Since my disaster yesterday, my challenges increased tenfold: How to keep up with feeding 5 blogs, without a full computer?
Some people under such circumstances would simply pull a Cobain, but I’m terrible with guns, my aim is so bad I would certainly end hurting someone innocent.
So, better pull a Lt. Dan and go back to work.
Using a PocketPC as your main blogging tool is not the end of the world. All you need is love focus. Focus, focus and focus.
Easier said than done, if everybody agrees you should be living on Ritalin, but not impossible. Actually, those hints work for everyone, even people with actual computers.
Think your cunning plan all the way through - Don’t plan as you write. It only works for novels, and bad ones. Check Lost. They’re pilling up the unanswered questions and plot holes. Don’t do that. Start only when you know where your post will end, how long it will be and what resources you’ll need.
ADHS is for wimps - I know I’ll link to “Ritalin” on Wikipedia, but hey, do I need to do it know? Will I dare to loose my focus, browsing away and forgetting my logical line?
Let the accessory work - link, tags, and pictures - to the end. Nobody will die if you don’t link NOW! RIGHT NOW!
Set up alternative posting methods - Most blog software accept posts via XMLRPC and email. It’s way easier than accessing their online interface. Don’t even think of using a PocketPC browser. Internet Explorer will do the trick but you’ll close it by mistake 3 or 6 times a day. Opera Mobile is great but it happens to die, silently, with no warning, taking your working data to browser’s heaven.
Post by email OR save your day’s work and finish it using a real PC.
Think about the future - Write two or three stories and keep them scheduled for the following days. You’ll miss a lot of deadlines, and those stores can cover your ass while you’re solving the big problems you’re dealing with. Classic filling stories are:
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Keywords Google people use to reach this site
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AdSense generic tip #4352
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Funny YouTube video
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Old Workplace Story post
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Obvious question thrown at the audience trick
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Problem-turned-story post (you’re reading one of those)
Don’t miss the big picture - or the small one. Posting from a PocketPC or a stranger’s PC leads to a lot of text-only posts. Time is a factor, unfamiliar image software is another. Have you tried Google Images using a PDA? Hint: Don’t.
But less images doesn’t mean no images. Are you typing your own Gutenberg Project? A small picture, here and there, breaks the hardness of a long text. A lot more people will read your posts if you do it.
Also, some posts need an illustration. Plan ahead but don’t stop including pictures only because it’s hard.
Learn to read email offline - If you are timesharing a PC don’t waste your time reading email in it. Use your PDA. Your online time is far more valuable now. There are no really urgent emails. People still use the phone for important issues. Nobody send a “WHERE’S MY INSULIN?” Email. Plan up to three email windows on your day. Don’t worry; your Nigerian friend will wait a few hours for deposit confirmation.
SEMPER FI - One thing I learned with U.S. Marine Corps: Always have a plan C. Because when you’re stuck with plan B it becomes plan A and guess what: you don’t have a backup plan anymore.
Don’t be a cry baby - You’ve lost your PC. OK, fine. Post about it, it’s a right. Just don’t make it sound like the end of the world. Some of your readers will have bigger problems. Don’t try to use pity to reach them. Nobody loves an underdog.
Talk about your loss, deal with it but don’t loose the perspective, or you’ll sound like a 30 old virgin living in your momma’s basement.
And finally…
Never Give Up, Never Surrender! - Most of Humanity’s best written works were produced under nasty circumstances. You don’t have black plague, Nazi soldiers in your dinner room, soviet agents joking your next work will be made in a place that rhymes with “Liberia”.
Think about your changed blogging environment as a fact of life. Not in a Pollyanna way. “Katrina is coming” doesn’t mean you’ve got a date, boy.
Imagine you’re a war blogger, without the war. Some things are bigger than you but what can’t be broken can be bent.
No, it does not mean you can dodge bullets.