Google Talk

I love Google. Despite the fact that they know more about me then my mother does, I love Google. It’s similar to my fascination with Apple. It’s just something I can’t help about myself. But, let me get to the point.

Recently I’ve sort of stopped using Twitter again. I’m not sure why, but my mind seems to be elsewhere. Revising some of my short stories and working on something new I have dubbed ‘The speechmaker’. Using social media thingies has always been an up and downhill affair for me; I lack the drive to keep sharing over an extensive period of time and although I can see the practical use of sharing and having an online entity, I’m not so infatuated with being digitally social that I constantly feel an urge to use the tools to do so. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don’t.

I do like to get in touch, as in talking etc, and for those who’d like to, I’ve added a Google Talk button to the left of my blog. Feel free to drop me a line or two when I’m online (the button should say so) I’m always in for a good conversation. I think that I like  chatting better then Twitter or Facebook updates because of the simple fact that it has a bigger sense of conversation, you know, talking. Oh, and I went with Google Talk because, well… I’m a fan. *smile.

The Cheerful Endomorph Update I

I thought it was about time to give an update on this project. I must say, it is going really well, the booklet is slowly building itself; new

When searching for a fitting picture, I found this. The fitting part is supposed to be the word 'HourGlass' in the title.

layout, new chapters, new imagines. I think of it as quite an outstanding achievement, since  I haven’t written a word in my scrivener project labelled ‘The Cheerful Endomorph’ in six months.

I’m currently living the final part of the book; experiencing enormous amounts of  joy and and a big sense of achievement. Becoming aware of some rather difficult things too. In other words, my personal cheerful endomorph experience is coming full circle. Two weeks ago, I realised that, the goals I’ve set for myself some 5 years ago, are coming very close to completion. I have but to extend my hands and reach for them. As with all the finer moments in life, the realisation came as a surprise and left me quite overwhelmed, sitting my balcony. I don’t think I need to explain that while experiencing all this, I don’t write. Writing about something that is happening now; to me that is the same as being busy taking pictures on a dream holiday. After coming home, at some point you’ll realise that while the reality of being on your dream holiday was happening, your were busy taking pictures, instead of allowing yourself to be swept away by the moment. I’ll write down some notes occasionally, as I would take the mandatory holiday snapshot. But for now, I’m  riding the tidal waves of my life,  and I enjoy it immensely.

There is no doubt in my mind that there will be a time to convert these experiences into words, sentences, paragraphs, chapters and a finally a booklet. Please bear with me until that time has come.

Stor-I reviewed: Stor-I, for sharing stories and memories!

The idea behind stor-I
Stor-I aims to be a platform where users can create and store their stories and memories because ‘Time has a way of fading our memories, of allowing us to lose the details of people, places, and things we once loved.’ Using Stor-I is a way of sharing and safekeeping stories, memories and life events that are important to you, coupled with geo data so readers can actually see the place it all happened. Through continued use, participants will inevitably be constructing a timeline about themselves; a timeline along the when & where axis.

Personally, I find that of great appeal. It is about telling your own history. It is about sharing. I wonder how it would feel, 60 years from now, to see my fully build timeline, and knowing that there is at least one place that holds something close to my memoires. To know that, should my old friends, children and grand children have an interest in whatever it was that I held dear during life, events that changed me or made me, or simple facts and figures about me are just a couple of mouseclicks away is in some ways comforting.

Stor-I reviewed
Browsing to www.stor-I.com the first time, was a let down for me visually. I shall be brief on this, and only say it once. The site needs a designer, period. I have a huge amount of respect for the website’s owner, creator and sole developer Michel Jongbloed, because so far it has all been his own work. From initial idea to execution. And that rocks. But I think the site would flourish, and be more pleasing to the eye, if the design was taken to the next level.

Setting up an account is relatively straight forward, although the site doesn’t behave 100% as you would expect. Immediately after registering, you get a chance to add yet another person from whose point of view you could be writing – an I person – say for instance your children. I was quite confused by that as that part of the concept hasn’t really been introduced to me prior to this point. Writing a story is quite simple, you enter the geographical and time data, and then the experience becomes very similar to writing a blogpost. The posts themselves are displayed with a Google Map in the header, and a pointer on the exact location. Writers can opt in readers, and completely block out others. In a nutshell, that is Stor-I.

Readers can comment, share, and rate the stories, and browse for stories that happened on the same day, or on the same continent, or are in the same language. For the future, Michel has told me, he is keen to experiment with translation services, but then they have to be a bit more accurate then they are now. One of the ideas is to be able to read stories and experiences from all over the world, and in that way broaden ones own horizon.

Collecting, integration, safekeeping, print.
I think the idea behind Stor-I is a grand one, yet simple. Combine stories and experiences with geographical data. I wonder however, whether it is enough. Although it is not its intent, the platform Stor-I provides can be easily mistaken for yet another blogging service. I think only focus, design, and good marketing can prevent that from happening. For that same reason, I feel it would be wise to differentiate in functionality from other services where one can publish his stories. Make it very clear that yes, you can post your stories on Stor-I, but that the idea and especially it’s uses are different from other services.
One of the ideas that struck me was that, although I’ll never leave WordPress as my main online story/blog publishing platform, I’d like to have Stor-I as a main (back-up) system. You could for instance integrate the two; if apart from my blog I could fill in the geo graphical data necessary for Stor-I as well, and the post would be sent to both services. Maybe you can have a tickbox nominating a post for Stor-I. I could choose whether or not to display the geographical data on my wordpress blog (I would decide not too). For me, as a blogger, that would mean that readers could find me on my site, and on Stor-I. It would also mean my blog was backed up on a different server. The real kicker for me however would be this.

You know how people always talk about keeping a diary? Or writing a memoir? And most of them fail? Well, I’d like to be able to, after a years worth of blogging (or whatever time frame) push a button on Stor-I, and order a paperback of my stories. Intergrate Stor-I with one of the bigger ‘push and print’ services (Lulu, Blurb. Perhaps a couple of design options: choose whether you want minimaps included, or pictures taken on the exact places where my stories took place. Maybe add a couple of pictures myself. That would mean integration with one of the bigger photographer sites (Flickr). The intention of the paperback would not be to sell on a massive scale. Just for me, and perhaps some family members.

The book thing goes for the other option in Stor-I as well. Say you keep somewhat regular posts about your children from the moment the are born. I personally would have found it a frikkin’ amazing gift on my 18th birthday, a book with stories, times, places and pictures from the moment I was born up until my 18th. The best thing is that the writer can forget about the end goal. He can just write and share, only occasionally remembered of the fact that in the long haul, he will have a collection of stories worthy of printing. Needles to say, all of the above could work with ebooks too. Who knows, in 20 years time we may have nothing but ebooks. But I surely hope not. There is nothing like the real deal when it comes to books.

Conclusion
Use Stor-I. Give it a try. Go out and play with it. Think of what you are to gain if indeed you would be able to easily share the stories that matter most to you, with friends and family. While doing so, try to consider the long term, rather then tomorrow. Stor-I is available in English and Dutch. Drop me a line in the comments if you wish to discuss the review, or better yet, send Michel your comments and questions.

Spiral Upwards: Collaborate with those who enjoy what they’re doing!

Recently I have been working with a designer who  likes what he is doing. He enjoys creating beautiful things, and although the topic on which I asked him to work out a flyer was as unknown to him as lifeforms are to Mars, he took it to the heart and dove right in.

It struck me that, after some emails back and forth and a phone call, that while we’re working together, the conversation and ideas spiral upwards, simply because of the fact we both really enjoy what we are doing. We connect, so to say, and that connection becomes stronger because we have a common playground; loving what we do. The understanding between two or more people that they are in a project to enjoy it, to an extend ensures that the work will get done, that the result will be good, and that all involved will have gained something by it. In short, it creates a bond of trust. And giddiness.

I for one am a believer of doing the things you truly enjoy, and am now starting to see, again I might add, that my belief is not wrong, or misguided. If you actively seek out the things you like, and if you actively seek out to work with people who are crazy about whatever it is they do, it will enrich you both.

I’ll try to come of off my kite now.

Should one get seperate phones for work and private?

Lately, I’ve been a busy bee. Setting up to run your own business takes less then 5 minutes these days. The web has made it easy. However, when I got to the point when I had to write down my phone number for business related calls, I faltered.

Should I get a second phone and number, so as not to mix private and work related calls? There are practical issues to consider, both in the pro and con list.

Would I enjoy carrying two phones? Would I want to mix private and work related calls on one phone? Was it wise to share my private number with potential clients? I was at the point of sleeping over it, but I hate to get sidetracked and to not keep the momentum going.

I decided to use one phone. Private and Work related calls are bound to mix anyway. By extension, my work is me. It’s by no means a complete picture, but the work I do is in some way a projection of me; the things I like and don’t like, the value’s and morals I keep, etc etc. In this day and age, owning a company, or starting freelance, is by default and extension of the freelancee (spelling?) or owner.

Therefore, it is pointless to try and seperate two worlds that in fact, are one. What was it again that the Borg said? ‘Resistance is Futile’.

Youzzle Review: Een eerste indruk

Wat is Youzzle?
Youzzle is een nieuwe website waarbij je je verhalen kunt delen, zonder de limit van 140 characters. Lezers en auteurs hebben de mogelijkheid om hun verhalen te publiceren, en te delen via de diverse social media outlets; twitter, hyves, facebook etc. Uiteraard bestaat ook de mogelijkheid om reacties te plaatsen en een verhaal een rating te geven. Via de trotse eigenaar van de nieuwe social service Youzzle, ontving ik een uitnodiging om de site te testen.

De test
Een profiel aanmaken en het plaatsen van een verhaal gaat heel erg snel. Geen centje pijn, en werkt allemaal zoals je verwacht van een moderne website. Je kunt ook inloggen en een profiel aanmaken met je twitter login en wachtwoord, tof om te zien dat the Oauth hier ook is toegepast. Het enige wat bij mij problemen gaf was het uploaden van een profiel foto, de error geeft aan dat er waarschijnlijk schrijfrechten naar desbetreffende server missen. Wat me ook opviel is dat de site draait op wordpress, want de standaard titel (voor devs: die tekst die tussen <title></title> staat, is nog niet veranderd, en leest dus nog ‘Just another WordPress’ blog. Over de vormgeving is nagedacht, en de knoppen zitten op de plekken waar je ze zou verwachten. Het plaatsen van een verhaal is erg simpel, alleen de iconen die aangeven binnen welke categorie een verhaal valt doen me wat grof aan; en vallen wat mij betreft uit de toon van het voor de rest charmante en strakke geheel.

Terwijl ik een beetje met de site aan ‘t spelen ben, vraag ik me wel af in hoeverre dit nu echt een toegevoegde waarde gaat hebben op alle sociale website’s gericht op het delen van informatie of verhalen nu gaat hebben. De focus lijkt op verhalen te liggen, maar verhalen zijn nogal een breed begrip. Ik kan alles wat ik op youzzle kan ook op mijn eigen blog doen. Ik kan posten, het delen via de sociale media kanalen en lezers kunnen erop reageren, het met elkaar delen, en met mij in contact komen. De toegevoegde waarde moet dan komen uit het feit dat dit een platform is, en de exposure dus groter zou moeten zijn dan wanneer ik het op mijn eigen blog doe. Met andere woorden, de kans dat ik nieuwe lezers bereik is groter op een platform dan op mijn eigen blog. Een goed argument om Youzzle te gebruik, toch?

Absoluut, maar dat hangt wel van een aantal dingen af. De focus is me nog niet helemaal helder. Zoals eerder gezegd, verhalen is nogal een breed begrip. Voor een deel lijkt de website zich te willen richten op schrijvers die een publiek zoeken, om op die manier de droom van publicatie te kunnen verwezelijken. Maar je kunt eigenlijk alles posten.Blogs. Boodschappenlijstjes. Poezie.
Je kunt in deze inhoud niet meer modereren op kwaliteit, dat is tenslotte aan de lezer. Maar je kunt wel kiezen voor een niche, en die aanhouden. Bijvoorbeeld alleen korte verhalen. Of hoofdstukken van een roman in wording. Youzzle is nu nog te vergelijken met de output van een aggegrator die met de zoekterm ‘verhalen’, content te voorschijn tovert. Youzzle doet dat stylish, maar ik denk dat een versterking van de focus (welke content willen we wel en niet) , en het nog eens bekijken van de doelgroep – schrijvers van boeken/korte verhalen/boodschappenlijstjes (zeker in de startup fase) wonderen kan doen. Een platform voor schrijvers die willen doorbreken en bij Youzzle een fanbase kunnen vergaren lijkt me fantastisch, maar een overvloed aan een beetje van dit en een beetje van dat verzameld op 1 plek dan weer niet.

Mijn oordeel
Ik denk dat Youzzle op de goede weg is! De vormgeving is goed, oogt prettig (m.u.v. de categorie logo’s) en geeft een prettig gevoel. Ik denk ook zeker wel dat er een markt is, zowel voor schrijvers als voor lezers. Er zijn zat mensen die het leuk vinden om nieuwe dingen te lezen, mee te denken over het verhaal, en hun mening te geven. En er zijn genoeg schrijvers op zoek naar een doorbraak. Ik vind het stoer dat Youzzle het delen nog makkelijker maakt dan dat het nu al is, en dat ze technieken als Oauth gebruiken. Ik denk wel dat nog meer focus, en het nog duidelijker neerzetten van wat voor platform het is, en daarmee dus ook voor wie het niet is, ze zeker kan helpen. Technische issues hou je altijd, en ik heb er vertrouwen in dat zowel het <title> en het foto upload probleem gauw verholpen zullen zijn.  Ik ga Youzzle zeker in de gaten houden, en ik hoop dat ze het helemaal gaan maken!

Youzzle zelf proberen?
Dat is simpel! meld je aan op http://beta.youzzle.nl voor een beta account! Het plan is om op 11-02-2011 life te gaan!

Lingually constipated: A Bilingual brain in protest

Bilingualism starts to be a very distracting habit for me. It distracts me because my thoughts, writing, and speech, can be performed in two completely different languages. Language, as I see it,is one of the first tools you get to define yourself as a person. To be able to express yourself, is to be able to define yourself, and to leave your mark on the world that surrounds you. Being an aspiring writer, this leaves me with a dilemma practically any time I pick up a pen, or sit down behind a keyboard to write. English? or Dutch?

Ever since I studied the English language and Culture (presumably there is an English culture) I gradually became more and more aware of the fact that not only was my american television accent fading to be replaced by proper English, my thoughts, my writing, my tea habits were changing to English too. I was positively drinking in the new words, accents, books and culture (beer and rugby). I have very precious memories of reading tons and tons of books, listening to professors talking, being jealous of their whit, sense of humour, and the fact that in front on an audience, 55-year-old grey Englishmen seem to have no sense of self. University and I were not a couple to have a happy  marriage however, and when my personal life started to cave in, I had to up and split and move on. Needless to say that my carefully studied accent waned away to be replaced by a form of Dunglish: English with a variety of British and American English accents, with a very strong undercurrent of the undeniable sounds your average Dutch person makes when trying to speak English.

My thoughts come to me in a random language. I’ve stopped caring about what language they come in, and I’ve stopped caring about the fact that when in a group of Dutch people, when asked a question I might start my sentence in English, and finish it in Dutch. With writing it’s quite a different story however. Both English and Dutch have their own treats, their own pro’s and con’s. I’m quite aware of the fact that my grammar and punctuation probably contain more flaws then the writing of a native british teenager, but I don’t care. I like writing in English. The problem is, that I like writing in Dutch too, and that as of late, I feel lingually constipated. I just can’t choose. And because I can’t choose, I’m unable to express myself. I’m aware that I don’t need to choose. I’m aware that as problems go, on the scale of one to ten – one being to forget your front door key while when throwing out the trash dressed in nothing but slippers and ten being indifference – this problem wouldn’t even register, but seeing as this is my perspective,  I feel I’m allowed the indulgence of wrapping myself in an uncomfortable blanket of self pity for just a minute.

I know that I can do whatever the hell I like, as long as I’m enjoying myself when doing so, and it isn’t hurting others. As long as I feel good about what I have written, then why the hell does it matter in which language it is? But apparently my brain disagrees. To my brain, and I dare say my ego as well, it is absolutely necessary to pick one.  As always when faced with problems too diffuse to tackle on my own, I turn my attention to the internet. Dear readers, who recognises the above? And who wants to share the trick on how to deal with it? Please be so kind to leave a comment if you have any light to shed on the problem!

My month in Tech: Procrastination made useful, a guide to publishing e-books.

Procrastination is a friend of mine. Seriously, it is. See, in the attempt to get on with writing an ebook, I naturally procrastinate my socks of. Usually, to get away from the things that one ought to do, one starts looking for ways out. Gaming online, checking your facebook, twitter or myspace, feeding the cat, stare out the window or whatever else it is that comes to mind that you can do, other then the thing that you’re supposed to be doing. For me, procrastination tends to be informative. I’ve learned how to submit your ebook to the apple Ibook store. I’ve learned how to compile it in an epub format. I’ve learned where you can find a suitable designer for the covers and the layout, and I picked up some tips and tricks to get marketing going. You can probably Google the last one, can’t you?

The procrastination is not what worries me. What worries me is the fact that, for the time being, all I need to do is write the frikkin’ book. What worries me, is that despite the fact the my desk is covered in post it’s, that I have an updated version of Scrivener and an ample supply of coffee, the words just won’t come in the right order. I am, literally constipated for words.

Oh well, I suppose that it will, at some point, come out of my brain and into my computer. As always, it’s taking its own sweet time is all.