Writers' Geek'dm (Geer & Gadgets)

"To stimulate wildly weak and untrained minds is to play with mighty fires."
- W. E. B. Du Bois

"If my films make one more person miserable, I’ll feel I have done my job."
- Woody Allen

"My generation, faced as it grew with a choice between religious belief and existential despair, chose marijuana. Now we are in our Cabernet stage."
- Peggy Noonan

How do the words ANYONE, ANYWHERE, ANYTIME and FREE sound to you? That’s what you get with Writewith - unlimited storage space to collaborate over .doc, html, .rtf and text files with anyone, anywhere, anytime for FREE. The video [below] easily explains how two or more people can upload and edit or create and edit the same document online. You can see who is online and the changes they’re making to the document in real time.

This is an innovative tool for not only writing partners and ghost writers, but I can also see the benefits to editors and their mobile correspondents. I can remember in college the torment endured over group-paper assignments. Agh! Had this tool been around then, it would have saved me a fist full of hair and at least 16 ounces of pure, unfiltered agony. I’m patiently waiting for something this easy and inexpensive for .xcl and .ppt files. Come on evolution already.

The off-road writer - now there’s a niche.  

If you find yourself toting your laptop on camping trips, hiking trails or perhaps everyday is a rocky adventure scaling the urban jungle, you may want to take extra precautions in protecting the prized possession that holds your latest masterpiece - the laptop. 

As long as you have hard drives with movable parts (Come on 500GB SSD!) and manufacturers like Apple producing laptops with glass screens (new Macbook/Macbook Pro) you can never be too cautious. There are extreme solutions and everyday precaution gear.  This article is all about the EXTREME.  As in, "I dropped my laptop bag halfway down the Himalayas and it took a lickin’ and kept on tickin’".

Aside from the overkill look of the 80s James Bond aluminum briefcase, there are a handful of "practical" off-road laptop bags:  Otterbox is arguably the king of rugged gadget cases.  Toting the 7030 laptop case will add a whopping 6 pounds to your mobility but it gets the job done for $189.95.

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Embody by Herman Miller

One of our most popular articles has just received an update.  Click here to find more ergonomic chairs to help increase your productivity, as well as updated links and a peek at the all new Embody chair by Herman Miller.  

A company out of Oregon called Woodfold has created one of those Maxwell Smart-products that is very appealing to almost any geek’s palate.  If you have the means (residential setup) for this product line, I highly envy you.  Imagine it - your own hidden writing sanctum. 

Woodfold’s Bookcase Door System serves two functions: it’s a bookshelf and an entryway to whatever lies beyond its bounds.  Perhaps it serves as a portal to a safe or a paint-splattered art studio. My personal favorite is a secret writing den where you conspire writing the next James Bond sequel or the next great Da Vinci Code.

For whatever reason we can rove the landscape of mars with robots and walk the face of the moon, but we can’t figure out how to get 24-hours of juice out of laptop batteries.  Nonetheless, this article offers a few solutions to extending your mobile writing time with extended or external battery options. 

Extended vs External

Extended batteries are OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) add-ons that offer additional juice either by swapping out a battery and replacing it or attaching an additional battery.  Many laptops on the market have the ability to remove the optical drive and replace it with an additional modular bay battery, thereby adding 3 - 5 hours to the main battery life.  When purchasing a “mobile” laptop be cognizant of optical drives described as "Modular DVD/CD, DVD-ROM, etc".  Modular means it’s removable and not screwed into place. Since you probably rarely use the DVD/CD on the go, this isn’t a bad option if your laptop is equipped to do so.  Some laptops allow for the main battery to be easily replaced with a larger, more powerful extended battery.  For example if your main battery is only 6-cells, you can upgrade to a 9-cell battery and gain several additional hours of computing time. 

External batteries are more flexible than their extended brethren. These gadgets not only power your laptop but additional devices like your cell phone and iPod.  These non-OEM devices are usually more powerful, offering as much as 10 hours or more of juice.  Some external batteries like the Electrovaya PowerPad 130 recharge the main battery while powering the entire laptop.  Before choosing you want to be certain that the voltage output (if not adjustable) matches the voltage input of your device.  Extended batteries usually come with multiple adapters so it is a “one-size-fits-all”.  The caveat emptor here is size and weight.  Remember, as a mobile writer, the lighter your gear the better. 

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I hope I’m not too late with this article, but it was just recently brought to my attention. ThinkFree is offering a free copy of their office suite built specifically for netbooks.  ThinkFree Office is a suite of low-disc consumption office products that play nice with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, so you will have no problem opening or sending docs to Microsoft Office users.  The light build is not taxing on the operating system - which is perfect for not-so-powerful netbooks.

FYI…Founders’ Blog recently covered netbooks as they relate to writers.  If any of our readers have made the leap and purchased a netbook, you have only until October 31, 2008 to fill out the survey and pick up your free copy of ThinkFree Office.  Otherwise, the cost is $49.00. 
 

via: Gottabemobile 

In June of this year Founders’ Blog posted a very popular article about ergonomic chairs. What followed were numerous emails asking detailed questions about specific models.   The article was written to encourage writers to invest in their health when setting up a home work environment, not so much to profess ourselves pundits on the subject of ergonomic chairs.  Nonetheless, we’ve gone ahead and gathered a handful of videos on the internet that showcase some of the features of specific models. We are happy with the response to the June article and again want to encourage all writers to invest in two things: good computer equipment and a great chair.

Chris Pirillo uses the Grahl ergonomic chair and explains the importance of investing in a high quality chair.

Thorough review of the SwingSeat - very innovative product. Try it out and if you don’t like it, you get your money back including S&H.

Difficulty finding a BodyBilt video that showcases the entire chair. One of the best features is the seat - modeled after the old, farmer, tractor saddles.

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Does your next premise include monsters?

Fiction writers and horror screenwriters alike will get a kick out of Monstrous.com - the largest site about monsters.  On the web now for 10 years, Monstrous offers a huge repository of monster information from classical, to legendary, to modern creatures.   Just about every category is covered: aliens, demons, dragons, vampires, ghosts, witches, zombies, etc. This online community has forums, galleries and videos to get even the most banal writer juiced with ideas.

The Evolution of the Library

The internet is evolving the human race with its point-and-click access to an abysmal myriad of information.  Monstrous.com is yet another example of what I love about technology and writing. 

Jump back to the 70’s and 80’s era where topics of interests were often discovered by schlepping a boatload of books home from the library after spending the entire afternoon scouring bookshelves and scanning microfiche. THE FLIPPING COPY MACHINE IS OUT OF ORDER! 

Back to my center of peace…  It’s places like Monstrous.com where you point-and-click and suddenly your neighborhood library is transformed into a museum dedicated to your favorite topic, which in this case is guts-and-gore.  Even better, everyone inside is just as obsessed as you.  To get there you don’t have to go anywhere, ignore the QUIET sign, food is welcome, shirt and shoes are optional, and you don’t have to check out anything.

There’s a lot to be written about screenwriting competitions.  Like anything else, some are worth the effort, others are a waste of time and a handful are downright scams - which is a topic for another article. On the menu today is MovieBytes which has collected 285 screenwriting contests for your consideration.

This website has made it easy for screenwriters to find the contests that best suit their needs.  The best part about this database, aside from the fact that it’s free, is the advanced search capabilities. You can sort by deadline, rating, professionalism, feedback, significance etc.  Delve even further and sort through student contests, TV contests, shorts, international, no-entry-fee, etc.

Life Goes On
My advice is to set a budget aside for contests ($150+) and pick a few that best suit your current script.  Do not use contests for feedback - that’s what coverage or script analysis is for.  Enter and proceed with LIFE.  Don’t sit idle and watch the mail/email every single day. Start your next script. A screenwriting career could take 10 months or 10 years, it all depends on what you’re attracting.

Second Place Prize - Free Screenwriting Software! 
Personally, I think giving free screenwriting software to one who has obviously already used some sort of software to create the very masterpiece they entered is cheap and absurd.  If you do land amongst the top entries cash is a sweet ROI, but it’s never a life-altering amount. What you really want is a guarantee that your script will be read by top production companies and agencies while garnering the attention it deserves.

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Atop my list of unique and thoughtful gifts is a pen given to me by a good friend and a fellow screenwriter and producer. I remember opening the gift and being overjoyed as I recognized immediately that it combined two of my passions – antique typewriters and quality pens.

Tokens & Coins uses authentic vintage Remington, Smith Corona, Underwood and Royal typewriter keys to create the QWERTY.  At some point each of these typewriters has adorned my typewriter collection, making this pen even more precious to me.  The QWERTY comes with your choice of 26 letters in a sterling silver fluted barrel or a black rubberized barrel.

My pen has the letter R and the rubber barrel.  The ballpoint inks smoothly and the pen material and design offers a sturdy grip and a balanced weight.  It’s perfect for long journal writing, meetings, or day-to-day office tasks around LitCentral.  I’ve polished the sterling silver clip, cap and end a few times keeping it as spiffy as the day I received this wonderful gift. The QWERTY will remain in my collection for a long time to come.  Thank you Heather!

QWERTY Pen