Journal

100 Word Challenge

by

Long-form writing has been overwhelming lately so I’m trying short stories. I didn’t know that there were even shorter stories out there called micro-fiction. 100-word stories. And believe it or not there are even 50-word stories. I’m not ready for that, especially since they read like Haiku. Anywho, here’s my take on micro fiction. To be developed into a proper story in the future.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program developed in 1933. It was created so poor and unskilled younger men would have the chance to earn a wage while helping to re-build the country. Sonny Fisher just saw it as his meal ticket.

If it wasn’t for the CCC he’d likely starve or be shot. Either way, he’d be dead if he stayed back home in Ohio. Here he was in Texas bustin’ his ass for pennies a day and good food.

While digging he struck an iron pot. Sealed with worn leather and covered in mildew. Gold coins?

image
the-civilian-conservation-corps-was-a-public-works-program-developed-in-1933.-it-was-created-soDownload

100 Word Challenge

by

Long-form writing is overwhelming so I’m trying short stories. Guess what? There are even shorter stories out there called micro-fiction. 100-word stories. Believe it or not there are even 50-word stories. I’m not ready for that, especially since they read like Haiku. Anywho, here’s my take on micro fiction. To be developed into a proper story in the future.

The Civilian Conservation Corps was a public works program developed in 1933. It was created so poor and unskilled younger men would have the chance to earn a wage while helping to re-build the country. Sonny Fisher just saw it as his meal ticket. 

If it wasn’t for the CCC he’d likely starve or be shot. Either way, he’d be dead if he stayed back home in Ohio. Here he was in  Texas bustin’ his ass for pennies a day and good food.

While digging he struck an iron pot. Sealed with worn leather and covered in mildew. Gold coins?

image
by

Lightroom Preset Synchronization

Finally.

I’ve been able to synchronize my custom film effects from the desktop to my mobile iOS devices so now I can edit my images anywhere.

On my iPhone

On my iPad

This is a fantastic development that’ll come in handy when I am out and about and want to share processed images right away.

Physical vs Digital

by

Inspired by the time-tested practice of marginalia, the art of
note-taking inside of books, I wanted to explore note taking in digital
books.

In most apps like Amazon’s Kindle, I can highlight, notate and save until next time I open it up like below:

But there are limits. When you purchase a book it is not owned but
rather it is licensed. You are borrowing it until at some point either
the publisher pulls it or the digital store no longer supports it. They
cannot be transferred, and at some point the digital purchase will be
deleted.

Also, you cannot pass down your digital books or their annotations to the next generation.

I
used to have crates full of books but after moving them around the
country more than a few times, plus the introduction of digital books, I
gave away or sold most of them because of the inconvenience. Now, I am
regretful.

The next time I want a book for a quick read I’ll
purchase a digital license and be done with it or borrow from the
library. For long term books to keep I will be grabbing a physical copy
and look forward to scribbling my notes and commentary.

by

Lightroom Preset Sync!

“Finally!”

– all Adobe Lightroom users

I’ve been able to synchronize my custom film effects from the desktop to my mobile iOS devices so now I can edit my images anywhere.

On my iPhone

On my iPad

This is a fantastic development that’ll come in handy when I am out and about and want to share processed images right away.

by

VSCO > Instagram

Instagram sucks. I’ve said it before and I’ll keep saying it. VSCO has a great business model. They make and sell digital products to help enhance your photography and provide a social platform to host too. VSCO desktop presets for Adobe Lightroom and VSCO mobile are great tools to create and share your work.

Compare this to Instagram’s business model: advertising. Fun fact: I have never purchased anything from an online advertisement and I will go out of my way to not buy their products for their intrusive behavior. Also, I don’t want my data sold to anyone I don’t want to business with.

VSCO is minimally designed where the focus is on photography, not how many followers you have or comments and likes. These fake forms of measuring how good your image is can be unhealthy and distracting.

The attention to photography and storytelling beats the Instagram feed of 1 ad to every 4 photos. Instagram has ceased to be relevant and ceased being fun.

VSCO is a creative tool program where it provides the tools to edit your images and share on your feed or even in a journal format. Repost others in a Collection as a mood board of inspiration. Even reach out to others with private messaging.

I’ll still use Instagram for my Shots photo group and that’s all. I want to focus on enjoying photography again and being more creative as a result.

**Update** It is finished

A Non-Expert’s Guide To Writing

by

Three important lessons for people who are inspiring writers and have never done this before:

  • Get a unique story idea.
  • Plot it out.
  • Research and study the hell out of your topic and genre. 

A fourth lesson would be to stop focusing on all of those and just get to writing something. Anything. Please.

A Non-Expert Guide To Writing

by

Three important lessons for people who are inspiring writers and have never done this before:

  • Get a unique story idea.
  • Plot it out.
  • Research and study the hell out of your topic and genre.

A fourth lesson would be to stop focusing on all of those and just get to writing something. Anything. Please.

iA Writer

by

After several free trials, beta tests and tribulations I have chosen iA Writer as my tool to help me create stories I want to tell (not calling myself a writer or author yet).

The software for me had to pass several standards such as:

Cross-platform (Windows, iOS)

Inexpensive

Clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing.

No overwhelming amount of tools that I’ll never use

Mission accomplished.

iA Writer

by

After several free trials, beta tests and tribulations of desktop writing software I have finally decided on my tool of choice. iA Writer helps me take notes and create the stories I want to tell (not
calling myself a writer or author yet).

The criteria I needed:

  • Cross-platform (Windows, iOS)
  • Inexpensive
  • Clean, simple and aesthetically pleasing
  • No overwhelming amount of tools that I’ll never use

Mission accomplished.

on the desktop ^

on the iPad ^

Noted

by

“Five hundred years later, Leonardo Da Vinci’s notebooks are around
to astonish and inspire us. Fifty years from now, our own notebooks, if
we work up the initiative to start writing them, will be around to
astonish and inspire out grandchildren, unlike our tweets and Facebook
posts. “

“The more than 7,200 pages now extant probably represent
about one-quarter of what Leonardo actually wrote, but that is a higher
percentage after five hundred years than the percentage of Steve Job’s
emails and digital documents from the 1990s that he and I were able to
retrieve.”

– Walter Isaacson

How much of our digital selves are trapped inside social
media that we cannot retrieve, use or archive?
Digital note taking is fine but what happens when I am offline and need
to gather my thoughts?

I have been documenting my research and thoughts in multiple and
redundant formats and platforms hoping to find a system that sticks. Pen
and paper so far stands the test of time. I hate the act of physical
writing and my penmanship sucks but here goes.