Stuff. Breathing, Editing, Voicing.

I like to journal privately, but I kinda like to type in something sorta pretty. I know. It’s silly. Penzu is a lovely place to have a private diary just for you and no one else. It even has a double-locking feature if you’re particularly paranoid about keeping your mental craziness private.

I set it as one of my homepages and spill out gunk every morning, sorta like morning pages.


I’ve also been addicted to Instant Boss. Working on a computer makes the internet a bit of a distraction. It’s the tiniest little app, and yet it allows you to work in spurts and reward yourself with a break. There’s a little alarm when it’s time to take a break, and a little voice says, “Aw, man!” when it’s time to get back to work.

You can adjust the work minutes and break minutes to whatever suits you.

Whenever I go to Borders and wander the stacks, I can’t help but think, “Oh! I want to teach my child that! Then that! Then that!” And yet, the possibility of children feels like it’s slipping away every day. Patience, hope, and trust, I guess.

I’m managing asthma much better now. I’m pretty proud of myself. I’d learned how to manage an attack, but I didn’t understand the daily life bit, until falling asleep every hour forced me to figure out what the heck was going on. My attention span has improved DRASTICALLY since I started making sure my brain gets enough oxygen. Go figure.

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I’m not at all pleased with the novella I’m writing now. My one little pub is so busy, I usually just get an “I like it” unless I beg. I suppose I’d rather have the higher pay than an editor, at this point, but my attention is so distracted by the studio and teaching and writing a non-fiction essay, that I feel this novella is not my best work.

I also tried a lyrical voice with it. I’m not sure why. I’m constantly writing stuff that demands a lyrical sort of voice, and yet I feel my strength lies more in the short and snappy and rhythmic.

I rarely write that way. Maybe it’s so different it makes me uncomfortable. Or maybe it’s better suited to genres I don’t actually write. I tend to think of it as my spy thriller voice, but if we were all holding our breath for that one, we’d all be dead. ;-)

What little apps do you use to make your life easier? How do you manage your attention span when there’s so much waiting to distract you? Thoughts on voice?