Solid day today, best day in the last two weeks. My writing recovery has been pretty slow but that it is what it is.
For reading, I kept reading TMNT comics.
For data analysis, I sent another macro project to my programmer. This one is for Microsoft Word.
For marketing, no work today.
For production, I hit my quota today. I’m sitting at 3,000 words but hopefully will do a little better than that. It’s the first day I’ve hit my quota in a while—the last two weeks really knocked me out of commission.
I finished the short story I was working on which is always a good thing. Now it’s time to figure out what the next one will be. I’ll probably start it tomorrow.
That’s the life of a writer. You’re always working on the next thing. No excuses, no messing around. Just on to the next story.
It’s time to start building my surplus again. I’m going to be traveling again so I need to build it expeditiously…
TECHNOLOGY, TECHNOLOGY
I think I shared this last year, but I bought an Elgato Stream Deck to help me with my power hours. I use it a lot, but I always felt like I wasn’t using it to its full potential.
Tonight I started playing with it, and man, did I figure out some cool stuff. I can use my mouse with my right hand and alternate between my keyboard and my Stream deck with my left hand.
I’ve mapped lots of keyboard shortcuts to it, which are doubly useful since I’m using Word now.
Some examples of what I can do:
- I can run my dictation macro.
- I can accept all tracked changes as well as advance through and accept/reject tracked changes. It makes reviewing an editor’s recommendations way faster.
- I can launch a dictionary or Google with a button press.
- I can switch between apps on my computer quickly without having to do a keyboard shortcut.
That’s just in Word.
And I’m just getting started. I also grabbed an Elgato Foot Pedal, which gives me three more buttons under my desk that I can control with my foot.
So, when I’m reviewing my editor’s edits, I can accept with my right foot and reject with my left, for example. This way, I never have to take my hands off the keyboard and mouse.
It sounds minor, but it’s huge.
Also, when I’m running PowerPoint presentations, I can advance/reverse through presentations with my foot. Game changer.
When I’m running Zoom, I can mute my microphone with the tap of a foot as opposed to hunting around on my mic for the mute button or using a keyboard shortcut (which often requires me to look down as they’re not terribly easy on the fingers).
Anyway, there are lots of uses that I can unlock with this that will help me be a writing machine. It shaves seconds off my writing sessions, which, make a big difference.
That’s enough geekery for me this week.
POWER HOUR SATURDAY
It’s official—the Power Hour will be on Saturday. Email notification will go out tomorrow for those on my list. Hope to see you all there.
YTD Word Count: 212,250
Plan: 1,252,000
Words Left to Write 1,039,750
Words Over/-Under Plan: 6,000
Days Ahead/-Behind: 2.18
Projected Annual Word Count: 1,032,950
Projected Decade Word Count: 10,329,500
Deadline: 12/31/2023
Days to Go Until 12/31/23: 416
Word Count Average: 2,830
