Writing – Page 15 – ORGANIZING CREATIVITY

Rejection is natural — and beneficial (even if it hurts)

2014-02-01

Some comments on rejection -- and why it is normal for everyone to do, and experience.
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Dealing with a few OS X Mavericks Annoyances

2014-01-22

With every new OS come new features, but also new annoyances. Not really bugs, but issues where your way of working deviates from the 99% it is created to work with. Deal with are: Non-Snappy Switching Between Applications, Apple (and Who-Knows-Who) Listens to Your Dictations, Image Capture Opens Every Time You Connect a Device, and Words are Underlined When They are British or US English.
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Venting Reviewer Comments

2014-01-21

Some things you can read when you have encountered hateful reviewer comments. And a video to watch and dream (screenshot from YouTube left).
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Interesting series on writing tips in the Journal of Clinical Epidemiology

2014-01-14

A great series of one-pagers about scientific writing. Highly recommended no matter the discipline.
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The Responsibility of Using the Academic Title of Doctor

2014-01-13

Some people use their title on Twitter and other social media. It comes with responsibility -- here's why (and why I do not use my title online but have it in my passport).
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Reading eBooks on a Tablet Comfortably in Bed (also: watching movies)

2014-01-11

I tried out the -- so far -- most relaxing way of reading books (and watching movies) -- lying on the back in bed with the screen hovering a few inches above you. Simple and very, very practical.
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Quickly Open a Text File to Jot Down Creative Ideas with Spotlight and Automator

2013-12-22

You can use a keyboard shortcut to quickly open a specific file to jot down your ideas. Here's how.
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Moleskine Books!

2013-12-10

Stumbled upon a service that allows you to create Moleskine notebooks with custom content (image left).
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Software cannot replace an author, but it can assist an author tremendously

2013-11-30

Using computer technology is writing is strangely underdeveloped. In many cases, you could replace the keyboard with a quilt. However, technology can massively support writing and make it possible in the first place. Here are some examples and links to relevant postings.
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There is no perfect text — ever.

2013-11-30

In writing, don't strive for perfection. It is not possible, for a simple but probably not obvious reason. Read this article if your perfectionism stops you from writing -- or submitting.
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This is a private blog showing my opinions. If you have an issue with what I write here, either don’t read it or talk to me directly. Don’t waste your time — or mine — dragging my employer into matters where they hold no authority.

The institution I work for, or rather the people officially representing it, have already distanced themselves from this blog. I find this unnecessary, as I’ve clearly stated in the «About this Blog» section that this is a personal blog.

Frankly, I have nothing but contempt for those who lack the backbone to address their concerns directly and instead resort to passive-aggressive tattling to others. Such behavior strikes me as not only cowardly, but also spineless, gutless, and wholly unprincipled. Moreover, these efforts are as pathetic as they are futile.

That said, I might listen if you present compelling arguments and evidence, as constructive feedback is always welcome. Who knows? We might even both gain something valuable from the interaction.

A comment for those seeking to use this site for personal gain: Given the increase in requests, let me be clear. I write on this blog because I want to. It’s my hobby, my playground. Sometimes people point me to interesting products/services and I write about them. But any request regarding ads or sponsored placements ends up the trash without a reply. And if you think something would be of interest, differentiate yourself from the spammers by referring to a posting — in an intelligent way. (I get enough auto-generated mails to identify them immediately.)

BTW, posts can get updated after I published them if I spot spelling errors (not a native speaker) or think a different wording might improve precision and clarity.

This blog is not focused on a single topic, or method. As long as it is relevant to improving creativity (or allowing it in the first place), it's fair game.
Some postings on this blog deal with freedom, as I think that we need freedom of thought, of speech, of association, etc. pp. to solve mankind's problems. Thus, some postings may seem a bit remote when it comes to organizing creativity. Freedom is, however, the bedrock of creativity.
The heterogeneity of the postings can make reading this blog a bit cumbersome, at least if you are only interested in one topic. You can either use the search function (above), or use the categories or the tags to narrow down the postings you see.