Words on the Page

It’s Not Your Job

Posted on by lwidmer

Yesterday was a good day. I’m waiting for some client work to come in, so I had time to work on a personal project and put in some quality time over at the About Writing Squared forum. Plus there was some sort of issue with one subscriber who couldn’t get in. Hopefully I cleared that…

Feedback

Posted on by lwidmer

Good day yesterday – I scored an assignment late Tuesday, so I was able to line up some interviews early. I got some marketing done, too. Always. Never stop, I say. I sent out a few Craig’s List ads locally, hit LinkedIn a bit, put out feelers on Twitter, and got another query going. All…

Fear Busting

Posted on by lwidmer

For someone with just a little work in the in box, I was busy yesterday. I did a ton of marketing, then fussed with my domain. Let me just say this – I’ve proven to myself yet again that either I should take notes or pay my kid to do the mundane Web stuff. I…

Samples

Posted on by lwidmer

Good day yesterday. I managed to get most of the Web project wrapped up. One more element or two and we’re on to the editing phase. I got some queries out in the afternoon, then off to a meditation-related music demonstration, which I didn’t want to go to initially. Turned out to be amazing. Also,…

Aspiring

Posted on by lwidmer

What a weekend. There’s no way I could feel idle with all I managed, but somehow I had time to act like a slug. I read quite a bit, slept a little later, watched my guilty pleasures on Saturday morning (I’m an HGTV junkie), and enjoyed every minute. But I managed to vacuum, dust, clean…

Typo and Grammar Gaffe Friday

Posted on by lwidmer

Busy day yesterday. I started a website project in the morning, then put it aside to get a press release draft put together. But I watched myself drag my heels on that project. I wanted to get it done well and quickly, but I was tired. Once again, my thyroid hormone levels are down, so…

Life Lessons from Dr. Freelance

Posted on by lwidmer

Jake Poinier has no idea I’m posting about his annual Freelance Forecast. But since I’m sharing the words of others this week, I couldn’t let Jake out of the mix. He’s been doing something every year that holds great value to freelancers – he’s taking the pulse of both writers and clients. I participated in…

Worthy Tip: This Job, Not That Job

Posted on by lwidmer

Yesterday was somewhat productive. I managed to wrap up and invoice that large project. What pleases me is it was done in record time and with the least amount of hassles imaginable. I love when clients know what they want, convey what they want, and read fully my emails. No overreactions, no stress – my…

Guest Post: Working Remotely

Posted on by lwidmer

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,…

Cathy Miller

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. 🙂

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!

Devon Ellington

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.

Sharon Hurley Hall

Thanks for the super intro, Lori. 🙂

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!)

Lori

Sharon, you're more than welcome! Happy as a clam to have you here. 🙂

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.

Nicky Parry

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!

Wade Finnegan

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?

Paula

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.

Sharon Hurley Hall

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. 🙂

Harleena Singh

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 🙂

Thanks for sharing a great post Sharon and Lori!

Sharon Hurley Hall

Glad you liked it, Harleena. What are your most used tools?

Lori

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.

Dana Prince

I think Sharon is pretty awesome, too. If she had a fan club, I'd probably be the president 🙂 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.

Sharon Hurley Hall

Thanks, Dana. 🙂 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).