Proudly South African Monday: Commercial Love by Ice Project

Writing and Studying and Proofreading, O My!

Or, an update of what I’ve been up to the past month

While I’ve been off on “vacation”, I’ve actually been working at top speed on the Everlasting Dissertation. It now only needs a final proofread! And I finished a few days before my leave ended, so I had a few days off to let my mind remember that there is a world beyond the pile of books in front of me. That world includes more books and afternoon naps…

Some proper writing time

In the rush of the past few months I’ve only been able to jot down some ideas and not really giving much thought to my other writing endeavours. So, in my few days off, I indulged in some writing and am now busy with four short stories. (These are just too long to be considered flash fiction.)

The stories are all speculative fiction, though for quite different markets. I don’t want to divulge too much about the stories, but I can say that they include a Christian fantasy story, a zombie story and one for which I need to do some extra research on archaeological field methods.

Some Plans for the future

I’m also going to do Nanowrimo this year with one of my friends (if all goes well!) and I’m really looking forward to that. And there is another local competition I want to enter. The main gist of the idea is there, but it still needs quite a lot of world building.

Until then I’m burying my face in the Eternal Dissertation one last time before handing it in. Wish me luck!

Taalsake: Suzanne Talhouk "Moenie jou taal doodmaak nie"

Language Matters: Suzanne Talhouk: Don't kill your language

My produktiwiteit aksieplan vir 2014

Vandag is my eerste dag terug op kantoor. Met hope e-posse om te lees en my eerste sperdatum wat reeds Woensdag is, het ek besef dat ek weer moet kyk na die manier waarop ek spertye en dies meer aanteken.

Ek het besluit om hierdie jaar gebruik te maak van ’n dagboek en die Bullet Journal. Aangesien ek reeds gebruik maak van ’n tipe Bullet Journal om my take vir die dag aan te teken, dink ek dat die stelsel wat Ryder Carroll gebruik heel moontlik die beste vir my sal werk. Ek het al digitale tydsbestuurtoepassings probeer, maar, hoewel ek steeds dink iets soos Wunderlist wonderlik is, soek ek iets wat nie digitaal is nie.  

Vir dié wat analoog verkies – die Bullet Journal

Gaan luister gerus na hierdie potgooi van The Pen Addictwaar Ryder Carrol die gas is en oor die Bullet Journal praat. Hy verduidelik ook hoe dit gebruik en aangepas kan word by die manier waarop jy werk. (Ek dink sommige van die mense wat dit al probeer het, het die deel waar jy dit vir jou aanpas misverstaan.)

Vir my sal die inhoudsopgawe voor in die boek baie help om my notas van vergaderings, idees vir kliënte, skryfnotas en daaglikse-doen-dinge vinnig op te spoor. Aangesien ek baie streng spertye het, sal ek wel ook ’n dagboek nodig hê om dit vooruit aan te dui sodat ek al my ander werk daarom kan inpas. 

Ek gaan ook nie ’n Moleskine notaboek gebruik nie. Alhoewel hulle pragtig is en baie lekker is om in te skryf, wil ek nie so ’n duur notaboek vir my daaglikse take gebruik nie.

’n Bietjie digitale hulp...

Ek het ook ’n bietjie digitale hulp nodig, veral wanneer ek skakels vir verskillende projekte bymekaar moet hou en maklik kan opspoor. Hiervoor stel ek twee toepassings voor – Wunderlist en Evernote. Beide se basiese toepassing is gratis en nie te duur indien jy wil opgradeer nie.

Die wonderlike Wunderlist

Hoewel ek laasjaar probeer het om Wunderlist vir alles by die werk te gebruik, het ek na ’n paar maande besef dat dit vir my beter is om die notas met die hand te skryf en saam met my rond te dra – dan onthou ek sommer ook beter.

Wat wel baie handig is, is dat jy die toepassing ook op jou foon kan gebruik. Dus kan jy al jou lyste heeltyd by jou dra en van jou rekenaar of foon opdateer. Indien jy dus jou lyste digitaal beskikbaar wil hê, sal ek hierdie toepassing aanbeveel.

Evernote

Indien jy notas en skakels bymekaar wil hou – soos wat ek met projekte moet doen is Evernote bobaas. Hierdie is ’n toepassing wat ek beslis meer gaan gebruik hierdie jaar.

A Plan of Action for Productivity in 2014

Today is my first day back at work for the year. With piles of emails to read and getting back in the thick of deadlines I realised that I need to rethink the way in which I keep track of my tasks and deadlines.

I’ve decided to try a mixture of a diary/planner and the Bullet Journal this year. As I already used a form of bullet journaling (is that a real phrase) I realised that the system Ryder Carroll uses may just work for the scatterbrain half of me. I’ve tried to use digital task management tools and, though I still find something like Wunderlist wonderful, I want something that is offline.

For the love of all that is analogue – theBullet Journal

First off, go and listen to this podcast of The Pen Addict where Ryder Carroll is the guest and talks about the Bullet Journal and how it can be used and adapted to fit in with the way you work. (I think some of the people who have tried it missed the part where you adapt the journal to suit how you work.)

For me the index in the front will help a lot to find meeting notes between random daily to-dos, writing notes, brainstorming for clients and the inevitable doodling. But I also need a diary/planner because of my strict deadlines – those I need to be able to write in ahead of time so I can plan all my other work around them.

I’m also not going to use a Moleskine notebook – though they are beautiful and lovely to work in, I do not want to use such an expensive notebook for everyday notes.

And Some Digital Help as Well...

I also need a bit of digital help, especially when it comes to keeping links handy for different projects or simply to read later. For this I recommend two apps – Wunderlist and Evernote. Both these apps are free for the basic app and quite inexpensive to upgrade.

The Wonderful Wunderlist

While I used to use Wunderlist for everything at work, I found after a few months that I’d rather make notes by hand and carry them around with me. I also remember stuff easier when I write with actual pen and paper rather than just typing.

What is very handy, though, is that it is available for mobile as well. If you would rather have your lists and notes available digitally, this is the app I would choose.

Evernote

When it comes to keeping links and notes for a project I need to have on a computer (or which is just more practical to keep on a computer) Evernote is a definite winner and one I’ll be making more use of this year.

The Hope of 2014

The coming of a new year somehow seems to lessen the struggles of the past year somewhat. Though hardly wiping the slate entirely clean, it is rather a time in which one feels renewed to start a new year having lived much and learned much. It starts when Christmas comes. Everyone seems to slow down and start thinking about what they have – or have not – achieved in the past year. Hopes for the new year pulls harder at the heart every day from then. The New Year is in sight! A new beginning. A few days in which you again feel that anything and everything is possible.

A Blank Slate (of Sorts)

In my case, I get a new diary (a blank slate, if you want), a new notebook and new calendar. Today, when I write this, the diary and calendar is no longer blank. Birthdays and appointments are already filling the blocks and pages – a reminder that time will not stand still. Yet, I also take this time to look back at my life and not just the year. I think of loved ones lost and of new friends found. The past year put our whole family through its paces will illnesses and injuries (I would rather not spend a month on crutches again, for one). It was a year which flitted by far too quickly. But it was a full year.

Hope Renewed

It was also a year in which friends got married, or got pregnant, or had children. Children grew up, made mistakes and didn’t want to listen to caution. It was the year in which I was suddenly one of the “elders” the “kids” didn’t want to listen to. But it was also the year in which friendships deepened, hope and faith was found or renewed, and hurts got healed. We’re all left with scars – some faded, some fresh – but I hope that, this year, the hope with which we start 2014 will not extinguish before the end of the month. May it be renewed time and again so that, when we close the diary on 31 December, it is a book we want to keep forever instead of throwing it away or hiding it at the bottom of a dusty drawer.

 Carpe Diem! Make your lives extraordinary!