Here are three ways I use FoldingText:

1. Planning my writing schedule forward. I’m hearing from more PR people and software companies than ever before and have started to use FoldingText to project my proposed TechRepublic writing schedule out over the next few months.

2. Strategic planning. I like using FoldingText when I’m writing about personal and professional plans. The page is clean and I can fold and unfold text under headings. At one time, I wasn’t a fan of distraction free writing but at times now it is just what I need when thinking through something like a professional move.

3. Article and post outlines. On some of my more complex articles and posts, I start from an outline. FoldingText comes into play a lot more now though it still has a bit further to go to really challenge OmniOutliner on my iPad.

What has been your experience with FoldingText?

 

After a busy fall and spring, I’m looking forward to summertime and going to the pool has been on my mind lately. While the pool was the last thing on my mind during the unseasonably cool Memorial Day weekend, I do look forward to some quality reading time as the summer progresses.

• Word Up! by Marcia Riefer Johnston: This is the one dead tree book I’ve bought this year. I was able to justify because I’m reading everything I can about writing and editing since I’ve been flying solo since last September.
• Dad is Fat by Jim Gaffigan: It’s by Jim Gaffigan making me think it should be a funny read.
• Escape from Camp 14 by Blaine Harden: I find stories about North Korea to be fascinating and look forward to reading this tale about one man’s escape from a North Korean prison who eventually finds his way to the West.
• APE by Guy Kawasaki: While I’m not sure self publishing in my future, I have respect for Guy Kawasaki and appreciate his insights into book publishing after spending some time as a technical editor during the great computer book over publishing of the nineteen nineties
• The Content Pool by Alan J. Porter: I am a fan of XML Press and hope to learn something from the book about the business use of content to help me pursue corporate writing projects more effectively.
• The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg: This book is left over from my Summer 2012 Reading List. Habits have always been an area of interest for me. I have no better excuse for not getting to it last summer except that I spent more time on freelance projects than at the pool because I was preparing for a job layoff that eventually hit me the following September.

I always seem to have more time (or perhaps more excuses) for reading during the summer and hopefully that will remain unchanged for Summer 2013.

What books are you planning on reading this summer?

 

I was asked recently by someone how do I generate ideas for the articles I write for TechRepublic and other sites. Since my layoff in September 2012, I’ve been a full time freelance writer generating story ideas that interest my editors is of utmost importance.

1. Follow technology trends religiously. I was a student of technology trends even before I wrote for technology blog sites. It was something that attracted me to becoming a technical writer in the first place. Currently, I am following enterprise mobility (especially BYOD), cloud computing, Big Data, and agile development quite closely.
2. LinkedIn. Early on, I became a believer in LinkedIn and get many ideas from reading LinkedIn Today and LinkedIn Influencers.
3. Twitter. I follow a number of technology vendors, publications, and industry analyst firms on Twitter. Twitter is replacing RSS as a daily go to news source for me
4. PR firm pitches. There are technology bloggers and writers who complain about the state of high tech PR today. I have my own complaints. However, I have gotten some great stories and access to some real thought leaders from PR agencies. While I wish I had more time to take advantage of briefing opportunities, I do try to read all the PR pitches I receive from agencies and companies. Unfortunately, I can’t respond to every PR pitch I receive due to the number of emails I receive.
5. Build a relationship with the editor. Not to be forgotten is to know what your editor wants. It’s very competitive out there right now so it helps to be in tune with your editor and what they want in articles and posts.

Ideas then make it into one or more of my systems of record. I also need to mention that generating ideas is an ongoing thing with me. Making it an ongoing process helps me turn around pitches to meet the demands of my my editors.

How do you generate ideas?

 

One of the first things I did was get reorganized quickly and came to rely on the following apps:

Evernote: I capture potential TechRepublic, The Mobility Hub, and Projects@Work ideas in Evernote. It is also where I capture news articles related to trends and topics I regularly follow. Evernote also serves as an archive for all of my project research. I like Evernote because I can always access it from my iPhone 5, iPad, or one of my Android tablets. The attempted hacking didn’t faze me one bit as an Evernote customer. Clearly is becoming my favorite way to capture information into Evernote especially now that it lets you capture PDF files.

Projectbook: I got turned onto Projectbook when I wrote a review about it for Tablets in the Enterprise on TechRepublic. When I get a pitch from a PR agency, and I am interested in it,  I forward it to Projectbook for later reference.

Google Drive: This is where I keep tracking spreadsheets and draft potential article and post pitches. I don’t use Microsoft Office for these tasks because I do switch PCs and devices and always want access to this sort of information.

Dropbox: I do use Dropbox on a limited basis for my active posts and articles since I spend time working from my home office and the local Panera.

Task management: Right now, I’m using Things for task management including the check lists I run through when writing my posts for TechRepublic, The Mobility Hub, and Projects@Work. Previously, I was a longtime Omnifocus user. Considering the way I work, I enter and manage tasks on my iPad or iPhone. Ideally, I would like to find a task management app that supports iOS, Mac, Windows, and Android but have yet to find one that I like and that fits my requirements. Asana also comes into play with some of my corporate client freelance projects and I hope that Asana releases an iPad app sometime in the near future. When an Asana iPad app pops, I would definitely consider consolidating my task management to Asana full time.

What are your systems of record?

 

Here is some of the wisdom my father passed onto me:

Always follow your gut. He would always advise me to follow my gut instincts when I needed to find my way and I must say this advice has always served me well. Every time I’ve ever gone against my gut in personal and professional matters there has always been trouble. When my mind was foggy from thyroid issues there were problems. Now that I’ve regained my health, my instincts are back and I look forward to moving ahead personally and professionally.

You play, you pay. We all mess up in life and when you play, you pay my father would always say. This one made a lot of sense when I was a kid but I am not sure I agree with it in today’s day and age where bad behavior is rewarded; big business scandals; financial scandals; and ethics seems to be forgotten in some circles of society without any real repercussions.

Sometimes people are so smart they are stupid. My father worked as a respiratory therapist in Baltimore hospitals for years before his health went bad giving him the opportunity to work with many educated people who had common sense deficiencies. He taught me just because people are highly educated it doesn’t mean they have common sense or street smarts. I’ve seen this time and time again throughout my IT career. It is also rings true in the halls of our government right now.

Always try to do the right thing. He was a man of principles who always tried to do the right thing for his family and friends. There have been times this can feel like falling on one’s sword.

You had a job when you got there. You will have a job when you leave. This wisdom was true a few years ago but hasn’t stood up in the gray underbelly of today’s economic and employment apocalypse. I still look to this lesson for strength around the end of contracts. It just takes me longer to secure my next gig these days. After my layoff last September, I walked right into freelancing again. It felt good. I stayed true to this bit of my father’s wisdom.

You always land on your feet. Growing up with dyslexia made school very hard on me. Calling it challenging is being too polite. I am fortunate to have had great parents growing up and owe them both for standing behind me during the tough times. My Father would always say, “You always land on your feet, boy!” during those times. I took this mantra into adulthood with me and keep saying it long after he passed away like during the dot com bust, being laid off from jobs, and making it through to the other side after years of suffering through a misdiagnosed Thyroid issue. While my father couldn’t foresee the economic collapse we are currently living in, his teachings and wisdom have largely have held up for me over the years.

January still isn’t a very happy month for me but I am busy with writing projects which is always a good thing.

What wisdom did your father pass onto you?

 

Through the Apple Recycling Program, I was able to accumulate enough Apple Gift Cards to purchase an iPad Mini. While I am quite happy with my third generation iPad, I thought having an iPad Mini in house could be helpful with my CNET TechRepublic.com and The Mobility Hub writing. At least, that was the excuse I told myself.

Here are my initial thoughts about the device:

Wow, it’s small and light. While I’m not a 7” tablet fan like some others, the size and weight of the iPad Mini could make me a (partial) convert. Though I could never see the iPad Mini becoming my day to day tablet, I am definitely going to gravitate to it when it comes to some upcoming writing projects. The iPad Mini is a more ideal lying on the couch tablet than a business tablet (at least for how I use the iPad). Though I am interested to see how the iPad Mini is going to catch on in sectors such as healthcare and education by this time next year.

A Retina screen on the iPad Mini will be a game changer. I’ve been wearing glasses since I was in the 6th grade so the Retina screen on my third generation iPad helps make it my primary tablet for reading and tracking my daily calendar and tasks. The screen resolution on the iPad Mini reminds me of my first gen iPad.

64 GB is the right size for me. Through the course of my writing work, I check out a lot of iOS apps. 64 GB was the only size left when I got the iPad right before Christmas. I’ve come to see that 64 GB might be the right size for me because I am always installing apps to check out for potential articles and posts.

Adding an iPad Mini to the mix maxes out iCloud. I already have an iPad and iPhone 5 backing up to my iCloud account along with ByWord, iWork, and some others apps. After restoring the apps and data from my primary iPad, I didn’t take into account that backing up the mini to my iCloud account would max out my iCloud account. Fortunately, I created two iCloud accounts by accident when the service launched so I have the iPad Mini backing up to my spare account.

Pretty much I’m only finding first world problems with the iPad Mini thus far. What has been your experience with the iPad Mini?

 

2012 could have ended up much worse of a year than it actually did. While I didn’t make good on some of the 2012 plans, I got through the year and landed on my feet.

Here are some of the lessons I learned this year:

1. I need an honest day’s work. Getting laid off from my day job in September ended up being a blessing in disguise. Will Kelly just isn’t made to fill a slot.
2. I had a Portfolio Career before it was cool…now it’s survival. One things I got from my father was his work ethic which means I’ve pursued side projects at various points in my career. Having multiple sources of income has always been a safety net for me. Now I read that it’s called having a Portfolio Career. Having other projects like TechRepublic and The Mobility Hub cushioned my landing after September’s layoff. The side work also became a differentiator and springboard to some other projects that got me back on track after my layoff in September.
3. Sometimes confrontation won’t make a difference. I had some times that would have driven me to confrontation in years past. There were a few events this year, that I just folded my arms and let happen. Getting confrontational just wouldn’t have made a difference.
4. Give thanks on a regular basis. I had a lot to be thankful for this year both personally and professionally.

Image by Stock.xchng user: ba1969

 

I was reminded recently about how much the successful management of remote writing projects relies on common sense, communications, and teamwork. Looking back over previous part-time remote projects I’ve worked on the lack of one of those elements usually made for a lot more difficult of a project.

However, I’m the first to say that communications are a two way street between the remote writer and the mother ship.

Here are three common sense tips for a successful remote writing project:

• Factor in time zones and people’s schedules. You might think working with offshore project members is the most difficult element with a remote writing project. Well, I am here to tell you that it can sometimes be somebody on the opposite coast getting it wrong. When you email somebody at 10 pm your time demanding an immediate response, it could be 1 AM their time. Allow for time upfront in the project planning to ensure that your project communications don’t fumble on such a simple step.
• Remember not everybody is a mind reader. If either party is unfamiliar with remote working, I always recommend  in the beginning to factor in some extra lead-time to buffer against simple misunderstandings and give both parties a chance to learn how to work with each other.
• Make your edits and review comments self-standing. One of the more formative times in my technical communications career was freelancing as a computer book technical reviewer. Computer book publishing was and probably still is one of the few industries that gets remote workers especially those who are only doing it part-time. It was through this experience I learned how to make my edits and comments stand on their own. It is one thing to make comments on a document when a coworker can walk down to your cubicle with questions but it can be a completely different animal. When working remotely, make the extra effort to make sure your edits, comments, and feedback are descriptive enough to stand on their own and other project team members can work through them with a minimum of questions back and forth.

It is sometimes the simple things that can hobble a project so take the time upfront to build the working relationship and communications because either party can fumble.

 

The year 2012 has finally come to an end. It wasn’t without its personal and professional challenges but nonetheless my year ended on a happy note.

2012: The Good

• Started writing for CNET TechRepublic.com and was able to expand the working relationship when I was laid off in September.
• Started writing for The Mobility Hub which got me even deeper into writing about mobile device security and Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) topics.
• Returned to writing for Projects@Work.
• Got some finality on the health front regarding some lingering issues around my Total Thyroidectomy in 2010.
• Lost a good bit of weight.
• Took the time and got a ground floor understanding of Drupal through rebuilding willkelly.com.
• Returned to an honest day’s work and real full-time writing.

2012: The Bad

• Got laid off from a full-time job in September 2012.
• I wasn’t able to volunteer as much at church as I had hoped (but I hope that improves in 2013).
• I didn’t have much time for personal writing projects like this blog.
• Lost some inspiration at the gym this year due to deadlines and the fact that my current gym is dying out due to a new and much larger gym opening up right down the road.
• Didn’t reach my goal of getting an IT certification.

My year could have really ended on a sour note but it turned out for the best personally and professionally. How was your 2012? What are your goals for 2013?