I’m A Failed Writer #13: Beyond Microsoft Word… Or Not

By Leave a Comment
Jun 15 19
(failed writer video)

I started out this video with the intent of trying to get writers to stop using Microsoft Word and ended up paying tribute to an overly-sentimental romantic comedy from the 80s. It’s a new level of failure.

Even though I’m passionate about the writing tools that I use, I also worry about spending too much time thinking about the tools rather than thinking about the product. I’d rather have a clunky tool and solid writing practice than a brilliant tool and little to show with it.

So here it is. My quasi-passionate (and ultimately failed) rant against Microsoft Word:

« Continue »

Pathetic Apple Fanboy

By Leave a Comment
Jun 1 7
(yuvi video special)

Last week, a few friends mocked me about my affection for Apple products and so I got this idea to record a video making fun of me and my gadgets. Except I couldn’t get the video funny enough, and I was whispering the whole time because I’m a nervous weirdo (and my toddler was asleep in the next room), and my editing job is just psychotic, and now I just need to get my ass back to writing and stop fiddling with this silly video. But I still didn’t want to throw it away entirely.

So here it is. My failed, not-so-funny attempt at an Apple Fanboy gag:

« Continue »

Area Failed Writer Attempts to Fail at Teaching Writing

By Leave a Comment
May 9 6

So although this is only relevant to Portland writers, I still wanted to share with everyone that I’m going to teach three writing workshops in June using my videos as the launching point (aka: as a crutch for my stage fright).

« Continue »

My ridiculous, overpriced, three-computer writing system

By Leave a Comment
May 5 6
  • A MacBook Air
  • An iPad
  • An iPhone

I don’t know what people officially classify these things but I call them computers. And I do heavy-duty writing (or writing-related) tasks on all three of these computers. But I do slightly different things with each one. So I stupidly end up carrying all three around with me most of the time. Bad on my back (and bad for the way people mock me), but good for my writing.

« Continue »

Area Jew Oversaturates the Geek Podcast Airwaves

By Leave a Comment
Apr 30 4

So in a zany twist of events, I swindled my way onto two great, geeky podcasts. Both of these shows relate to how I use the Mac/iPad/iPhone, mostly with regard to my videos, but also for my novel writing. If you’re a Mac geek (or a wannabe Mac geek) read on. For those anti-geek / anti-productivity / anti-Apple / anti-Semitic followers, I’m sorry. (OK. That last “anti” has nothing to do with anything, it just seemed to add some heft to the list…) In either case, I’ll soon try to swindle my way onto literary podcasts to balance things out better.

« Continue »

My Unsavvy Twitter Code of Conduct

By Leave a Comment
Mar 31 8

I’m not a great social networkky dude.

  • I’m totally erratic on Facebook. I’ve missed important births and deaths due to my erraticness.
  • I have an interest in Pinterest that apparently isn’t strong enough for me to try it. Or even to understand what it is.
  • Google+… I don’t use except to apologize to people who have sadly included me in their circle.
  • I signed up but still can’t get rolling with Goodreads.
  • But… I love Twitter.

I haven’t been on Twitter long but I find it a fabulous place to loiter. Though in order for me to enjoy it, I follow some rules. Now keep in mind that my goal is just to enjoy the thing, not to maximize followers or sell something. Sure, it would be nice if three or more of my followers bought my book, and I’m sure that I’ll ocassionally mention book release details, but it sounds painful to think about making $$$ on twitter. My goal is to enjoy the experience enough to actually stick around.


« Continue »

Assessment of the new iPad regarding text quality

By Leave a Comment
Mar 29 0

As a person who spends an utterly insane number of hours reading and writing on digital thingies, the quality of the text on these thingies is important to me. And it’s pretty remarkable to look at text on this new iPad. It’s actually too hard to characterize in words how words look on this device. So I thought I’d share the results of a study that I (supposedly) performed.

« Continue »

I’m A Failed Writer #10: Big Projects, Small Lists

By Leave a Comment
Mar 16 6
(failed writer video)

I’m a coward. When faced with a big project – something time consuming, something that will require sacrifices to be made – my instinct is to run away. Fast. No looking back. For that reason, it took me a long time to come around to the point where I (somewhat) enjoy the challenge of a big project. I’m talking about something like writing a novel or being in a long-term relationship. These are things that require work. Day after day. Month after month. Year after year.

The funny thing is that a key method I use to confront these big projects is so simple, so low-tech (so cheap in therapy costs!) that it almost seems like it’s cheating. And here it is:

« Continue »

Two Ways to Write a Book

By Leave a Comment
Dec 28 15

Call me slow, but as far as I see it, there are two ways to write a book:

METHOD #1

Buy a new house. Not to live in, but to write in. (Yeah, you heard me correctly: I ended that sentence in a preposition. My upcoming novel is full of those kinds of sentences, and also dangling modifiers, and split infinitives, and run-on sentences, hot damn do I have a lot of run-on sentences! And sentence fragments.)

« Continue »

Geek Talk: How I Make Failed Presentations

By Leave a Comment
Dec 13 29

So I’ve finally put together a presentation describing how I make my presentations. It’s a pretty geeky little video that focuses on the tools that I use. I’ve honestly stumbled my way into this video-making process, so it is definitely flawed…

« Continue »

«Older Posts