A Facebook conversation started by Tara Rodgers got me thinking about the tools we use as writers. Obviously, the creative process is highly idiosyncratic and personal at some level even though none of us are as unique as we think we are. Try everything; select what works. The proliferation of new tools is exciting but it […]
Category Archives: Work(+flow)
Post Publication Cleanup: Old School Word Clouds
I’m in the somewhat laborious process of decommissioning files from two books. I hate sorting through paper. I’m organized inside computers, not outside them. There are tons of things that were important at the time and can now be recycled, including these two pages (which as you can see from the scan-through are already recycled […]
Projection: A Word for Future-Orientation with “Project” In It
Although I’m not doing any classroom teaching this term* (I am, however, doing plenty of teaching), it somehow started off with a sprint. It’s taken me until week two to get together a plan for the term. Maybe others are more organized in thought and action, but I always have a moment after completing major […]
Phew.
I just returned the copyedits for MP3: The Meaning of a Format to Duke. That was a ton of work for my RAs and I. I have no idea how I would have done it without them, given the intensity of the last month. Thanks to their help I was able to do some […]
I wonder what it would feel like to write a book every year or two
Because the way I do it sure takes forever. The good news is that I’ve more or less finished my revisions. It felt nice to upload the revised conclusion today. My RA has the manuscript, then I’ll go over her changes and send the thing back to Duke in a couple weeks. At that point, […]
Blood on the floor
Several years ago I visited a large public university to give a talk. At the time my host (who will remain anonymous but some of my readers may guess who it is — I’m not telling) was serving as graduate program director and going through admissions decisions — which are always difficult. I ask him […]
Version Control
Here’s a question for any book writers hanging out on this blog (feel free to email if you don’t want to post). I’ve got a versioning issue. The mp3 book is made up of several long chapters. In two cases, which I’m presently about to deal with, I’ve provided condensed, edited, shortened versions for others’ […]