You see, despite the fact that I’m running a blog and downloading and tweaking pictures and modifying snippets of PHP code in my blog theme, things are really very low tech in this here domicile.

As of two days ago, the setup was: A ten-year old HP Pavilion desktop system in the den where I work, a seven-year old Acer desktop system in the dining room where my wife works, a LexMark Scanner/printer connected to my machine, and an HP inkjet printer connected to the other machine.

The HP Pavilion was recently upgraded to a real, whole Gigabyte of RAM, and the Acer was grinding along with a painful 256 Megabytes of RAM. The Acer was becoming nearly unusable. Like I said, seriously low tech. We might just as well have using smoke signals and stone tablets.

Now, this guy knows how to fix a computer.

Yesterday, I called around to see if I could obtain some more SDRAM for the Acer machine. I figured it would be expensive, being older memory, but I was prepared to bite the bullet just to get that machine up to some sort of reasonable functioning. One of the places I called said that, while they didn’t have any SDRAM, they did have some old IBM systems that had two gigs of RAM in them, plus a faster processor than either of the machines here in the old household. Plus, they were on special: Down from $199.99 to $99.99

I veritably zoomed over there to have a look. I figured that if these machines were any good at all, I could pick one up for myself and replace the chugging Acer with my HP. It would just be a matter of swapping the disks around.

Well, it’s at this point that I cease going into detail. Suffice it to say that what started out as a two or three hour proposition at most turned into an all day affair that ran well into the evening. Disks were removed and reinstalled numerous times. Windows XP was repaired, reinstalled, and re-reinstalled several times. A 120-gigabyte disk with video projects on it was lost in the process. I still don’t know what happened to cause it to fail, but thankfully there was nothing on it that we’d accessed recently.

As of hitting the wall last night and heading for bed, things were in a disastrous state. Neither computer had Windows XP fully installed and configured, there was no internet access, and I was furious. Profanities were uttered. Teeth were gnashed. Large corporations were ritually cursed.

Today, I managed to start putting pieces of Humpty back together again. As of this writing, both computers have all their video, audio, and network drivers installed and operational, the internet is working, Google Chrome and AVG Anti-Virus are installed, and the world is starting to look like a friendly place again. There are still many software applications to install, and our documents still need to be retrieved from their backup locations, but the machines are working, and there is much improved speed on all fronts.

Despite the techno-disaster of yesterday, I managed to get in a blog post before the day was out. It was fearful close to midnight when I published the entry last night, but I managed it. And I cheated a bit: I published the text before tweaking it and adding the image and video.

Tonight is a lost cause. It’s already after midnight as I write this (well, four minutes after midnight), and I’m typing as fast as I can. I’m going to cheat again and backdate this entry on my blog so it shows up in the right day. Extenuating circumstances permit me to feel no guilt whatsoever about this.

So, yes, I’m looking forward to a glimpse of slick, futuristic, Stark-style technology when I plant my tired bum in a movie theatre seat and let the images of Iron Man 2 wash over me. It will be a welcome reprieve from the seriously out-of-date techno-world in which I exist daily.

When I finally get a netbook, I’m naming him Jarvis.

Don’t forget to leave the light on. But turn off those noisy old computers, okay?

(And here’s a glimpse of the high-tech future that’s happening today. The Iron Man suit is not as far fetched as we might have thought.)

This is no mean feat for me. It’s forever been a challenge, and I’m one of those people who always seems to have six zillion things bouncing around in my brain and never enough time to focus on any of them.

I’ve often thought there was something wrong with me, because I never seemed to be able to focus on any one thing. My interests are many and varied, and I’ve just never managed to narrow things down to my One True Passion™. Writing has always been there, but so have music, videography, web design/programming, and a whole host of other stuff, mostly creative, partly creative with a technical bent. Again with the “both sides of the brain” thing.

Annoying.

But lately, I’ve been rethinking things. I’ve begun to wonder why on earth I can’t do all the things I want to do. Why can’t I have my cake and eat it too?

It’s just a matter of getting organized.

If I can break projects down into bite-sized chunks, manage my time better, and keep track of what I’m doing, there’s no reason I can’t have half-a-dozen projects on the go at once. It still sounds kind of daunting, and maybe I’ve got a streak of the crazy bouncing around with the creative juices, but if I really stop and think about it, it seems doable.

But back to this “organized” notion. It’s always been a bit of a sticky point for me. I can’t keep track of things in my head, and the software tools I’ve tried have either lacked in some important area or simply imposed too many restrictions.

I need a to-do list, but it has to be more than a to-do list. Sort of a to-do list with a mind-map attached and a bunch of links to documents and websites.

Yeah. I hear you. Where on earth am I going to find something like that?

Well, it’s funny. The tool I’ve been looking for has been right here, right under my nose, for months now.

It’s called Google Wave.

And no, it’s not exactly like what I described above, but it’s pretty damn close. (Actually, now that I think about it, it does have a mind-map extension. Haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds cool.) I already check it every day, just to see if any of the waves I follow have new items in them, and even though my project list is not a collaboration, the structure of a wave is pretty close to what I need.

In case you haven’t tried Google Wave yet, I’ll give you a brief description of how one of these puppies is set up. Inside a wave, you create things called “blips”. A blip is really just a block of text with a green rounded rectangle around it. A top-level blip is called a “wavelet”, and wavelets can have blips added to them, either as replies tacked on the end and indented, or as in-line replies embedded inside them.

Blips can also have links, images, YouTube videos, and all manner of other strange and exotic beasties embedded inside them. And the text inside a blip can be formatted in a myriad of ways. This makes the tool incredibly versatile.

The thing that got me hooked on trying this approach was the fact that, if you add your replies to a blip by embedding them in-line, you get the option of collapsing the in-line replies by clicking on a little minus-sign inside a tiny speech balloon icon. This allows me to use Google Wave as a sort of rudimentary outliner, collapsing the “to-do list” inside each project so that I don’t have to scroll through the entire wave to find what I’m looking for (although there is a search feature, if push comes to shove).

So this is what I’ve been doing the last couple of days. I’ve created a wavelet for each project I want to work on, and then added the “to-do list” for each project as in-line blips inside the wavelets. And because each blip is like a tiny word processing document unto itself, the whole thing lends itself to being really free-form and unstructured, even though there is an underlying structure (a method to my madness, as it were).

This appeals to me enormously. I love writing, and I love expressing myself, so even though I’m the only one who will see this wave (at least for now), I will still let myself be verbose, humorous, clever, or silly, even though I’m only laying out a series of tasks that I intend to perform. Traditional to-do lists are as dry as dust, and I find them deathly dull and boring. They don’t inspire me in the least. I need a bit of elbow room, space to expand and expound, if the mood so strikes me.

Google Wave allows me to play.

And playing is what unleashes my creative mind.

Now that I’ve got the initial structure nearly complete, I’ve started adding some depth to the wave. I’ve put in some links to websites I need to reference for particular projects, I’ve inserted a link to a Google Documents file that contains further notes related to one project in particular, and I’ve even inserted a Google Map (thanks to the maps extension) to plot the locations where I want to shoot footage for that documentary I’ve been saying I’m going make for several years now.

You already knew I loved Google’s stuff. I wrote about it at length in a previous post. Now I’m going to put my money where my mouth is and make some really good use of some of the stuff I’ve just dabbled with so far. If I use Google Docs to store important information related to each project, then I can access my entire project “library” from any computer, anywhere I happen to be.

And that’s just plain cool.

(But I still use WriteMonkey to type the first draft of my blog posts. Because it’s cool, too.)

Organization, here I come!

Don’t forget to leave the light on.

(This clip has nothing to do with getting organized, but it’s one of the best uses of Google Wave I’ve ever seen. Not for the faint of heart, to be sure, but full of the awesome.)

Just over a month ago, my friend Asheyna sent me an invite to the preview of Google Wave. Since then, I've been going to the site nearly every day, playing with features, catching up on some of the public waves I'm following, and generally just checking things out.

First off, Google Wave is cool.

No doubt about it. It's like a discussion groups forum with document editing and formatting features and bit of instant messaging.

But it's much more than that.

I see tremendous potential for this platform. There are huge numbers of programmers out there already creating plugins and bots for it, and the number of purposes for which one could create a wave seem near endless.

I'm not an expert, I'm not a developer, and I don't know exactly where this new technology is going to take us, but I'm glad I'm getting a sneak preview of it. As users kick its tires and report back to Google, it will just keep getting better and better.

One thing's for sure, though. It had better get a lot faster. Because, at the moment, Google Wave is sloooooow. I mean dreadfully slow. I know it's early days, and I'm willing to be patient, but the speed factor, especially on large waves that have a lot of users and a couple of plugins or bots, is nearly unbearable.

So, I live in hope that this will be addressed soon.

In the meantime, I have some invites for the Google Wave preview to give away. So, I thought I'd set up my first contest. Websites have contests all the time. So why not faltarego.com?

If you would like one of my invites to the preview of Google Wave, then I would like you to communicate with me. Add a comment to one the posts here on my blog, and make it a good one. The more creative or insightful or meaningful, the better.

I have sixteen invites to give away. I only had eight a couple of days ago. Today I have eight more. They're up for grabs.

So, chances are, if you read this, and you want one, you'll probably get it. Because, let's face it, this is a relatively new blog, and I don't tend to get a lot of comments. If I get more than sixteen comments from this post, I'll be pleasantly surprised. But not too pleasantly, because then I'll have to disappoint someone.

So, put your thinking caps on, find a post on this site that you like, and give me a whopper of a comment. And please note, the comment you leave must be in some way related to the content of the post upon which you are commenting. Randomness will get you nowhere.

So, thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you.

Did you read this entire post? If not, go back and read the whole thing. There are rules to this contest, pilgrim…

Mind the gap. And catch the wave.

I downloaded yWriter a couple of days ago and started playing around with it, importing some scenes from one of my half-finished novels (seems like they’ve been half-finished for a long time now). The sheer number of features and tools in yWriter is nothing short of astonishing. I can’t believe this thing is free software.

Basically, you create chapters, and within those chapters you create scenes. You can add as much or as little information for each chapter and scene as you want. You can write a summary (or description) for each chapter, and also for each scene within each chapter.

The scene-editing window has a number of tabs, one of which is called "Details". On this page, you can flag a scene as an "Action" or "Reaction" scene, assign your own tags to it, and specify the day and time it begins (using one of two possible time / date formats) and how long it lasts.

There are also four customizable ratings you can give each scene. The default labels for the ratings are "Relevance", "Tension", "Humor", and "Quality", and the ratings go from one to ten. It’s all pretty subjective, but, as the software author says in the documentation, if you’re writing a thriller, and you’ve given three-quarters of your scenes a low tension rating, you’ve got some work to do.

Need more? You got it.

Each scene has three additional fields. If you’ve flagged it as an "Action" scene, you’ll see "Goal", "Conflict", and "Outcome". If you flagged it as a "Reaction" scene, you’ll see "Reaction", "Dilemma", and "Choice". Each of the fields is long enough for you to type a succinct but descriptive phrase or sentence.

And that’s just the scene details.

You can also set up a list of all the characters in your project, set a point-of-view character for each scene, and specify which characters appear in each scene. There is also a locations list, which allows you to list all the places your novel goes and specify where each scene takes place. There’s even a list of items, which allows you to keep track of important objects and indicate the scenes in which they appear.

This just scratches the surface. There are reports you can print, a work schedule, a storyboard feature, and word count targets. It’s a full-featured package, remarkably so for a piece of free software (he does ask for donations, though).

The only issue I have with yWriter is that when I save one of my existing chapters as an RTF file and import it into yWriter, the line spacing of the paragraphs is inconsistent. My files are double-spaced, and when they come into yWriter, any paragraphs that are one or two lines long are double-spaced, and anything longer is single-spaced. I haven’t found a line-spacing option in yWriter, so I may have to change my files to single-spacing and re-import them. Not a big deal for me at the moment, as I’ve only imported one chapter so far.

Other than that one cosmetic anomaly, I’m impressed with yWriter, and I’m going to use it for one of my novels to see how it pans out in the long run.

I’m thinking it will be a big help.

Check it out, writers.

Gesundheit.

yWriter is published by Spacejock Software.

GEORGE enters and sits down at his computer. He connects to the internet and checks his e-mail and Facebook. On Facebook, he discovers he has been invited to join a group created by fans of a piece of software called Celtx. Curious, he has a quick look at the group and then checks out the website for the software. http://celtx.com

George

Hmmm… This looks interesting. All-in-one media pre-production software. I think I'll download this puppy and try it out.

He downloads the software from the Celtx site and installs it. Soon, he is clicking menus, typing text, and trying out options.

GEORGE

This is really cool. I can't believe they're not charging anything for it.

He looks at the Celtx website again.

GEORGE

Nope. They're not charging a cent. This sucker is free.

He continues to type with the Celtx software, occasionally clicking a menu or button somewhere on the screen. After about twenty minutes or so of this, he sits back in his chair and regards the screen.

GEORGE

Well, I have to say, I'm pretty impressed with this. I've been using Final Draft for my script projects, but I'm several versions behind now, and I'm not sure if I want to pay the money for an upgrade. This software is free, and as far as I can tell, it does everything Final Draft can do, and more.

Margaret (o.s.)

Who are you talking to?

GEORGE

Just myself. What do you care?

margaret (O.S.)

It sounds like you're doing a bloody commercial in there.

GEORGE

I'm just impressed with this software, that's all.

MARGARET (O.S.)

Well, keep it down, will you?

GEORGE

Suck some more joy out of my life, why don't you?

MARGARET (O.S.)

Smart ass…

George shakes his head and continues playing with the Celtx software.

GEORGE

Wow. It's got sticky notes, a scratchpad, an "index cards" view so you can rearrange scenes, and you can even download and import extra tools for it. That colored sticky-notes tool looks pretty neat. I might download that one later… And how many types of scripts does it handle?

He opens the "New Project" screen and examines the options.

GEORGE

Wow. Film, Audio-Visual, Theater, Audio Play, Storyboard, Comic Book, and regular old plain text. That's more options than I even know what to do with.

MARGARET enters the den.

MARGARET

Are you going to say "Wow" at the beginning of every sentence now?

George looks at her.

GEORGE

What are you talking about?

MARGARET

You keep saying "Wow", you nit.

GEORGE

I only said it twice, you shrew.

MARGARET

Bah.

Margaret turns to leave.

GEORGE

You should check out this Celtx script writing software. You can use it to write your next diatribe for when I screw something else up.

Margaret sniffs, points her nose in the air, and exits the room.

GEORGE

They also have versions for Macintosh and Linux.

MARGARET (O.S.)

Ooooh, I'll alert the media, then, shall I?

GEORGE

Yes. Tell them I'm going to use Celtx to write you out of this scene.

MARGARET (O.S.)

Well then, you can write your own dinner, you ingrate.

GEORGE

Hmmm… Not a bad idea, actually. I'll just use the Google search box at the top of the right hand sidebar and find a picture of my ideal meal. Adding media to my project is as easy as that.

And with the Reports and Master Catalog features, I can keep track of all the nasty things you say to me.

MARGARET (O.S.)

You still sound like a bleedin' commercial.

GEORGE

And you sound like a nagging old cow.

MARGARET

Shut your cake hole.

GEORGE

Oooooh. Good idea. I'll write myself in some cake too.

Margaret sneezes.

GEORGE

Gesundheit.

This is good, because you never know what's going to appear on the feed. If I followed hundreds of people, I'd never be able to see everything, and I'd miss out on some good info, or more likely, a good link.

One such link came across my screen a few weeks ago. I don't remember who posted it, but I follow a few writers and writing resource people, so it was probably one of them. It mentioned a piece of software called Write Monkey. Now, I'm always on the lookout for writing tools, and the name was certainly intriguing, so when I saw the link, I thought I'd check it out.

When I got to the Write Monkey website, I found to my delight that the software is free (though there is a link for making a donation via PayPal). Write Monkey is also described on the site as "zenware", which means it minimizes screen clutter and superfluous user intervention.

Write Monkey is distraction-free writing software. When you start it up, you are presented with a blank page that takes up your entire computer screen. There is no menu-bar, no toolbar, no docking widgets, no logo, no nuthin'. Just a blank screen with four page-corner markers and a flashing cursor.

Simple. Streamlined. Elegant.

Zen.

I'm using Write Monkey right now, as I type this entry. It's kind of amazing, really, how the clutter-free screen allows you to focus on the writing. The only thing on the monitor is words.

My words.

Of course, you can use the windows Alt-Tab key combination to switch to other applications. You can also switch from full-screen mode to windowed mode. Some users might feel more comfortable with an actual window that has a menu-bar, but to me, switching to window mode completely defeats the purpose of the software. You can still get at the menus in full-screen mode; you just have to right-click anywhere on the screen.

To be honest, I usually do engage in a bit of app-switching when I'm starting a blog entry. I often do a bit of on-the-fly research as I'm getting started, so it's nice to be able to switch to my web browser for a minute to check on something. I know that kind of goes against the philosophy of the software, but for me, the initial link-checking gets my juices flowing, and then once I've gotten to the meat of the post, I'm all typing and no browsing.

For a clean-screen writing utility, Write Monkey has a surprising number of features and options. The most interesting of these, to me at least, are the repository and the jumps.

A simple press of the F5 key switches you from the main screen to the repository screen. The repository is a sort of hidden document within a document.  It's a place to jot notes about your work, or write a to-do list, or even insert a timeline if you're so inclined. What you put in the repository is entirely up to you; you're probably the only one who's ever going to see it.

The jumps feature took me while to get my head around, but once you understand it, it's amazing. Using jumps is a way to navigate your document by using its content and the markup you've used throughout.

(Write Monkey doesn't use formatting per se, but it allows you to insert markup characters to denote formatting.)

By default, the "Jumps" window (which you call up with Alt-J or the "Toggle jumps" menu item) gives you a list of bookmarks in the document. A bookmark is, very simply, an occurence of two "@" symbols somewhere in your document. You can insert a bookmark by typing "@@", using the "Insert bookmark" menu item, or using the Alt-M shortcut key.

Each bookmark listed in the "Jumps" window displays a bit of the text that comes immediately after it, so you can get a pretty good sense of what part of the document you'd be jumping to. It's very intuitive.

You can click the "Paragraphs" button in the "Jumps" windows so it displays all the paragraphs in your document. Again, it shows you a bit of the text of each paragraph so you have an overview.

A third button in the "Jumps" window switches the diplay so you see a list of items in your document that are marked up a certain way. By default, it shows you headings, but it has a little drop-down menu that allows to you change it to headlines, comments, numbering, quotes, tags, or weblinks.

And if all this wasn't enough, you can define your own filters for the "Jumps" feature as well. This requires a bit of knowledge of regular expressions, but it gives you tremendous flexiblity, and this can be a life-saver if you're working with a large document.

I haven't even gotten into the "Preferences" dialog, which has nine tabs in it. It covers everything from color schemes, fonts, and margins to progress bars, jump filters, and typewriter sounds (yes, typewriter sounds).

And then some.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Write Monkey is one of the most useful and flexible writing tools I've ever come across. It's very well thought out, and very easy to use. It doesn't even use an installer. You just plunk the executable where where you want it, and you're good to go.

Highly recommended.

And did I mention it's free?

Gesundheit.