Happy birthday to my brother! Today he’s – well, he’s still older than I am. And being a good sister, I’m definitely going to point that out. Remember when that was a good thing – to be older than your siblings?
I’m excited. I’ve been a fan of Sharon Hurley Hall for a while now, and I’ve followed her (short of stalking, I swear) and have been impressed with her business sense. Sharon is the master mind behind the Get Paid to Write Online site. It was thanks to Google Plus that I finally connected with Sharon. We were linked on Twitter, but Google + gave us the chance to actually connect.
I’m glad we did. Sharon’s a dynamite, friendly person and a super writer. Through our chatting, we managed to get on the topic of blogs. She honored me by asking me to write a post for her blog, and that thrilled me for many reasons, not the least of which was because now I could ask her to reciprocate. Please welcome Sharon to the blog!
Working Remotely: Tips and Tools
How do you stay organised as a location independent writer? Here are some of the tips and tools that work for me. Whether you’re working from a local coffee shop or from a completely different country, the trick is to have everything you need with you. I don’t know about you, but I don’t like carrying lots of stuff around, so I’ve optimized my computer setup to minimize the number of items I need to have when I travel.
Desktop Organization
Let me step back a bit and talk about my desktop setup. Although I’m location independent, I have a home base, and I decided to get a desktop so I could have more processing power and a bigger screen when I’m working from home. Organizing my writing business is as simple as creating a few key folders. Each client has a separate folder where I save all their work, with sub folders for particular projects or periods of time when needed. All of these are in a bigger writing projects folder, which also has folders for invoices, bids, contracts, blogging work and other key aspects of my writing business.
The writing projects folder is the one I need access to wherever I go, so I ensure that it is backed up (I use SugarSync for set it and forget it backup) at all times. I also (just because I’m paranoid) do a weekly hard drive backup and transfer the whole folder to a USB stick and my laptop before any trip. I’m not taking any chances on not having access to my stuff. And the good thing about an online backup tool is that you can usually view and edit files on the web if you need to make changes in a hurry, then have it synced back to your main location when you get back.
Browser Optimization
The second key part of my organisational strategy as a location independent writer is to optimise my browser for use in multiple locations. My browser of choice is Google Chrome, which has built in functionality to synchronise bookmarks, extensions and more. Before a major trip, I download the latest version of Google Chrome portable, put it on a laptop and fire it up. I log in with my Google account, enable synchronisation and wait for it to magically update all my extensions.
This also means that my secure password extension. LastPass, is also up to date wherever I go. I never have any problems logging into WordPress dashboards or other sites, which makes it easy to manage personal and client blogs.
I use the portable version because if I need to change computers for any reason, I can run it from a USB stick. It’s always good to be prepared for the unexpected.
Email and Communication
If you’re a writer on the move, then good communication is essential. I always find out about internet access wherever I’m going to be staying. I prefer to have it on the premises (with free Wi-Fi so I can use my laptop in my room), but I’ll take a decent internet cafe if that’s the only option. I use Google Apps mail (just like Gmail but on my own domain) and I always access it through the web interface, wherever I happen to be in the world. That means I always have an up to date record of client communication. (Of course, I back it up to both Outlook and Thunderbird, but I don’t use those tools for any other reason.)
Other Key Tools
I can’t mention my favourite tools without talking about Skype. This is pretty much an essential for running my online writing business. I don’t have a Skype phone number mainly because my business is split equally between the US and the UK so one set of clients would lose out. Instead, since most of my clients have Skype accounts, I just talk for free and absorb the hit for the few that don’t.
Other key tools I use include:
- Google Docs for editing on the go, though I have to admit that I couldn’t live without Microsoft Word.
- Feedly for keeping up with RSS feeds
- Windows Live Writer for blogging
- Workflowy for outlining and planning
- Todoist for my to do list, which I loved because I can colour code jobs
- Paypal for payments and invoicing, along with Excel
- 30 Boxes/Google Calendar for calendar management
- Dragon NaturallySpeaking for dictating articles and blog posts. This last one is a real time saver and really boosts my productivity. When next I update my phone, I’ll be able to use the smartphone app for dictation on the move.
With very few exceptions most of those tools work in the browser which means they are accessible wherever I go. What tools are in your writing toolbox?
Bio:
I’m Sharon and I was born to write and blog. Iām a word nerd, a Scrabble fiend, fanatical about grammar, and am fascinated by learning new things. I’ve been mentoring other writers at Get Paid To Write Online since 2005 to help them improve and build sustainable and successful writing careers. I also blog professionally; check me out on sharonhh.com
Lori-I discovered Sharon a while back and love, love, love the value she delivers. I ALWAYS learn something new.
Sharon, thanks for once again sharing some fabulous resources. There's quite a few I didn't know about.
I do follow your back-up process, except for Sugar Sync-going to check that out. I have the same level of paranoia. š
This is a keeper and I am going to put several in place before my trip in November.
Thanks, Sharon, and so glad to see you here!
Great ideas. I do a lot of it, and will investigate the tools I don't have, except Skype.
I try to have wi-fi access part of the contract when I travel. It doesn't always work that way, but that's the plan. I've been thinking about one of those on-the-go wi-fi things the internet companies offer, but I don't know if it's worth the money, when most hotels, etc. have free wi-fi.
Since I work a lot in fiction, I also print out my pages every day (in addition to the Time Machine back up and the flash drive backup AND emailing chapters to myself).
I've lost too much work that can't be replaced due to crashes, etc., so I am VERY paranoid.
Thanks for the super intro, Lori. š
Cathy, I recommended Syncplicity for years and that's a good online backup tool, too, but once you get past the free level, it's much less cost effective than SugarSync.
Devon, I've often thought about getting one of those Wi-Fi range extender devices, but so far I haven't needed it. (And I'm with you, paranoia is the way to go.) I don't print out a lot of stuff, though. I think backup redundancy is enough (touch wood!)
Sharon, you're more than welcome! Happy as a clam to have you here. š
Cathy, this post and your comment makes me nervous – I have yet to act on my backup plan, er, plan. I shopped backup storage a few months ago, but never bought. So far, I'm backing up with Mozy. I could simply buy more space there, I suppose. But I want a physical drive on my desk, too.
Sharon, thanks for all the great advice. I'm checking out Sugar Sync, too.
Devon, I've wondered about the feasibility of those things, too. If I traveled more for work, I'd consider it. At the moment, I'm fine with an ages-old laptop and whatever-is-available connections.
Wonderful post Sharon! I always love hearing how other writers organize their workflow. I too always learn something new! I've been looking into a dictation program & have sampled Dragon a wee bit, so it's good to hear you give it the thumbs-up!
Excellent post Sharon, thank you for the ideas. You've made me question whether I'm doing enough and that is a good thing. I haven't used Skype. Do you find that most of your clients are utilizing it?
Speaking as someone whose mind usually goes blank when anything technological is discussed (and who has flash drives with more memory than her actual computer) I enjoyed your post. Considering my technological deficits and the fact that I hadn't even heard of most of the tools you mentioned, that's quite a feat you've accomplished!
Along with most of the others here, my next stop today will be your blog.
Lori, I used Mozy for a while, but I found it wasn't as intuitive as SugarSync and Syncplicity and it stored files in a proprietary format, so you couldn't logon quickly and get a file.
Nicky, Dragon is great! I can't sing its praises highly enough.
Wade, although I communicate with most people by email, most people seem to have Skype now, so it's a useful backup when people want a conversation.
Paula, I'm so glad you found it readable. Hope you find the tools useful too. š
Great tools Sharon, and something very much needed for bloggers and writers!Though I still need to go through all of them, having tried just a handful myself š
Thanks for sharing a great post Sharon and Lori!
Glad you liked it, Harleena. What are your most used tools?
Thanks again, Sharon, for posting here. I'm thrilled to have you!
My most used tools – Mozy.com for sure. Google Docs occasionally, Microsoft Silverlight even more. I used to have a wonderful bookmark syncing program that seemed to disappear without warning, so I'm looking for another one.
I think Sharon is pretty awesome, too. If she had a fan club, I'd probably be the president š She took me under her wing (well,I stalked her, actually, and she was kind enough to not file a restraining order) in early 2006 and following her mentoring advice was instrumental in helping me get my first few regular writing gigs.
I'll have to check out Gmail Google Apps. I use regular Gmail to read messages for about 5 or more email accounts and hate the fact that where I read it is my original gmail account, which is my dearly departed dog's name as my email handle. Sometimes my business emails will say that handle on behalf of my business email address, which I don't like. I hate to give it up because of all the emails in the archives but need a more seamless solution.
There are some other areas I need to do some work on streamlining as well (ahem…backup) so I'll definitely be checking some of these tools out.
Thanks, Dana. š I've found Google Apps mail pretty good, and it is possible to set it up so it identifies the right account as sender (I haven't done it yet, but it can be done).