Month: April 2011

I create, write and develop in text files. As a writer, my goal is to write, and the less distractions I can have the more I tend to write. In case you don’t know, if you put something shinny close to me, I will get distracted, therefore, in order to write well, I need to focus on the the words, and have the less amount of distractions possible. That was the reason I want it to write in the iPad, the reason my iPad is a Writer Tool.
Even tough I have in my MacBook great software, like Scrivener, the problem of create in the mac, is that has other great software, I can hit command+tab or command+space and be gone in a second, get back to writing after that is always a mess. I eventually get back, but the process is so inefficient. For editing, I go back to the mac, most likely Scrivener if no one will interact with the file o is a private review or if i am interacting with people I tend to use Microsoft Word or Apple Pages.
But nothing beat a text file for creation, you can’t add bold, underline or  italics, you can’t use fancy font, or fancy format, but you can create text and images (verbal ones) like there is no tomorrow.
I have been learning, to simplify, to learn to have what I need, to have enough. I am not looking for minimal, I am looking for enough, and that’s exactly what text files provide, enough, enough to create, enough to imagine, enough to produce.
I said in the past, that in this moment I am using Nebulous for create text, for two main reasons, sync in any folder I choose in DropBox and that help me keep my notebooks in order in Scrivener, and second, use the whole screen.
The first time I heard about using just plain text to write, I honestly got bored and confused, why someone would want to use less, when you can do much more with other software, but I have learn now that I can create better text when I am not distracted changing sizes, making it bold, or justifying the line I m doing. If I do this same text you are reading here in Apple Pages, for example, I will be so tempted, to check, move, and play, instead, working with text files there is no temptation, there is no risk, but there is an incredible amount of freedom that you can find on the simplicity of the file.
So I learn to work with enough, in this case a Text File, and focus on the task on hand, write & create…
 

If you have an iPad and don’t have DropBox, please stop reading, go to www.DropBox.com and get your free account before reading this post, yes your life will be that good after.
DropBox gives you 2GB of free online storage, that come to be incredible useful to interact with the iPad. You can get more space if you need it (and I encourage to do it, if you can) but in the worst case scenario, you can get your free 2GB and get even more out of the iPad, and that will change the way you interact with the iPad forever.
I am a fiction writer, so most of what I do require text. I write in text files, using a software called Nebulous Notes. (You can try the free version of their software here. The reason I use this one over one of the multiple options is that is one of the best softwares for the use of full screen in the iPad, that is really important for me, and also it doesn’t save the files in my DropBox until I tell them to, so I avoid delete files by autosave. Also, and this for me is really important, save the file in the directory I ask in DropBox and not in a fix folder as other text editors for the iPad do, and that is for me key, because, this later on, interact with my favorite piece of software in the Mac, Scrivener, but that’s another story.
I also use DropBox to interact with another piece of software called GoodReader that is one of the most useful app you can get in your iPad. Also if you don’t have it, stop reading and pick it up. GoodReader allow you to get files from your DropBox into your iPad, wireless and well as by USB,  allow you to sync folders, allow you to read and annotate PDFs, that is one of the apps that make the iPad a super tool.
If you use Pages, Apple’s word processor, you can additionally subscribe to a service called Dropwab, that will allow you to access the files in your DropBox from Pages directly, since allow you to use your DropBox account as a WebDAV server, that is the only way that Apple has allow you so f to interact with Pages. I don’t use this service, since I don’t use Pages in the iPad, as I said before my text entry, is in text files, but this is another way to access the important files between your Mac or Pc and the iPad if you work with Pages/word documents.
Do you remember, when the first pen drives begin to show up?, yes, do you remember how precious they were?, DropBox is the next pen drive, but you will not have to carry the physical thing, you just interact with it, you put your files, and can be access from any machine, but in the case of the iPad really makes the case for an indispensable tool for productivity.
When people ask me how is that I can do all that I do in the iPad, when it’s not. Laptop, I smile and without a doubt think on my little secret. DropBox.

When I got my iPad a little over a year ago, my plan was to use it for my writer career, and to eliminate the need to carry my MacBook most of the time. At the beginning that failed, I was using my iPad extensively, but the typing on the screen was painful for me. I got the external keyboard, but carrying the iPad and the expernal keyboard only give me the advantage of the great battery life. I begin looking for a better solution, before one of my good frineds told me that I need it to learn to type on that thing.
I most clarify, that he is also a Writer, so even that I tough he was crazy, I stop an listen. Apparently I was not the only one with this issue of typing. I can type 70wpm (Words per Minute) on a physical keyboard. If you don’t know how much you can type, you can go to places like this one an do a free test, the result may surprise you. For a Writer, words per minute is an essential skill. If you type for two hours a day at 20wpm you end up with 2,400 words, if you do 70wpm you will end up with 8,400 words. So the difference in the Writer work, that is mostly measure in wpm, is significant.
The problem was I was typing less than 20wpm in the iPad, no wonder was a pain, that was 50wpm less than a physical one. I went to the AppStore and got a app to learn to type. Was that or get rid of the iPad, at least as a Writer tool. Did I mention that I love the thing.
Two weeks later, I am typing over 40wpm, I am slower, and make more mistakes than in a physical keyboard, but is improving to the point that isn’t as painful as it was before, and the improvement is giving me hope, that I am going to be able to reach the same level I do on a physical keyboard soon.
The iPad had get to be my main machine, more and more. Now that I am learning to type on it again, is getting closer to be a better writing tool than before. How fast are you typing? Did you learn to type in yours?

I remember when I finish my first novel, I was 19. I tough is was like in the movies, you type ‘The End’ and the story was there. In a way today, I continue hoping the same, even that I know is not. The story was, but I learn later that it was in his most vulgar, and raw form. When I wrote ‘The Writer’, the novel that I will be publishing in May, I remember reading that first draft (actually the third first draft, since I toss the first two) it was bad, poor, it need it so much work and love, vulgar and raw.
Many hours later, it was done, and I was able to send it to beta readers and have fun with it, but it wasn’t that fist daft that make the book readable, but was that draft that put the rules, and the guidelines for the next steps. Going from first draft to readable draft is painful, difficult, but it can also be fun, I could see how much the story grow, how much I miss little things, how much I amaze myself with others.
This weekend I finish the first draft of my next novel, today, I will begin editing, and I am not sure yet, if I will toss it or will work on it, but I am sure, that if it’s decent enough, understand that set the guidelines of the story good enough, I will have a lot of nights, editing the job, and making it to other people can read it too, and hopefully even enjoy it.
The mighty first daft is an important step in the writing journey, but you can’t forget is just that, a step, you need to continue writing, you need to clean, to fix, to make sense and to remove all the fat that isn’t in any way part of the story, otherwise, what you have is a journal entry, but not a novel, or worse, something that your reader will not be able to enjoy.