Writing Coach

I subscribe to a weekly newsletter by publication coach, Daphne Gray-Grant. This week she provides a link to Dr. Wicked. I can't find a way to pass on what she recommends without copying and pasting from the newsletter. I'm sure she would rather you subscribe to it. If you are too busy to keep up with your blogs, I recommend a subscription to both the Publication Coach and Dr. Wicked.

When I posted a link to Dr. Wicked on Facebook, my daughter, who is a writer, asked whether I was planning to write a novel. No, I write blogs. I want to write faster, and more often. One of the rules I try to follow is to compose first, quickly, without regard to grammar, punctuation, or spelling. Come back later and edit. That fits the scheme of the Dr. Wicked tool.

http://writeordie.drwicked.com/

http://www.publicationcoach.com/


Here's what she says about Dr. Wicked.
1) Dr. Wicked doesn't give your "internal editor" any time to engage. You're too busy typing to start sliding down the slippery slope of self-editing. As I've said many times before, write in haste and edit at leisure. Your best writing is often the fastest. And even if it isn't top-notch, you'll have a first draft to edit. That's better than a blank page, isn't it?

2) The implicit threat of Dr. Wicked (screen changing colour, obnoxious noises) keeps you plugging away at writing even when you'd rather be doing something else. I don't know about you, but I'm easily bored. I flit from idea to idea and task to task like a hummingbird zipping through a field of wildflowers. Finding the discipline to write for more than 15 minutes is always a challenge for me. But when I sit down with Dr. Wicked I know that my time is always running out.

3) Dr. Wicked forces you to focus on what you're doing -- writing. This ensures you ignore all the other more attractive distractions.

More Things - Nbr 25 - Plug-ins

"Twenty Usability Tips for Your Blog" I will keep at hand. Along with Mindmapping, to speed up the writing process.

I haven't yet seen how to get plug-ins into Blogger posts. I added an invitation and rss button to the top of the gadgets on the sidebar. I'll try some other plug-ins on my WordPress blog.

One supervisor at 3M advised regarding management by objectives not to list more than nine things, and then narrow that down to four things. When I see Twenty Tips, that's exhausting. There are at least four tips to spend more time doing. Another supervisor made things simpler. Decide what you are going to do and what you are not going to do.

I see a few more More Things followers on Twitter. No more on this blog yet.

Dave's 23 Things preview

I registered "Dave's Taurus ID" as my blog for More Things on a Stick before I read the instructions. My blog name does not say Things. Look around my preexisting blog posts to find the astrological meaning, and more things about me than the About Me button can hold. I will follow the instruction not to register more than one blog for More Things.

Quickly browsing 23 Things was not quick. ABC Evening News in the background was too interesting to concentrate. Among the many tasks mentioned was Productivity Tools, which I have used in the context of blogs and other social networking applications. Most important was the Power Writing newsletter by Daphne Gray-Grant. See http://www.publicationcoach.com
Staying focused and keeping my posts brief can be a challenge.

Concurrent with the invitation to Join Many Things, the Minnesota History Center Volunteer staff sent an email meant for museum professionals. It would be a stretch to include myself in such a group, so I did not contribute to the discussion about Social Networking as part of the job. Managers and supervisors remain conflicted about the time spent at work doing what we are doing in this learning program.

The concern is valid. My part of tax preparation has to be finished tomorrow, so I can hand the package off to our accountant on Friday. Also a priority tomorrow is my fourth of four classes teaching 5th graders as a volunteer for the Masterpiece Arts Program in Silver Bay.

Writing blogs deserves priority. Learning about new tools is exactly what I had in mind when I started. I said that in my list of priorities for 2009, another blog post. Years ago I took classes offered at 3M from Franklin-Covey, and I still use those productivity tools, beginning with daily prioritizing and putting my personal growth at the top of the list.