Day 497: New schedule, new tools, maybe procrastinated less
Changed up the schedule
I only did the bare minimum for my Japanese study last night before going to bed, and that felt kind of pathetic. So in keeping with what I blogged about yesterday, I decided to do my Japanese study first, before I started on my writing.
I have to admit that it felt really good to get my Japanese study done first this morning. I felt fresh as I was doing it, and I remembered the flashcards better.
Afterward, I had to start the meat marinating for dinner, but then my IBS started flaring up. I had to take about half an hour to get food in my stomach and take some drugs.
But surprisingly I went straight to work when the pain subsided. I’m not sure if it’s because I did my Japanese study first and got into a “work mode” mindset, or if it’s just because I switched my schedule up a little today and that’s what enabled me to jump into work without procrastinating.
iPad Mini and bluetooth keyboard
I tried recreating the Alphasmart “experience” with a bluetooth keyboard and my iPad Mini. I decided to use the Pages app because it automatically saves to my iCloud.
However, that was a terrible idea. I saw one or two paragraphs above where I last finished typing, and I found myself editing what I’d written.
I guess what makes the Alphasmart work is those four little lines! I wonder if there’s some way to only show four lines on my iPad? Maybe if I increase the font really big? Or maybe if I use my phone instead of an iPad? I can definitely increase the font. On the iPad it shows 9 lines, and on an iPhone, it only shows 7 lines. Maybe I should try that?
The bluetooth keyboard is a dream to type on, but it also doesn’t navigate very easily—you need two hands for the keystroke to move the cursor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it makes it a little more fiddly to edit on the keyboard/iPad.
As for the writing today, it totally didn’t work, but that might have been because I used Pages. If I increase the font, it will have fewer lines like the Alphasmart. Also, for editing, even if I move to the computer, it syncs via iCloud almost immediately so there’s hardly any wait time.
***
OMG I SPENT AN HOUR AND A HALF SURFING AMAZON FOR BLUETOOTH KEYBOARDS!!!
Okay, so actually, after I finished the editing, I had to eat and take more drugs for my IBS. While I was waiting for those to kick in, I was thinking about the bluetooth keyboard I was using today, and then I went on Amazon to look at other bluetooth keyboards.
I already knew that the one I have is probably one of the nicer ones, even though the arrow keys require two hands. I didn’t realize that there really aren’t any other options that don’t require taking a risk on a keyboard without many reviews. Some of them don’t even mention the name of the switches. So I finally put the best one in my wishlist and looked at the time, and had a cow.
I’m getting to work now.
***
Improved iPad Mini and bluetooth keyboard
I ended up getting a lot of blocking done today! Yay!
I increased the font in the Pages app on my iPad Mini so it only showed about 6 or 7 lines (I could have made the font even larger, but I decided to stick with 6 or 7 lines since that seemed only a few more characters than on my Alphasmart screen).
The keyboard felt great to type on, but there was a tiny bit of lag, probably because my iPad Mini is so old. However, it wasn’t really noticeable a lot of the time.
However, about half the time I spent blocking was doing it on my computer rather than on the iPad Mini. After I brainstormed the scene on the iPad Mini, I opened the file on my computer so I could compile my ideas into the actual blocking notes, in a clear and legible format. I’m almost done blocking this scene, which has had me stuck for a couple days now.
I was hoping to get 4 hours of blocking done, but I started feeling tired and I also need to cook dinner tonight, so I think I’ll stop here.
***
Writing: Time spent: 26 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 471 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 1080 words/hour
Writing streak: 10 days
Editing: Time spent: 12 minutes
Blocking: time spent: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Email/Social Media streak: 8 days
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 55 minutes
My takeaway for today: Changing up the schedule and doing my Japanese study first didn’t actually keep me from procrastinating, but I procrastinated less than yesterday, and it felt really good to do my Japanese study first thing rather than when I’m tired later in the day.
My second takeaway for today: It might work to do my writing and blocking on my bluetooth keyboard and iPad Mini with the Pages app and the font really large so I only see a few lines at a time.
I only did the bare minimum for my Japanese study last night before going to bed, and that felt kind of pathetic. So in keeping with what I blogged about yesterday, I decided to do my Japanese study first, before I started on my writing.
I have to admit that it felt really good to get my Japanese study done first this morning. I felt fresh as I was doing it, and I remembered the flashcards better.
Afterward, I had to start the meat marinating for dinner, but then my IBS started flaring up. I had to take about half an hour to get food in my stomach and take some drugs.
But surprisingly I went straight to work when the pain subsided. I’m not sure if it’s because I did my Japanese study first and got into a “work mode” mindset, or if it’s just because I switched my schedule up a little today and that’s what enabled me to jump into work without procrastinating.
iPad Mini and bluetooth keyboard
I tried recreating the Alphasmart “experience” with a bluetooth keyboard and my iPad Mini. I decided to use the Pages app because it automatically saves to my iCloud.
However, that was a terrible idea. I saw one or two paragraphs above where I last finished typing, and I found myself editing what I’d written.
I guess what makes the Alphasmart work is those four little lines! I wonder if there’s some way to only show four lines on my iPad? Maybe if I increase the font really big? Or maybe if I use my phone instead of an iPad? I can definitely increase the font. On the iPad it shows 9 lines, and on an iPhone, it only shows 7 lines. Maybe I should try that?
The bluetooth keyboard is a dream to type on, but it also doesn’t navigate very easily—you need two hands for the keystroke to move the cursor. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it makes it a little more fiddly to edit on the keyboard/iPad.
As for the writing today, it totally didn’t work, but that might have been because I used Pages. If I increase the font, it will have fewer lines like the Alphasmart. Also, for editing, even if I move to the computer, it syncs via iCloud almost immediately so there’s hardly any wait time.
***
OMG I SPENT AN HOUR AND A HALF SURFING AMAZON FOR BLUETOOTH KEYBOARDS!!!
Okay, so actually, after I finished the editing, I had to eat and take more drugs for my IBS. While I was waiting for those to kick in, I was thinking about the bluetooth keyboard I was using today, and then I went on Amazon to look at other bluetooth keyboards.
I already knew that the one I have is probably one of the nicer ones, even though the arrow keys require two hands. I didn’t realize that there really aren’t any other options that don’t require taking a risk on a keyboard without many reviews. Some of them don’t even mention the name of the switches. So I finally put the best one in my wishlist and looked at the time, and had a cow.
I’m getting to work now.
***
Improved iPad Mini and bluetooth keyboard
I ended up getting a lot of blocking done today! Yay!
I increased the font in the Pages app on my iPad Mini so it only showed about 6 or 7 lines (I could have made the font even larger, but I decided to stick with 6 or 7 lines since that seemed only a few more characters than on my Alphasmart screen).
The keyboard felt great to type on, but there was a tiny bit of lag, probably because my iPad Mini is so old. However, it wasn’t really noticeable a lot of the time.
However, about half the time I spent blocking was doing it on my computer rather than on the iPad Mini. After I brainstormed the scene on the iPad Mini, I opened the file on my computer so I could compile my ideas into the actual blocking notes, in a clear and legible format. I’m almost done blocking this scene, which has had me stuck for a couple days now.
I was hoping to get 4 hours of blocking done, but I started feeling tired and I also need to cook dinner tonight, so I think I’ll stop here.
***
Writing: Time spent: 26 minutes
Writing: Total number of words: 471 words
Writing: Overall writing speed: 1080 words/hour
Writing streak: 10 days
Editing: Time spent: 12 minutes
Blocking: time spent: 3 hours, 23 minutes
Email/Social Media streak: 8 days
Time spent doing other writing-related business: 55 minutes
My takeaway for today: Changing up the schedule and doing my Japanese study first didn’t actually keep me from procrastinating, but I procrastinated less than yesterday, and it felt really good to do my Japanese study first thing rather than when I’m tired later in the day.
My second takeaway for today: It might work to do my writing and blocking on my bluetooth keyboard and iPad Mini with the Pages app and the font really large so I only see a few lines at a time.
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