Easy Digital Home Movies is finally past the author review stage and headed for the final layout. This means I can breathe a sigh of relief and get back to doing all the other projects I’ve been putting on hold since November. I have a new appreciation every computer book author on the planet. The process involves restructuring your vision around what the editors want to see. Multiple editors offer conflicting feedback about want *needs* to be in the book. At some point in the project, someone on the editorial staff assigns you the role of photographer; guess what, the pay remains the same no matter how many extra hours it takes to setup shots. And sometimes, really great ideas get thrown out because they don’t fit into narrowly defined criteria for page formatting. If you’ve got a favorite computer book, open it up to the About the Author section, look for the author’s email address, and say thanks.
There are little moments in life when I wish I could record multiple camera angles of the events around me. Paul (my brother) and I made a road trip to Chicago on Monday. Part of the trip involved recording some video at Shedd Aquarium. It was late in the afternoon, only a few hundred people were at Shedd, and we were the only people in the Beluga Whale exhibit. Paul noticed one of the whales floating on its back several feet below the surface of the water. Next thing you know the whale surfaces, pops its head out of the water… I’ll let the video tell the rest of the story. If only I had recorded Paul’s reaction.
Every once in awhile I find a software application with the ability to greatly improve my personal productivity. StickyNote is one of those apps. It generates 3D sticky notes on the Windows desktop, making it easy to keep track of tasks, phone numbers, grocery lists, and just about anything else you might write down and shove in your pocket. Using a peer-to-peer network, it even lets you send notes to other StickyNote users. This has been a total lifesaver in terms of making me more organized. I’m notorious for shoving papers in my pockets and shuffling them to the next pocket when I put on new pants the next day. Now, I’m pasting notes to my desktop instead, which is a constant reminder of something I need to do. I’ll make the disclaimer that I do get an affiliate commission if you decide to register StickyNote based on my recommendation, but seriously, try it out, you just might get more organized.
