State of the Union: Technology and Time
I decided about a month ago I was wasting precious time on the internet checking blogs and webcomics manually that I could be wasting on the internet in new and different ways. I finally buckled down and set everything I could up in Google Reader. I'm subscribed to about 100 different sites and I seem to get around 50-60 updates per day. The nice thing about it is that I can prioritize what I read, mark off things that aren't interesting to me, not worry that I'm "missing" anything, I can read from my computer or my phone, and unless I have a strong personal reaction to an entry- I don't generally read comments threads. The bad is that I feel like I'm obligated to read everything (though I'm getting better at this) and I read almost no comment threads. There's often some really amazing stuff in some of the comment threads but reading through them is incredibly time consuming and often bad for the blood pressure. I think that for me, right now, the time I'm getting back and the generally improved mental space by not reading them is worth the gems I'm missing. This might change in the future, but for now it's going well.
I updated to Scrivener 2.0 - loving it. There's some improved commenting, tools, and general tweaks that make it worth its cost 10x over. I also did my first critique of someone else's WIP via a Scrivener file and I have to admit that worked INCREDIBLY well. Because I also use Scrivener it was really easy to grok how the other writer was thinking about things and where the holes they knew about were vs. the ones they didn't. I'm not quite willing to send out my general Scrivener WIP files (I use A LOT of photo reference and web references I embed into my research folders--not to mention all those story orphans and bits that aren't ready for the light of day) but I think I might make a Beta Reader file for my own projects going forward.
I installed Dropbox on my computer and phone. This allows me to access my in-process documents from either or the web and is an added layer of redundant backups in case one of my devices goes kaput. I also have Scrivener to automatically back up each of my WIP files to my Dropbox folder every time I close one so this layer of redundancy has become pretty much passive.
I dramatically upgraded my phone from a flip phone to a Droid 2. I can never go back. Considering that anything other than short fiction or short notes I generally write longhand in a notebook, with the phone to access my files, internet sources, Google Reader, Twitter, and connect with friends-- I can go without a 'proper' computer for long stretches and keep working. I still have to type everything up on a real keyboard eventually, but I don't need one for the day to day. If anyone has Android Aps they recommend let me know (though I think I've probably got most of the major ones-- with the exception of Angry Birds which I'm not installing.)
I'm also using Evernote to jot down various ideas, notes and what have you while I'm on the go or things I want to reference on the go. It automatically syncs like Dropbox does, but its uses are more text specific. I wish that it autosaved on the droid but other than that it's pretty amazing.
I've stopped watching live television. I DVR a few things and I have Netflix but I don't follow any shows as they air. I'm trying to read a lot more too which cuts into television and movie time-- but that's a good trade. I would still go see new movie releases if I didn't live in the someplace there's one movie theater with one movie and one showing per day and the audio quality of a 90's sedan with two speakers blown. Going to see a new movie is generally an all-day affair requiring extensive driving or something that happens when we travel for other things. I'd prefer to be seeing a new movie every couple weeks, but it is what it is.
I stopped gaming in April or May of 2010 (I think-- somewhere around there). With the exception of Wii Fit I'm just not playing games. I didn't install any on my new phone and I uninstalled everything on my laptop. I do miss it, and I hope to have occasional gaming binges in the future but I don't really see myself being a gamer going forward. Given my past history, its a little sad and a little surprising but it's simply a matter of time and personal failings. I am totally incapable of moderating my gaming. The brain reward I get from playing games is apparently the one drug I can't be trusted with. Maybe this will change in the future, maybe it won't. I don't know. I just know I have 30-60 hours a week back and I've been very productive with them (20k novella, 80k towards a novel and various short fiction). I'd like to continue being productive in the future.
Now here's an amazing arrangement of Toto's Africa to distract you from how boring I am.
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