Articles

Writing vs. Writing

This is me, thinking out loud about my writing.

There is writing, and then there is Writing. And I am amazed at how often I will shy away from the former because it doesn’t feel like the latter. There are times when I put far too much emphasis on the fine-tuned components of writing, and not nearly enough emphasis on simply getting the words down.

You know the difference I’m talking about. The latter is tangible — it’s the times when the words seem to write themselves. But then there are times when you feel like you’re back in the 2nd grade playing Oregon Trail and it’s all you can do to remember the Home Row. In fact, for me, writing rarely feels like Writing.

I may never be a capital “W” Writer. I may never win a Pulitzer, or write for the New Yorker, or even get pen to paper for what could be the next great American Novel. But I want to shoot for it. I want to be the best. I want my writing to be engaging, clever, and quotable. I want my articles to be insightful and memorable. But that will never happen if I only ever allow myself to write when it feels like Writing.

It’s suicide to stop before I start just because I’m not feeling it. I’ve got to settle the fact that sometimes it’s just plain writing and get over it already. Because wanting to write is not the same as writing.

And thinking about writing is not the same as writing.

Reading about writing is not the same as writing.

Tweeting about writing is not the same as writing.

Having a conversation about writing is not the same as writing.

Some of these help me grow into a better writer, but how often are they really just ways of procrastinating that don’t ever produce something written? If I’m not sitting here writing then I’m not writing.

If I’m not sitting here writing, I’m not writing.

Dorothy C. Fontana said: “You can’t say, I won’t write today because that excuse will extend into several days, then several months, then… you are not a writer anymore, just someone who dreams about being a writer.”

Do I want to be a capital “W” Writer? Yes. Do I want all my writing to feel like Writing? Yes. But I have to be okay with the fact that right now, I’m not and it doesn’t. I’m just a writer and most of the time writing is hard. It may never be otherwise.

But suppose one day I do arrive at some level of skill where the ink flows like honey and the prose like fine wine. I wonder if I’d even realize it. It may very well feel just like it does right now — like today — when it seems as if I can’t even put two words together using copy and paste.

Writing vs. Writing

Ideas that Spread, Win

Somewhere, a few years back, I was listening to a live broadcast with Seth Godin. I think it was a radio show targeted towards non-profit organizations, and Seth was giving advice about marketing and spreading ideas.

I took a few notes from what Seth said and just recently came across them in my Yojimbo. Here are the bulletpoints of Seth’s advice from that radio show:

  • Ideas that spread, win.
  • Free ideas spread better than non-free ideas.
  • You monetize it by selling souvenirs.
  • For example, books are souvenirs. But it’s not about selling books. If you’re in the idea business the books will sell themselves.
  • Permission is the only asset. If people ‘complain’ when they don’t hear from you, then it means you’ve got permission.
  • Conversations are marketing. If you can get people to talk about what you’re doing then you win.
  • Words for readers, not readers for words (it’s why The New Yorker and Rolling Stone are so great, and the magazine industry makes 10 times the book industry).
  • Blogs work. It’s the successful nature of dripping ideas into the place where they can spread.
Ideas that Spread, Win

Supporting the Independents

The creative professional community is full of independents. And the best content, apps, and services are increasingly coming from independent writers, developers, and entrepreneurs. I want this quality to increase — especially amongst my favorite developers, writers, et al.

Which is why I give my money to a handful of websites, services, and content producers whom I love. For example: I buy everything Shaun Inman creates. In part because it’s worth it, but also because I want him to keep building and creating. It’s also why I have a subscription to 5by5 and Instapaper. It’s why I buy people’s eBooks. And it’s why I buy the software I use, even if there is a free version that works just fine for me.

Obviously I can’t afford do give my money to support every website I read and for every cool app that I come across. And so, when I can’t afford to pay for something then I spread the word about their product using Twitter or my website. Or, for some apps, I try to give as much of my time as I can by helping them test and improve their software.

For the handful of my most-favorite websites and apps which I continually find value from, supporting them is a win for both of us. It’s a way to thank them and it helps them keep building and creating for the long run.

Supporting the Independents

Rising Early

Nicholas Alpi, a Ruby developer, shares his story of transitioning from night owl to early bird. He made the decision a year ago and has stuck with it. Now he’s so glad he did.

Also, Leo Babauta gets up at 4:30 each morning and has written about the benefits of rising early.

I love being up early, but I hate getting up early. I am not a morning person.

Some folks are natural morning people — their heads pop off the pillow with little help from an alarm. I am not one of those people. I am a night owl and have been for 30 years.

But just because I’m naturally prone to stay up late doesn’t mean nights are my most productive time of the day. It’s the opposite actually. Mornings are my most productive time. They are also my favorite time of the day.

In the morning my mind is more clear; there is not yet the accumulation of “mental clutter” from the activities and worries of the day; the whole day seems like a blank canvas. And because of the endless possibilities the morning brings with it, I feel liberated and comfortable to do some of my best work of the day. Also it’s the time of day when coffee tastes best.

There is something magical about the early morning. It’s a time when the world belongs to only those few who are awake. And we walk around like kings while others remain unseen in their beds.

Rising Early

Idea: OmniFocus Aid: A Capture Utility for the Mac

Ian Hines posted an idea to Twitter earlier this week:

Thought: it would be nice to be able to input content on the desktop, without having the full desktop client (OmniFocus). Just Inbox.

The premise of Ian’s idea is two fold. Assuming you already own the iPad and/or iPhone version:

  • Perhaps you can’t afford OmniFocus for the Mac.
  • Perhaps you don’t need OmniFocus for the Mac.

In either of these scenarios, it would be great to have a capture-only utility for the Mac that could sync action items to your iPad / iPhone versions.

OmniFocus Aid would be lightweight, easy to use, and built for the sole purpose of throwing tasks into your OmniFocus database when at your Mac. Or, put another way, it would be a utility that consisted of just the top-notch ways that OmniFocus for Mac currently lets you capture action items:

  • Quick Entry Pane (not unlike the one that already ships with OmniFocus)
  • It knows your projects and contexts
  • Supports clippings, Mail rules, and bookmarklets

It should install in the Menu Bar to be accessible for those who don’t swear by the keyboard, and it should sync in the background. It could sell for a few bucks to anyone who purchases the iPad or iPhone versions.

OmniFocus Aid would would make a fantastic counterpart to the iOS suite of OmniFocus apps. It’s a fantastic idea, and I would love to see it get some attention from the Omni Group.

Update: I’ve received some feedback on Twitter and in email that also having a Windows- or web-based version of OmniFocus Aid would be great for those who are not on their own Mac all day. I use my MacBook Pro for work and personal; in the office and at home. I forget that not everyone rolls that way.

Idea: OmniFocus Aid: A Capture Utility for the Mac

My Sister is Getting Married

It’s not too often that I share personal tidbits here, but this one is worthy.

My one and only sister, my younger sister, is getting married this coming Sunday. My future brother-in-law, Mark, is a stand up guy; I couldn’t be happier.

The wedding is here in Kansas City, and family has already begun to arrive. Which means posting on shawnblanc.net will be slim this week because family always, always comes first.

So if and when you check this site and you don’t see anything new, say a quick prayer for Elise and Mark and their new life together.

My Sister is Getting Married

More Ideas Than Time, but More Time Than Focus

Often I find myself wrestling with the tension that I have more ideas than time. There are many great things I want to do and build and ship and start, but I just don’t have the time to do them. However, I’m finding that the real problem is not my lack of time — it’s my lack of focus.

Ideas > Time > Focus

More ideas than time, but more time than focus.

This is not exactly a revelation. But the above equation has helped to put it in perspective for me. What I want it to be is this:

(Ideas > Time) + (Focus > Time)

More ideas than time and more focus than time.

If we have more time than focus it means we’re wasting time. Time is the only thing in that equation that we have no control over. And so it should be seized for all it is worth. I do not want a wasted surplus of time due to a lack of focus.

Does this mean I spend all my time “focused” on work? Not at all. I don’t have the energy for that. And neither do you.

What it means is that I’m being proactive and intentional about how I spend my time. It means I’ve establish some awesome default behaviors to fall back on when my focus and energy run out during the day.

* * *

For more thoughts on this, check out this video and article combo that I put together about “How to Get it All Done” when you’ve got too many awesome ideas.

More Ideas Than Time, but More Time Than Focus

That Was Fun

From where I’m sitting, Blast from the Past Link Day turned out to be a wild success.

Many people posted links to their website and/or Twitter throughout the day. Some of you wrote a single article with a list of favorite reads. Some people highlighted favorites written by others, and some highlighted favorites that they had written.

Thank you everyone for joining the fun and for sharing some great articles.

We should do this again sometime. But not for a while… I have a lot of reading to do.

That Was Fun

Blast from the Past Link Day

Maybe we’ll do this every January. Maybe not. That’s not the point.

Today, I had a fantastic time combing through my “faves”, “tips”, and “inspiration” tags within Yojimbo to dig up a few of good articles I have bookmarked over years. I also perused through my starred items in Instapaper for some golden oldies.

Alas, one of the ways of the Web is that if it isn’t fresh it isn’t worth talking about. But you and I both know that’s not true.

So tomorrow, January 20, 2011, is a day to dig up and share some of the older articles we’ve read over the years that have inspired us, encouraged us, and delighted us.

There are two rules to participating:

  • It wasn’t written today.
  • You think it’s worth reading.

Here is how to participate:

  • Post links to some of your favorite, older articles (even ones written by you) to your website.
  • Let us know about your links on Twitter using the hashtag: #pastblast
  • If you don’t want to post links on your site, just post them on Twitter. Still use the hashtag of course.

You can follow along with what I’m posting here by checking the homepage at the top of every hour starting at 7:00 am CST tomorrow morning — I’ve got 8 links queued up (so far). I’ll also be tweeting the links.

Blast from the Past Link Day

What’s Better Than Productivity in the Office?

I always hire for unity first.

Because there is something much more vital than productivity to the success of a work environment: unity. Will this person fit in, get along, and bring the unity of the team up a notch? It’s not until that question is answered that I then look for teachability and, lastly, talent. (But that’s a different blog post.)

Our culture is borderline obsessed with the focus on productivity and getting things done. And while I am certainly an advocate for those, at my office, and on my team, unity is far more valuable than productivity. Where there’s unity there’s people who love their job. And a lover will always out-work a worker.

Unity encourages discovery, too. Unity means I’ve got your back and you’ve got mine. When you feel safe around your team then you’ll go ahead and try out that crazy, out-of-the-box idea of yours. If you were afraid of your peers criticizing you, then you’d probably stick to what is safe and boring. Unity and trust amongst your team means you’re safe to fail. Which means there’s a far greater chance of something truly amazing happening.

What’s Better Than Productivity in the Office?

Trusted Advisors

I have a few short lists of people whom I turn to when I need feedback, advice, and encouragement for different areas of my personal and professional life. The areas I most often seek feedback for are:

  • My writing
  • My design
  • New business models and strategies
  • Big, hairy, audacious ideas
  • Major life decisions

For each area I have a handful of people whom I trust and whom I know I can ask for their help. I know they have an educated and valuable position on the subject, and they meet two very important requirements:

  1. They shoot me straight 100% of the time. I prefer blunt honesty and genuine feedback. Don’t dance around my feelings. Tell me what you really think and why.

  2. They want me to succeed. Usually, by the time I’m ready for feedback from someone, I’ve gone about as far I you can go on my own. And that’s when I need someone to cheer me on to cross the finish line.

Some people are on a few of these lists, and one person is on all of them (my wife).

It’s not always easy to seek out input from others (especially when they found a giant hole in your otherwise perfect idea). But if you’re trying to push the boundaries of what you can come up with, build, and ship, then feedback and encouragement will be an invaluable tool along that path.

Trusted Advisors

How to Pronounce “Blanc”

Growing up we always knew when a telemarketer was calling because they’d pronounce our last name wrong. But it never really occurred to me until recently that many of you may also be pronouncing my last name wrong by mistake as well.

Though my last name is spelled the same as the legendary Mel Blanc’s (no relation) it is not pronounced the same. Mel’s last name was pronounced “blank“. As in a blank canvas.

My last name is pronounced “blonk“. As in Mont Blanc. This is an americanized version of the way the French say it (my great grandfather grew up in a small town along the France/Italian border). Though a proper French pronunciation with a proper French accent would leave off the “c” altogether. I do not have a french accent.

Phonetically, it is spelled: “blah ng k”.

And so now you know.

How to Pronounce “Blanc”

Verizon’s iPhone

It is, for all intents and purposes, the same iPhone that people on AT&T are using except it works on Verizon. There is no Verizon branding nor any special new features to the iPhone. Except one: the mobile hotspot.

The only software that will come “pre-installed” on the Verizon iPhone is what Verizon is calling their Mobile Hotspot app. Though, fortunately, it’s found in the Settings and not as its own app which launches from the springboard.

You can use the mobile hotspot to give internet to up to five computers (or iPads). And while the mobile hotspot is a great feature, on Verizon’s CDMA network you can’t use data and voice simultaneously. If you’re broadcasting an internet connection with your Verizon iPhone and someone gives you a call, then the connection goes dead. Like when you were online using dialup and someone called your house.

Pricing for data plans hasn’t been announced yet, but Verizon says they’ll be based on current data plans. Verizon’s current smartphone data plans are $15/month for 150 MB of data or $30 for unlimited. AT&T charges $15/month for 200 MB or $25 for 2 GB; and if you want tethering enabled it’s an additional $20 per month. My guess is that Verizon’s Mobile Hotspot will be free to use with the data plans but the data plan pricing will be a bit higher for the iPhone 4 than they currently are for smartphones.

Lastly, it appears Verizon didn’t do their homework when building their website. The Verizon iPhone info page shows an option for the white iPhone. But it also shows images of the GSM iPhone (you can tell the difference by the antenna line break just above the mute switch — CDMA has one, GSM doesn’t), and it lists the iPhone as being GSM. Whoops. Clearly these are specs and images taken straight from Apple.com. I would be surprised to see a white iPhone available on Verizon on the February 10.

And for those curious, I will not be switching to Verizon. AT&T service in Kansas City is just fine.

Verizon’s iPhone

The Mac App Store and the Increasing Simplification of OS X

Apple is simplifying and refining OS X with primarily one user group in mind: the decidedly non-nerdy.

The Mac App Store is the current epitome of where Apple wants to take OS X and the Mac user experience. This is the first of some significant steps towards the next evolution of Apple’s desktop software.

It used to be that buying and installing an app was a chore. But now, with the Mac App Store, it’s as simple as finding an app you want and clicking a button. Just like buying a song or renting a movie in iTunes. The whole experience is familiar, easy, and even a little bit fun.

And so it will go with Apple’s desktop software. OS X will not be advancing towards touch-screen desktops, 3D monitors, and power-packed Finder features. Instead it will be getting more and more simple — with heavy emphasis on a simple way to find your files and applications, the ability to focus in on one app at a time, and other features built for the non-nerdy.

Apple has worked very hard to keep the user experience of iOS as simple and straightforward as possible. And it is the simplicity of iOS that will influence OS X 10.7 more than anything else. In an article on Macworld, Andy Ihnatko says:

I recently read something about Walt Disney that seemed very familiar. A man who worked with him said (I’m paraphrasing) Walt wanted to make sure that if you came to Disney World, you would have a fantastic time. And he succeeded. But he also wanted to make sure that you wouldn’t even have the option of having a bad time.

That’s everything you need to know about Apple. Its roller coaster is smooth, clean, and well-maintained.

Of course simplification and a better user experience is not the only goal of the Mac App Store. It’s also there for economic purposes. (Duh!)

  1. Apple wants to encourage Mac users to discover and use new software.
  2. Apple also wants to promote growth and income for the Macintosh ecosystem.

Encouraging Discovery

The average consumer spends very little money or time buying and tinkering with new software for their computer. In fact, many people are simply using Web apps for their basic computing needs: Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, Amazon, wordpress.com, etc. — all in the browser. The average person does not go out looking for new software. They buy and use what their friends tell them to get or what their job requires that they get.

One of Apple’s primary selling points of the iPhone and iPad is all the things you can do on it. When people find and use apps through the iOS App Store they become more “hooked” to their iPhone and/or iPad. Put another way: the apps a person uses on their device are precisely what make the device valuable to the user.

And the same is true for the Mac. However, up until yesterday, finding and installing apps for your Mac was not nearly as easy as finding and installing apps on your iPhone or iPad.

The problem had nothing to do with availability or quality of 3rd-party Mac software. To the contrary, OS X has an outstanding community of 3rd-party developers. You and I have no problem finding and using new tools to make our day-to-day computing experience better, but the average consumer does.

And so Apple wants to introduce the non-nerdy to all the fantastic software that is available for OS X. Which is precisely the goal of Mac App Store.

And it appears to be working. The Mac App Store launched with 1,000 apps in it. In its first 24 hours over 1,000,000 apps were downloaded from the Mac App Store. And of the 1,000 unique apps only a few were brand new.

Alfred — an app which I suspect most of you reading this are familiar with — saw over 30,000 downloads on the first day in the Mac App Store. Evernote — another app I assume you’ve heard of — saw an 1,800% increase in their new-user sign-up rate.

My point here is that these well-known and established apps still did great in the Mac App Store on the first day. It’s not just the new apps that are being downloaded for the sake of their newness. There is still a large and un-tapped section of the market for 3rd-parting Macintosh software.

Promoting Growth

At the end of the day Apple is still just a company doing business and trying to make a buck.

Apple’s integrated and easy-to-use storefronts have proven to be successful on every level. The iOS App Store has seen over one billion apps downloaded. iTunes is the number one music store in the world. These store fronts are providing significant income for Apple, developers, and artists. Not to mention a very easy-to-use store for users.

Why not take that same business model and apply it to the already thriving ecosystem of Macintosh desktop software? It will no doubt be a huge success for Apple, 3rd-party developers, and users.

  • Apple wins because they now get a 30% cut of all sales on the Mac App Store.

  • Developers win because they’ve got a significantly larger market to sell their products to with highly increased discoverability. And though they only get 70% of the sale it is better to sell 5 applications at 70% your normal profit than 2 applications at 100%.

Moreover, for software sold through the Mac App Store developers do not have to deal with managing their own serial number and payment processing systems, file hosting, and even (at least to a degree) tier-1 support.

It will be interesting to see how many developers stop selling their software on their own site and begin to sell exclusively on the Mac App Store. Pixelmator, TapeDeck and CoverSutra have already made the switch to being sold exclusively on the Mac App Store. How long until this becomes the norm?

  • Users win because they now have a one-stop shop to find and install new software, thus increasing the personal value of their Mac experience. (Savvy readers will know I have a soft spot for fine software.)

In many ways the Mac App Store is today what the iTunes music store was in 2003 — a new storefront to help promote and grow an already-established industry that could use a bit of a boost.

The Mac App Store and the Increasing Simplification of OS X