of information before it starts making critical mistakes; which means I need a different method to organize my writing.
Enter Mind Mapping.
Last night I downloaded the freeware version of XMind 2012. This is the first program I’ll be evaluating as an alternative to the standard, bulleted outline in a Word document.
My first impression of XMind after I downloaded it was (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
When it comes to writing, I’m not a planner.
I’m much more of a seat of the pants kind of guy. I always hated the old model of outline, rough draft, revisions – and, at long last – the finished product.
In high school, I would do it in reverse so that I could get credit – I’d write the final draft of a paper, then go back and write progressively messier, rougher versions so I could fulfill the requirement to turn in outlines and rough drafts.
My problem was I always thought in terms of (more…)
by MP MacDougall | Productivity, Writing
Nick Thacker at Live Hacked has a great post about how Scrivener can help writers to organize not only their thoughts, but their projects as well. Nick does a much better job explaining the capabilities of Scrivener than I ever could, so check his post for all the details. For the condensed version, suffice it to say that I bought the full Scrivener program after using the 30-day free trial for just two days. I would have bought it after the first day, but I got distracted by something or other (LOOK! A SQUIRREL!!! Dang adult ADD). (more…)
