Button Tapper » Austin http://buttontapper.com Professional and creative writing by Laura Roberts Wed, 08 Sep 2010 14:00:17 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 Thriving on the Deadline: Motivational Tips and Tricks http://buttontapper.com/2010/06/29/thriving-on-the-deadline-motivational-tips-and-tricks/ http://buttontapper.com/2010/06/29/thriving-on-the-deadline-motivational-tips-and-tricks/#comments Tue, 29 Jun 2010 18:09:37 +0000 Laura Roberts http://buttontapper.com/?p=2313 No matter who you are or what you choose to do with your life, motivating yourself is always going to be part of the challenge, although sometimes this seems especially true for freelancers. Sure, some days you’ll spring out of bed and gnaw away on the projects you need to finish with the intensity of a hungry beaver, but most days you’ll have excuses. Lots of them. Never fear, procrastinators! Here are some simple things you can do to keep your attention focused when deadlines are looming on your horizons.

Coffee

Motivation in a cup, coffee is the original freelance writer’s trick to getting things done. Whether it’s a fancy-pants espresso or just an ordinary cup (or seven… although apparently the optimum number for brain protection is five) from the never-ending pot, drink an extra cup of the black stuff and get on the case. Alternately, if you don’t like to get twitchy while you work, you can bribe yourself with the thought of a trip to your favorite café once you finish up the snooze-inducing reports you’re working on.

Music

While cranking the tunes and getting into a pattern with speed-metal on high volume can certainly pave the way to work getting done, some may find this a bit too distracting while they’re actually writing. Instead, use music as an additional incentive to get those fingers flying and listen to it as a break from your desk. As an added bonus, you can say you got in a bit of exercise as you rock out while doing the dishes. Multi-tasking at its finest!

Sunshine

If you’re anything like me, you hate feeling chained to your desk, particularly on gorgeous sunny days. Living in Austin, Texas, where there are approximately 300 sunny days per year, I’m even more motivated by the prospect of sunbathing in my free time, or simply getting out to the park with a good book or a frisbee. The trick to keeping yourself on track is to remind yourself that if you finish up early, you can take the afternoon off to drink in all that sun. (Don’t forget your sunscreen!)

Money

Oddly, money isn’t as big a motivator as you’d think, but this trick comes in handy when you’re right on the edge of the poverty line, or feeling the pressure from a few extra expenses. Remember that money isn’t the goal, in and of itself, but the freedom that it can buy. You’re a good American who loves freedom, aren’t you? Then stretch those pennies by writing an article that will win you a paycheck before the day is done!

Fear


Dying before you complete your life’s work is a completely horrifying idea. Especially if you’re still young enough to not quite know what that work entails, or how to get it done. Harness this fear to get your lazy bum in gear by tell yourself that if you don’t finish that article tonight, you’ll never amount to anything and die without gaining the notoriety you so richly deserve. Who’s motivated now, baby?

If all else fails…

Tell yourself you didn’t really want to be rich, famous or successful anyway and crawl back into bed to wallow. Tomorrow’s another day with another chance to prove yourself, and a good night’s sleep is the best way to kick-start your thoroughly researched plan of attack.

Photo credits: “Black Coffee” by Flickr user Professor Bop, “sunbathing” by Flickr user DanielaNob, “Minifig Characters #6: Death” by Flickr user minifig

This article was originally published, in slightly modified form, in the now-defunct SAVFAIRE Magazine.

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]]> http://buttontapper.com/2010/06/29/thriving-on-the-deadline-motivational-tips-and-tricks/feed/ 0 Boosting your creativity with free apps: OmmWriter http://buttontapper.com/2010/05/24/boosting-your-creativity-with-free-apps-ommwriter/ http://buttontapper.com/2010/05/24/boosting-your-creativity-with-free-apps-ommwriter/#comments Tue, 25 May 2010 00:47:39 +0000 Laura Roberts http://buttontapper.com/?p=2130 Back in the glorious days of an Austin winter (glorious mainly because of the dead landscape, whose lack of pollen didn’t inherently tip off my allergies and require heavy OTC medication), I mentioned a free app that had inspired a few of my winter haiku. The freebie in question? OmmWriter, a Zen-like writing application that will help get a writer’s creative juices flowing and the words flying across the page like they were meant to be typed: freestyle and frenzied.

Ommwriter from herraizsoto&co on Vimeo.

The biggest pro regarding this app is, naturally, its free-ness. I can’t pass up a freebie, as those who read my Shoestring Austin blog might know, and when it comes to free software, I feel it’s worth downloading and giving a go. In the case of OmmWriter, it’s worth the five minutes it’ll take to download, and that’s not me damning with faint praise. (Sometimes, after all, you get what you pay for with free apps. But not here.)

I am also a big fan of any software that reduces a writer’s tendency to flit back and forth between applications, as I know that I am a huge procrastinator, as well as one of those types who are totally unable to just “block out” the rest of the stuff on a flickering screen. Why not check my email for the 477th time today? It’ll only take a second! Annnnnnd I’ll see you about three hours later, dazed and confused about what the heck I was originally going to do with those three precious hours. Oh, writing maybe? Whoops.

The fact that OmmWriter will go full-screen and help you escape from the desktop’s shiny, flickering enticements (not to mention three-bazillion windows) is excellent, but the way it also incorporates music and repetitive sounds that are linked with the tapping of your keys on the keyboard is truly genius. I am a distracted sort, and one who always pines for some type of music to engage and inspire, but I hate having to set up new “lyric-free” playlists on iTunes every time I’m in a writing mood. No worries! OmmWriter offers wordless repeating sound patterns that will keep you going on loop, without taking you out of your creative mode. Perfect!

OmmWriter reminds me of a computerized version of a device my husband has been doting on for years, the Buddha Machine (also available in iPod app format for $2.99, but “it’s the crusty little speaker and analogue output that gives it James Brown-level soul,” according to him; there’s also a Version 2.0, and you can play them together for maximum tranquillity), which plays a variety of repeating musical patterns on loop in order to help Buddhists (or, actually, the controversial devotees of Falun Gong) in their meditations. It cuts through the chatter of the mind with peaceful, harmony-inducing musical snatches, allowing you to more fully concentrate on writing. And really, anything that can still the “monkey mind” is hot shit in my books.

Try it out, for free, at OmmWriter.com.

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]]> http://buttontapper.com/2010/05/24/boosting-your-creativity-with-free-apps-ommwriter/feed/ 0 The Complete Wisdom of Weirdos on the Bus http://buttontapper.com/2010/03/28/the-complete-wisdom-of-weirdos-on-the-bus/ http://buttontapper.com/2010/03/28/the-complete-wisdom-of-weirdos-on-the-bus/#comments Sun, 28 Mar 2010 14:40:44 +0000 Laura Roberts http://buttontapper.com/?p=2056 It’s official: I have to write a collection of short stories, entitled The Complete Wisdom of Weirdos on the Bus. There should probably be something catchier in there, placed before a colon, like maybe “Tell me about your conspiracy theories!” or “Look out!” or even “Wine, Women and Weed.”

It’s all in there, I swear. And I’ve got a new story every day.

People love talking to me on the bus. It must be something in my face that projects, “Yes, I’d love to hear your political rants and a wide assortment of derogatory terms for local minorities!” I’m not sure what that something is, or else I’d try to correct it surgically. But then I wouldn’t have this vast collection of bizarre bus stories, so I guess you win some, you lose some.

Stay tuned for weird bus stories, coming soon to a collection near you.

The weirdos are coming! (photo by Flickr user MaryEllen and Paul)

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