Continue reading »]]> My wife and I have this game. We like to call it “Are we really moving this desk yet again?” The game goes like this:

1. We arrange the basement office.

2. We make a change to our living arrangement. (Say, a basement flood or a pregnancy.) This change necessitates household change.

3. We rearrange the office.

4. Another change happens. (Say, we knock down a wall to create a larger bedroom.)

5. We arrange the office yet again, to account for it.

We just managed to finally land (once again) on a long-term setup in the basement. We think. It’s entirely possible the baby will show up and demand we do another radical change. But in the mean-time, I have my standing desk, a sitting desk, and somewhere to “curl up” and write.

See, this is my problem. When I’m doing “active work,” like replying to email and updating numbers, I like to stand. At any given time, really, I prefer to stand. However, I prefer to sit at a desk when doing things like paying bills. That’s because I keep paper notes as I work. And then, when I’m deep-diving on a book or a post, I prefer to curl up in a chair.

This probably sounds like a ridiculously high number of working arrangements, but I’m doing my best to squeeze as much productivity out of every possible day. So, now that we’re back in a good arrangement, I’m pretty excited. We’ll see how long it lasts.

Continue reading »]]> Somewhere between home and landing at Starbucks this morning, I had the unsettling realization I’m that guy. That father. My Apple is my sidearm and my homebrew is my canteen, all holstered in a tasteful canvas bag. Okay, but seriously, this is the Sarlacc-maw unto which I’ve fallen:

• I homebrew my own beer because it tastes better than affordable alternatives. Homebrew beer (even when I rush it because I’m out!) costs about 40% of retail prices for craft beer.
• I’m totally an Apple guy. I work on my MacBook Pro, carry my iPhone 4S with me non-stop. My home network runs on an AirPort Extreme, which also provides internet to my Apple TV.
• I don’t wear shoes unless I must. Sandals serve as my token nod to foot safety for 11 months out of the year. Sure, it gets cold outside, and I’ll put boots on for snow… but otherwise, I’m all-barefoot all the time. (I wear Vibrams a bit, but since I have a Roman Toe, it’s tough. I haven’t modded them yet.)
• Kat and I are doing a homebirth: no medication, no induction, nada. Of course, if there’s an emergency, it is what it is. Otherwise, we’re rocking the midwifery.
• I write content for a living, as well as curate and perform social media duties. I am, essentially, a pro-blogger with a hefty dose of business and marketing on the side.
• I carry my iPhone in a faux-book cover (the Book Book).
• I prefer canvas bags, though I’m using a Targus as a portable office.
• We make our own beef jerky.
• Breastfeeding and cloth diapers all the way. Nary a T-Shirt in the house will exist but that it is turned into a cloth diaper at some point.
• I totally have a book coming out in a few weeks.
• I haven’t cut my hair in years, because I don’t see the point in spending the money. My wife will cut my hair soon, once we get a few free hours to play with it. I’m getting shaggy.
• I grew my beard literally to save time.
• My dog is a Labrador Tableshark.
• I live in the mountains; specifically, at the cross-section of the Appalachians and whatever-is-north-of-here.

Well, that’s great. I’m sure there’s more if I really wanted to enumerate all the ways in which I’m that guy. For now, I think I’ll finish up this post so I can go to the craft-beer in Old Town Frederick and have Oatmeal Stout for breakfast.

Crap, did it again.

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Well, it’s been a busy few months. Time to reconstruct my To Do list a bit. Why? Well, it’s got to do with the sheer damned volume of daily tasks, weekly tasks, and even monthly tasks.

See, in the course of my duties, I have a hand-full of things I do every day. This includes updating some social metrics, uploading some video, and updating some other key website things. I do that every single day, so for each item.. I have a To Do item.

Other goals include 3-5 larger items a week, 1 big item a week, and a few other similar tasks. I’d originally created a daily task, with the implication being that if I couldn’t field the item, I’d postpone or delete it. Then, other floating tasks (say, write a post about Safari), I had a separate daily task for.

This was my way of making sure that I hit every item every day. It worked great when I had a small list of items (say, a dozen) to work through each day. However, over time, I quickly found I had 20 to 30 daily tasks, many of which didn’t actually need to be executed daily. I was just working on them in that order and my To Do list became a huge cluttered mess.

Time for some renovation. I’m not entirely sure how I’m going to organize it going forward, but I think I’ll go with a more deadline-oriented way. Essentially, I need to stop orienting myself daily, instead with an eye toward long-term goals. The idea is that I’ll move away from a daily list of tasks and move toward a more goal-based list.

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I get this from time to time. “Gray, why’s your blog so ugly?” Well, first, le gasp, I am l’offended. Okay, no, not really, but I’ll admit I got some work to do here. Why’s my blog so ugly?

For the last month or two, I’ve been working more in editorial, social, and administrative than pure writing. However, before that, it was not uncommon for me to write 7k to 10k words in a day. Hell, I still do that here and there.

Try writing and blogging for a living then “coming home” at the end of a day and updating a website. Hooboy, not easy. But in preparation for releasing Turing’s Wife and Whispered, I knew I needed to transition. So I blew up my old (quite attractive!) blog, picked up a new theme (tired of wrestling with Thesis), and threw this thing together.

I play with it in my spare time, between preparing to be a father and keeping up with my full-time job. All that being said, I think it’s actually coming along quite nicely. My to-do items for the site include:

– A little more content. While promo material will go under the slider eventually, it’s obviously not there now. Also need to take down the Holocomm stuff since … well, you know.

– Better picture res, maybe update the background.

– More stuff.

Still, you know. One day at a time.

Continue reading »]]> Plenty of controversy made the rounds last month, all circling around the infamous Pinterest Terms of Service, its violation of copyright, and the inevitable specter of content theft. Here’s the bulletpoint summary:

• Users pin content to Pinterest from websites
• Pinterest ToS claims the user must own said content (but that never happens)
• Websites/content owners were upset that content was being stolen and place onto Pinterest

This is a situation I’m obviously fairly sensitive to. I sit on each side of the hexagonal fence: I’m a content creator, owner, and consumer, as well as a social media guy. I literally create content that is stolen, in both image and text form. Yup, even video. I consume other people’s content, sometimes voraciously. And working as a social media professional, I am constantly involved with what’s going on at sites like Reddit and Pinterest.

Pinterest provided a solution to content owners: you can insert a bit of code on your site called nopin. This nopin code prevents Pinterest users from automatically pinning your content to the social network. That’s great, but here’s what it doesn’t prevent: Copy and paste. Screenshots. Summaries. Everything else that leads to content being stolen.

While nopin is a meaningful gesture from Pinterest, I don’t think that’s really the point. As both content creators and consumers, we need to be more savvy about how content comes into being. Often, there’s only a few folks responsible for each bit of popular content. Not a faceless corporation: just a few hard-working folks trying to make a living.

It reminds me of the No Script or Adblocker thing. These add-ons are vital security tools because of the malicious code that frequently finds its way into Flash (and other) advertisements. But when you blocks ads, the content creator doesn’t get paid. You “pay” for content on websites by also viewing the ads.

While content creators are scrambling to find ways to pay the bills and monetize their work, a little understanding from consumers would go a long way. When you see a bit of content you like, whether it’s a picture or a funny article, take the time to visit the original website. When you post someone’s meme or image, link back to the original source.

As a content creator, I’m almost never bothered to see my content spread. Hell, I’m usually downright excited. But my hope is — the end of the bargain I want a reader to meet — is that you’ll spread the word about me, about my content, and someone will support me.

To tie this back to the original point, that’s why I don’t think nopin will be successful. I do want people to spread word about my content; I just hope the people who share and read will then come visit the site, buy my stuff, and support my efforts.

Pinterest is just advertising, a way to stay involved with a consumer. Remember this whole kerfluffle at the time of RSS? This isn’t new, and this also isn’t going away. Let’s embrace it instead.

Continue reading »]]> As a productivity fan who spends untold hours trying out new tools, experimenting with methods, and constantly checking and re-checking his To-Do list, there is one tool I keep going back to: Remember the Milk. There are other To-Do apps with more advanced options, of course. But RTM corners the market in reliability for me.

RTM’s free-text To-Do creation, clean interface, and cross-platform integration is what keeps me coming back. I can track and adjust my lists on my iPhone or in a web-browers. That integration alone is worth it; I use my iPhone to update the list while roaming the house (change bedsheets: done) and use the web for office tasks on my Mac (write blog post: done).

I’ll talk a lot about To-Do lists and their irreplaceable part in productivity. But since I just updated my Pro membership in RTM this morning, I figured I’d share this tool here. Believe me when I say that RTM deserves my 25 bucks. I use it all day, every day. Sorry if I sound like a sales rep; that’s not my intention. RTM is just really that good.

Continue reading »]]> I usually write my blog posts at the end of the day. This is because I use it as a wrap-up, a way to spit out a few thoughts that I’ve had, and a mental note to myself that I’m done with the day. Right now, I’ve had a brainstorm issue I want to get out right away. I’ve considered it several times but it’s bugging me right now. Here’s the anecdote:

A company I worked with in a former life is having a Twitter problem. This Twitter problem is caused by changes in their client tools and it’s one they obviously haven’t noticed. I recognize the problem because I’ve had it myself. I attempted to contact their social media team via Direct Message; I didn’t want to public tweet it because I don’t want to put egg on their faces. I’m fond of this company, even if I haven’t directly worked with them for years.

I could not send this Direct Message because they don’t follow me back. I glanced at their website, didn’t see the email address of people I know, and gave up. I’d invested more time in the company than your average consumer would, anyway.

A lot of people put credibility stock in their own follow/followed ratio. They like to follow a few people, but be followed by many. These people think it makes them look cool.

That’s bullshit. If you’re running a business and you want to serve your customers (or if you want someone to be able to talk to you), you should follow them back. Let me put it plainly: your customers cannot contact you via DM on Twitter if you don’t follow them. That’s all the discussion there should be.

And finally, just as damning, social games like “I want to be the coolest kid” have no place in a competitive social media environment. By using Lists, you can manage your incoming stream as easily as by only following a few people.

Not following your followers is a great way to tell someone you don’t give a rat’s ass about them. So follow your followers back.

Continue reading »]]> One of my favorite hobbies is productivity. Seriously, I spend an immense amount of time dwelling on how to be productive, researching techniques, and focusing on things I can do to squeeze a little more oomph out of my day.

My wife is no doubt tired of hearing me babble on about it. No sooner does someone like Lifehacker post a new productivity method before I’m trying it out, screwing around with the method, and seeing how it goes. I wonder around the house in mortal terror of “idling out” and giving up my productivity for any moment of time.

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned is that you need to set yourself up for success. What I mean by that is that you have to constantly make sure you’re making life choices that support productivity and keep your life streamlined.

As a small example, let’s say you want to save time by cutting down on dusting. (Do you dust? I don’t think I really do.) Dusting is a huge waste of time if you can possibly avoid it. So, you want to cut down on dusting.

Now consider that bookshelf. Sure, everyone likes to set out statues and knick-knacks. But every statue is something that needs to be dusted and moved. Stocking that shelf with clutter increases the amount of time you’re dusting.

So when I say “Set yourself up for success,” make the choice to not set out extra clutter. Make choices that keep you focused on your productivity and kicking out a little more work. I’m talking about this “Setting yourself up for success” here first because I plan to talk about it plenty in the future.

Continue reading »]]> A new syndication location has appeared; it’s super effective! Okay, it’s hard to turn “a new syndication partner has run one of my pieces” into a meme, but I had to give it a shot. You can find this piece over at The Saturday Evening Post. While this probably isn’t my most ambitious piece I’ve ever written, it’s nothing but solid, good tips for travelers.

My excitement should be obvious. The Saturday Evening Post traces its history all the way back to Benjamin Franklin, a personal hero of mine. Especially as a Boy Scout, the Rockwellian impact of The Saturday Evening Post could always been felt around my home. It was a family magazine. While we didn’t read it sitting next to each other, obviously, we all shared each issue.

I’m sharing this syndication — and other select syndications — here on this blog so that you can get an idea of where my work appears. I won’t list every time syndicated work appears, obviously, because that could get pretty boring very quickly. Still, it’s good to share.

Continue reading »]]> Well, the web site is finally coming along. That’s a fairly big deal to me; I’m finding myself happier with the colors, getting the widgets together, and otherwise feeling good about it. I know it’s not the same as actually finishing the book, but I just wanted to get a little bit more of this To-Do off my list. I’m odd like that. Also, I got a lot of writing done today and needed a break.

As you probably know at this point, I’m going to be fairly transparent about my adventures in self-publishing. Nor will I be the only one. I have the good fortune of having been curator-published repeatedly in the past, whether in print journalism, online writing, and elsewhere. I’ve always learned a lot from that, but striking out as an independent author is still a little challenging. Now that I have the web site (more or less) out of the way, the path forward feels considerably more clear.

I also picked up this guide to building an online community from a compatriot, and I’ll be spending some time with it over the weekend.

Written today:
Commercial: ~3k
Book based: Zilch. (But I did the web site!)