The Secret Notebook of Walter Mitty
Imagine my surprise when I see what I think is a Moleskine in one of my favorite movies of all time.
How To Write Horror
I love it! I wish I was a better writer, well maybe I wish I was a better salesman so that I could get some of the crap I write sold, but that is another rant.
Anyway, I’ve been writing horror most of my little writing life, and I never had to stop and wonder how to do it. I have questioned my use of punctuation, and I have kicked myself because of my atrocious spelling, but I have never even thought to ask how other people write horror.
Here are a few links I’ve found with some pretty good info:
Writing Horror Literature
Articles from the Fiction Factor
What Makes a Horror Writer
So Who Wants to be a Horror Writer
Happy 2 Moleskinerie
Since I first saw a Moleskine notebook on the Idea web site about three years ago, I have been using them to keep notes, but it wasn’t until I found Moleskinerie.com that I learned what fun the little darlings can be.
Show your Moleskine love with the Moleskine armband hack.
The First Flock Specific Extension: Technorati Extension for Flock
Flock user and community participant Erwan Loisant has written the first known extension designed specifically for Flock. He’s tapped into our topbar UI to develop an extension that displays technorati links relevant to the current page. This is very cool and is just the sort of thing we’re hoping to make it much easier for Flock users to do in the future. Great work, Erwan!
And boy is it cool! All you have to do is drag any link from the page you’re browsing, and drop it on the Drop Link to Lookup icon in the top right hand corner of your flock topbar. A few second later and you have a list of relevant links to scroll through in the listbox at the top left.
technorati tags: software, freeware, browser, mozilla, flock, extensions
foXpose for flock
I’ve been using flock almost since the time it of its first release–I love it! One thing that was missing, in fact the only thing missing, was all the cool extensions. Well I found a place where you can get flock extensions. One currently hot extension is foXpose.
Pimp your flock with other sweet extensions:
The Ultimate Flock Extension List
Flock Extensions
technorati tags: software, freeware, lifehack, browser, flock, extensions
Oblique Strategies Widget for Windows Users
David Seah (one of my favorite bloggers) mentioned that he had discovered an Oblique Strategies widget for the Mac OSX Dashboard. I don’t use a Mac, but I have been using the Kapsules (for Windows) Oblique Strategies widget for about six months.
I have even found a similar widget for the Yahoo! Widget Engine (formerly Konfabulator).
Fear not you huddled Windows masses, I’m trying to keep up.
technorati tags: dashboard, lifehack, widget, software, freeware
One Year Anniversary
One year ago today, I wanted to write a book. Life got in the way. One month ago, I wanted to write a novel, again life got in the way.
50 Ways to Stop Screwing Off.
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Curt Rosengren at The Occupational Adventure has some great, almost forehead slappingly simple, advice for the achievement challenged writers among us.
If you\’re going to create a career that makes you feel alive, the responsibility lies with you to make it happen. Nobody else is going to do it for you. And inevitably there will be times along the way when you just don\’t feel like it and procrastination threatens to get the upper hand.
- Pay yourself
- Write to music
- Unplug the TV
- Carry a notepad
- Identify your best hours
- Light a candle
- Binge!
Confused? Worry not, all will be explained after the jump.
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Lifehack My Gift to You: The Internet Self-esteem Powerbar
Ok, it’s Christmas time and coming up on my blog’s one year anniversary so I’d gotten you all video iPods–then I watched The Office and saw what evil can come from ignoring the secret Santa $20 spending limit, so I returned them all. I can’t give you kind reader’s expensive electronics but I can give you one kick ass lifehack.
This year I’ve gotten you all an online gift certificate for self-esteem. I am giving you (in no particular order) a list of links that are guaranteed to make you feel superior to everyone around you, albeit at the expense of others.
Where disgruntled workers share their inter-office horror stories. If you don’t feel better after reading the one about the employer who saves money by docking people for being late for meetings, there is no help.
Nothing makes you feel superior better than pointing out other peoples mistakes, especially when they are in writing. The Eggcorn Database gives you a repository of self-image bolstering snippets. It’s like a Powerbar for the ego-impaired.
The guy who brought you Lapsing into a Comma, and The Elephants of Style, Bill Walsh, from time to time, derides writers, and other editors for the tiny errors that slip through the cracks.
Take pleasure in watching as
If you know of any others, leave a comment.
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Power to the programmer: powerful Windows text editors.
I have to snigger smugly to myself when I see Mac users giddily pee-peeing themselves over something as ubiquitous as a text editor–albeit a suped-up programmer’s editor–but I do understand why; there just ain’t that much out there for Mac users.
The most recent example of urine drenched Mac-lemming giddiness comes from WebMonkey via LifeHacker. Heidi Pollock (refrain from meathead jokes please) said: “The day I discovered TextWrangler — the heir apparent to everyone’s beloved BBEdit Lite — I swear my eyes welled up with tears of joy.” What we’re talking about is a scriptable, configurable, syntaxt high-lighting, source code debugging, text editor. That might be a short list for Mac but for Windows the list is Ensteinian in its proportions.
You may join me in my derisive laughter. No? Well let me give you a short list of reasons to laugh right along with me.
NoteTab (one upon a time known as Super NoteTab) is a tabbed text editor with a built-in scripting language that allows users to control the interface.
Another handy gadget included with NoteTab is the clipbook editor. With clipbooks you can store huge swaths of text embedded with replaceable parameters that either prompt for input or wrap around selected text. With the clipbook repository, users can download tools to help develop in languages from AutoLisp to VRML.
Save text directly to your handheld device, convert CSV files to HTML tables, search the web, create a rolodex, email your text, all from within the application.
ConTEXT is the TARDIS of text editors–it is bigger on the inside than it look on the outside.
With unlimited file size, an unlimited number of tabs, an unlimited number of syntax highlighters (download them as plugins, or create your own custom highlighters), multiple human language support, code templates, file explorer, file compare, support for multiple file formats (DOS, Unix, and Mac), and more. You can see why I call it the TARDIS of text editors.
A couple really standout items are the macro recorder, and the command line handler. You could almost replace the standard Windows shell with ConTEXT…I might just give that a try.
It’s so small it fits on a floppy, which means that I keep a copy of it on my portable
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