Writing, marketing and technology
To be a great writer, you have to be able to concentrate. Not only that but you have to be able to maintain focus for sustained periods. It’s not the only thing you’ll need but it’s a good start. Psychologists describe a powerful form of concentration called ‘flow’. It happens when someone concentrates fully engaged [...]
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This is a great online tool that really forces you to write. It just stops short of delivering electric shocks if you stop work (although that’s a promised future feature!). Check out Write or Die and Dr. Wicked’s Blog.
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I have updated the writing tools on Articulate’s website and added a new one. They are free to use and I hope people find them helpful. Feedback and suggestions are welcome. Readability calculator This is a fantastic tool to calculate readability scores for blocks of text (just cut and paste) or websites (just enter a [...]
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This guest post is by Jan Felt. He is a blogger obsessed with marketing communication and career development. Read more of his work on his blog: CyberFootprint. Two pages to go. The deadline looms. You are sitting at your computer, replying to morning e-mails. After a couple of words, Twitter starts buzzing. So, you reply [...]
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I wrote an article last year about distraction-free text editors, but I wanted to add one to the list: AloneWriter from Craig Ritchie. If you run it full-screen the menu only appears when you put the mouse over it. But it also works nicely in a window. I particularly like the very subtle word count [...]
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Peopleware: Productive Projects and Teams by Tom DeMarco and Timothy Lister is the one book you MUST read if you are in any kind of professional, knowledge worker business. Although it is written for the software companies, in fact it is packed with insight that applies to any business where people work with their brains. [...]
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I saw an interesting post on Slashdot about the first thing IT managers do when they get to work. Here’s a sampling: Read Slashdot Check the whiteboard to see where problems Check on the nightshift before the escape Check the queue on SMS Check email Make coffee Socialise with co-workers Boot up PC Update timesheets [...]
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There’s a great article on Slate about a writer who uses earplugs to block the noise of construction workers and ends up using them all the time. I’m a light sleeper and use them to block out party noise and things like that. For writing, though, I prefer Bose noise cancelling headphones. They’re like the [...]
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Thomas Carlyle, the 19th century sage and writer, had the attic of his house in Chelsea sound-proofed. He couldn’t concentrate with all the noise of the house and street. You can still visit 24 Cheyne Row today. My first proper computer was a Mac Plus (with a whole 20mb of hard disk space). It too [...]
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I use Harvest to track the time I spend on client projects but it costs real cash money and I’m seriously thinking of switching to SlimTimer. Why? It’s free. Can’t beat the price. It’s flexible. I can use tags to track and report on tasks. It’s easy. A sidebar comes up in Firefox and I [...]
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Matthew Stibbe is CEO of Articulate Marketing and Turbine, the easy, online way to deal with office paperwork. He edits Golf Hotel Whiskey and writes the Forbes Aviator column.
Check out my new, free eBook, 30 Days to Better Business Writing, 71 pages of expert tips and advice to make you a better writer. Available on Kindle, paper and free online.