A bit of a photo essay this evening. Words weren’t really flowing tonight, as I put in quite a few hours at the computer on a number of projects including an 18 part short video series for a client. Such repetitive and fiddly work can make your brain go a little soft after a while.
This is what my desk looks like at the end of the day. Bits and pieces of everything that has crossed it in the last 12 hour or so. reference materials, equipment, notes and more. It seems a bit revealing to let you see it. My desk is not the cleanest one in the world, nor one of the messiest, but I can feel a bit embarrassed when showing it off.
The blank page. This is what I face each evening as I sit down to write — usually around 1030pm local time. I use the previous day’s post as a template, add a link for the previous day, discard the previous post and then brilliance flows. Er, uh, well, sometimes it ain’t horrible, let’s say. The blank page defeated me a bit tonight. Hence the photos.
My schedule is off as Rosanne has started teaching summer school 3 nights a week from 4pm-10pm. This has my own internal schedule all freaked out. This is nothing like our usual school year schedule and I find myself feeling as if 4pm is Noon and 11pm (when she gets home) is more like 6pm. I’m sure I’ll settle in, but in these first 2 days it has been weird.
Here is the program I am using in preparing the videos I worked on today. I think I am getting old as the font size on this program seems to defy even my variable lens eyeglasses. I lee having to turn on more and more lights, just to make sure I am reading things correctly. That said, I was able to work through stage 1 and 2 on all 18 videos so I can proofread titles tomorrow and then spend the remainder of the day rendering the HD video. I am trying to finish this project by the end of the week so that files can be deliver over the weekend and ready for the client to review and upload on Monday morning. Fingers crossed.
A bit of equipment awaiting use and a notepad where I scribble tasks as they come to me. More and more, I am trying to complete one task before moving on to the next, but that requires a quickly scribbled reminder when another thought or task jumped to mind. Knowing that I have captured the thought, I can return to my original work without feeling I will forget it.
…and this is where the magic happens. Having used dictation software, I can’t think I would ever move off the keyboard as an input device. I find it hard to connect thoughts together when dictating. I am too worried about saying the words I want correctly and all thought of “writing” goes out the window. I do use Siri to dictate essays or notes I have written by hand, though. This is far faster than typing them and I don’t run into the thought process problems, as I have already written the piece in a traditional way. I am only using the dictation software to replace the typing…which I’m not that good at anyway.
There you have it — a look into the dark teatime of my desktop. It probably says a lot more about me than even I think. Don’t judge me too harshly. A lot of work does get done here.
Previously on End of the Day:
- Don’t make the same mistake twice – End of the Day for June 24, 2014
- It’s tiring to be a “man” sometimes – End of the Day for June 23, 2014
- You’ve got to have fun sometimes! – End of the Day for June 22, 2014
- Update all the things! – End of the Day for June 21, 2014
- Doing work, making videos or both. It can be hard to decide – End of the Day for June 20, 2014
- “Drop back and punt” technology troubleshooting – End of the Day for June 19, 2014
- Finding your rhythm – End of the Day for June 18, 2014
- …and the day flies by in Flow – End of the Day for June 17, 2014
- A little but of this. A little bit of that. – End of the Day for June 16, 2014
- Don’t ask questions you don’t really want to know the answer to – End of the Day for June 15, 2014
- In vino veritas and in conversation, truth- End of the Day for June 14, 2014
- Habits are made to be broken – End of the Day for June 13, 2014
- A week of events — End of the Day for June 11, 2014
- Sometimes I am such the “wife” in this relationship – End of the Day for June 10, 2014
- Tiring to be an adult sometimes – End of the Day for June 9, 2014
- Is it too late? – End of the Day for June 8, 2014
- When spouses travel it makes for a Sad Panda – End of the Day for June 7, 2014
- Noise and the absence of noise – End of the Day for June 6, 2014
- Sunsetting – End of the Day for June 5, 2014
- Summer is finally here! – End of the Day for June 4, 2014
- My Favorite Musicals – End of the Day for June 3, 2014
- Going without cable television — if not cable Internet – End of the Day for June 2, 2014
- Is anyone out there listening? – End of the Day for June 1, 2014
- End of the Day for May 2014
- End of the Day for April 2014
- End of the Day for March 2014
- End of the Day for February 2014
- End of the Day for January 2014