Not feeling like much of a writer today (or for the past week). The funk continues, and the self-doubt reveals itself. I'll get over it, it's just frustrating for the time being when I have multiple things do and none of them are getting to the place where I want them to be. Good thing I have a co-writer on one of them or I'd be pissing in Trite and Done Creek right now.
Anyhow, today I'd like to celebrate the things that make working easier. Like my Mac, aka The WorkMagicMachine.
I use an iMac with a 2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo and 2GB of RAM running OS X v10.5.6. It's truly an awesome machine, despite being over a year old at this point (and white, rather than steel and glass). Maybe two years, I can't really remember. I was a PC guy almost exclusively for 19-20 years. I started using Macs at Top Cow, and on my 22nd birthday bought myself a Mac. I haven't touched a PC (save for moving it off my desk) in 4 months. I haven't used one in basically a year.
But beyond the Mac, here are the programs I use to get through the day as a writer and editor.
Firefox - the best browser, used as my primary and personal browser
Safari - the work browswer
Flock - the Firefox-esque browser that I just use to run things I have multiple accounts for. I use none of the social features of it.
Gmail - not technically a software, but the best thing about my day. Mail, chat, and now the address book is linked with my Google Voice.
DropBox - always synced cloud backup. Best thing ever, though it's had some problems with a few Scrivener files. That's due to how the latter program saves and indexes, not a fault of DropBox.
Things - best To-Do list software out there. I love it.
Tweetie - awesome twitter client.
Preview - the most used software on the machine, used for PDFs, jpegs, and other things that load slower in Adobe created products.
Microsoft Office 2008 - I hate it, basically, but it's necessary.
Scrivener - has become my main tool for writing because of the ability to keep all my drafts, research, notes and more in one place.
Final Draft - for all my screenwriting needs. I've also used for comics.
Quicksilver - fast program launching, and more. I only use it for the former, but need to explore it. Major time saver.
NetNewsWire - excellent RSS reader
Acrobat - for creating and manipulating PDFs, but rarely for viewing unless it's for proofing.
Comic Life - Can be used to give ideas to an artist when you're scripting and have a layout in mind. I have yet to do this, but I will use it when I need to convey something more clearly.
Photoshop CS3 - editing and color proofing mainly. 'Nuff said.
Cooliris - Better way to view images, videos, etc. on the web. Have only just started playing around.
Cyberduck - free FTP client
DaisyDisk - haven't touched more than once, but helps to free up space
Delicious Library 2 - Used for cataloging all of my books and DVDs. iSight scanning built in makes it easy.
FFView - allows me to view CBR and CBZ (comic scan) files when people send them my way.
Flip4Mac - Windows Media files via Quicktime playback plugin
Handbrake - convert video to iTunes/iPhone friendly format. I use it with Connect360 to watch videos on the computer on the TV via the Xbox.
Vuze/Azureus - bit torrent client
iCal - used to use a lot more at Top Cow, will get back once I figure out a better (non MobileMe syncing option with my google calendars)
Quicken - just started using to track expenses, receipts, etc. Already behind. I hate taxes.
Adium - one app, lets me log into AIM, Yahoo, and MSN.
Skype - only on occasion.
SlingPlayer - I get to watch ATL television feeds from my parents' house. Mainly for sports purposes, but also cool if I'm traveling with no TV.
VLC - watch any video in any file format
There's probably more, but that's basically what I do on the day-to-day tip. Going to experiment with some journaling softwares this week to leave running in the background. Any time I get stuck on a project, I can just make notes about other things in my head in the journal. Got the idea from this Don Roos writing exercise.
Chime in if you have better software that you use, or suggestions of what I'm missing that might make me more productive/a better writer.
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