Robin Lee Hatcher's Write Thinking

Grasping God's Word through Bible Software

Two months ago, I began a new study using the textbook, Grasping God's Word. I've learned a lot in the past eight weeks about going deeper and deeper in my reading and studying of the Bible, although I'm afraid I'd get a failing grade if I had to turn in homework or take any tests. Week before last, the lesson was on word studies, and something really terrific came out of that lesson: I'm actually learning to use my wonderful Logos Bible Software for Mac the way it was meant to be used.

In my pre-Mac existence, I had the PC Study Bible software program. For the most part, what I used it for was to find, copy, and paste Bible verses. As a Mac user, I invested almost a year ago in the Bible Study package of Logos Bible Software for Mac. But again, what I've mostly used it for is looking up Bible verses and taking an occasional peek into a commentary.

But when I was doing the Grasping God's Word lesson on word studies, a chapter that calls for the use of an exhaustive concordance with a Hebrew/Greek to English dictionary, not to mention suggestions for other study helps such as lexicons, dictionaries of theology and exegesis, etc., necessity sent me to my computer. Holy smoke! I knew my Logos for Mac had a lot in it, but I didn't have a clue how I should be using it. Now I'm smacking myself in the head and saying, Duh! It's like having a top of the line computer and never using it for anything except to use the built-in calculator to add and subtract. What a waste of technology and resources!

But why waste time with woulda, coulda, shoulda when I can spend it instead doing an exegetical study of one of my favorite verses of the Bible.

~robin

PS The new Logos 4 has released in the Windows version and will soon be coming to the Mac. If you like to go deeper in your study, you can't go wrong with Logos.

Social Media Revolution

This is a fascinating video about the social media revolution. Wow!

A bit of an eyeopener, isn't it? Well maybe not if you're reading this blog.

~robin

Social Media Venn Diagram from DespairWesr

From the good folks at DespairWear comes an appropriate shirt for those caught up in Social Networking media. Here's what they say about this design:

A gorgeous, 8-color masterpiece which captures ever so brilliantly the three behavioral disorders propelling the continued phenomenal growth of today’s most widely-trafficked social media sites. And at the intersection of the dysfunctional forces of Narcissism, ADHD, and Stalking resides today’s fastest growing social media experiment of all—Twitter.

So glad that I'm only on Facebook now and therefore only the narcissism and stalking are issues to be addressed. Those on Twitter, which I gave up recently, have ADHD thrown into the mix as well. Poor folks.

LOL!!! What's your behavioral disorder?

~robin

Mac Heaven

On Monday evening after an exhausting day (physically, mentally, and emotionally), I plunked myself down on the sofa with my MacBook and clicked on the link so I could watch the Apple WWDC 2009 Keynote address. Along with many other Mac lovers, I've been waiting with bated breath to learn what Apple had up its sleeve this June. I watched the full two hours of the keynote, and I wasn't disappointed.

I have a first generation iPhone, and I wanted to know about the new operating system (3.0 coming June 17th) as well as the third generation iPhone (available June 19th). Oh my. I'm so glad I didn't upgrade last year. The new iPhone 3G S was worth waiting for. But even saying that, I believe the software upgrade is going to improve both first and second generation iPhones a lot. Perks galore.

Snow Leopard (the next generation of OS X) debuts in September. It has a lovely price tag. Only $29 for a single and $49 for a family pack. Snow Leopard i's mostly about performance, higher speeds, etc. I was impressed and look forward to getting it onto my Macs. Leopard is already so terrific and Snow Leopard's a step up from there.

And while I am not in the market for a new MacBook at present, the new lineup of MacBook Pro's, which now includes the 13" unibody, is pretty sweet. And while they were updating with SD card slots and the 13" got the 800 Firewire and all the line got a speed bump, the price went down. Good for Apple!!!

Do I sound like an Apple sales rep? Maybe I do. But the truth is, I am just a very happy customer who after many years of trying out all kinds of products (phones, computers, laptops, Windows, software, etc.) discovered Apple products and would never go back to the old way of doing things again. There really is a better way.

~robin

Kindle 2 — Well Worth It

My Kindle 2 arrived on Wednesday, late in the afternoon. I was very fond of my Kindle 1. I never had to hold a heavy book. I could read late into the night without eyestrain. I could take 40 or 100 or 300 (and more) books with me and still only be carrying a little over 10 oz.

I debated whether or not to spend the money to get the new device, but when I got a little more back on my tax return than expected, I decided to splurge. I'm so glad I did. This is not just a minor adjustment. Amazon really upgraded this ebook reader. You can poke around the blogosphere and find many more detailed analyses than this. Suffice to say, I'm a very happy customer.

If you love to read, you won't regret owning the Kindle 2.

~rlh~

I love my Mac & iLife software

I've had fun over the past week, learning how to convert VHS files to MOV files via M4V files and then edit them in iMovie. It certainly was work, too, but I enjoy learning new things on my computer, especially since I made the switch to the Mac. Even after (almost) three years, I'm still surprised to discover all the neat tricks and intuitiveness of Mac software. So far I've managed to ready clips from my three RWA Awards and one television interview. They're all available on my web site and in my YouTube account. (I still had long, curly, red-brown hair in the two 1999 videos. The next year I went to short, straight, blond hair. What a change!)

What comes next? I'm waiting for the new iLife 09 to arrive in three weeks or so. Then I'm going to begin early work on designing a book trailer for my May release. I'll let you know how it goes.

flair on facebook

I was adding some Flair to my Facebook page (fun little buttons with all kinds of photos and sayings), and this one cracked me up. It is now on Robin's Flair tab in my Facebook profile. But I wanted to share it with my blog readers too. It is both too true and too funny.

LOL!

PS I had a fair day at the computer on Friday. Loving the story. Just wish words came faster.

Monday catch up

I am finally feeling better. Man, we do not know how wonderful it is to feel great until we feel so lousy. I did a lot of catching up over the last few days (paying bills, sorting through accumulated mail, talking to my agent, reading through/editing existing chapters of wip to get my head back into the story, et al). This morning I'm ready to dive back in and write up a storm.

One of my catch up efforts yesterday was on Facebook. The nice features of the Fan page I tried setting up, thinking it would be better to have readers of my fiction there because of easier communication, just weren't enough to overcome the negatives of that kind of page. So I invited fans to become friends and intend to delete that page soon. Best laid plans of mice and men and all that.

I blogged about this same thing this morning over on Writes of Passage, but I can't resist repeating here.

Facebook. And ShoutLife and MySpace and Twitter and blogging and ... These are all tools that can help writers communicate with each other and, most importantly, with their readers. But they can be huge time drains as well, right along with email. It takes a lot of discipline to keep from getting sucked down that drain. But, having said that, if you're on Facebook, I'd love to have you for a friend. (Just click on the above Facebook profile badge.)

The great thing about writing historicals, as I'm doing now, is that my current characters don't have to worry about all the social networking sites. The folks of Bethlehem Springs still socialize the old fashioned way, visiting with their neighbors over the white picket fence, sitting down together at dinner parties, writing letters. In 1916, they still think it's a big deal that the telephone wires have reached their town. And we can't ignore how glad they are to have a railroad spur brought up their way, making travel so much easier.

Ah,there are moments when I envy them the simplicity of their lives. Of course, my job as the author is to make things not quite so simple for them. {{evil grin}}  And now I'd best see get back to my wip and see what sort of new mischief I can create for Cleo and Sherwood.

I hope (wherever you are) that your social networking includes some face to face time with the people you care about most.

-rlh-

JOTT: what a handy tool!

Thanks to my good friend, Deb Raney, I've discovered a handy new tool. And it's a free one which makes it all the nicer.

Have you ever been driving down the road when you remembered something you need to write down (maybe a great line for your WIP or an item for your To Do list) and there's no paper in the car or your pen is out of ink? No problem. With your jott.com account, you can phone in your note to yourself and it will be sent, in text, to your email address.

For those of us with iPhones, there is a free application available through the App Store that does the dialing for us, making it extra easy to use.

I'm not a person who dictates into a recorder, but I do think this will prove helpful every now and then.

-rlh-

book trailer, part deux

Oh, happy day. I conquered iMovie just enough to improve the trailer so it looks the way I wanted. Sorry to put you through this again. I really appreciated your comments before.

Twitter and Twitterific

This week I dipped another toe into electronic networking. I joined Twitter and have begun to "tweet" those who "follow" me and/or those who I have begun to follow. I've installed a widget over in the left hand column of this blog for anyone who wants to read these little bursts of information about what I'm up to, day to day. And if you're a twitterer, then you can add me to yours.

Today I chose to buy Twitterrific, an inexpensive software program that sits on my desktop and keeps me up-to-date on incoming tweets. I don't need my browser open to use it. And the same software is available for the iPhone (both a free one and a premium one) so I can tweet from my iPhone when I'm out and about if I so choose. I hope that I am better at this than I am at posting on Shout Life or utilizing Facebook. Time will tell, I'm sure.

---

I'm just about packed for my next trip. I leave tomorrow for the sixth annual retreat in Northern Idaho of a group of 11 women writers. Last year, I dubbed it the "Plot, Play, and Pray Retreat" because that's exactly what we do. We pray for one another. We plot books. And we know how to play and laugh and eat, too. One year a bunch of us went parasailing. Yippee! I'll be brainstorming my new book of which I've got one chapter written. Should be much further along than that. I must write while at the retreat. I hope I can report great success with that by the time I return.

-rlh-

The Forgiving Hour available for the Kindle

I've already shared how much I enjoy my Kindle. Up until today, only two of my titles were available on the Kindle. So yesterday, I decided to prepare one of my out of print (OP) titles for the Kindle. It was actually a rather simple process.

I took my manuscript and converted a few things. I had to go from double to single space, adjust the indents so they weren't so deep, change smart quotes to straight quotes, and change my em-dashes (don't know why my em-dashes were a problem; they work okay for others). I bolded chapter headings and did some other sprucing up, then I saved the whole file as an HTML document.

Setting up a Kindle account (as a publisher) was straightforward and didn't take much time (my business name and info, etc.). However, I did need to design a cover which maybe took me 30 to 45 minutes until I was happy with it.

Altogether, I'd estimate I spent four hours getting my book ready for the Kindle. Today, the link went live. The Forgiving Hour , my first book for the Christian market (published my WaterBrook Press in February 1999), has been out of print for a few years, so I love knowing that it is available again beyond the used bookstores and libraries.

Clicking on the book covers will take you to their Amazon pages. The teal cover is for the Kindle edition and the pink cover will take you to used copies.

I plan to prepare a few more of my OP titles for the Kindle as I find the time. Stay tuned.

-rlh-

auto response messages

Read these and have a good laugh. It is scientifically known to be good for your health (the laughter, not the email).

Here's a list of some of the best 'Out of Office' automatic email replies (with hat tip to Ron Crumbaker at myITforum.com, Inc.). I don't travel enough these days to set up auto email replies as people in most offices do. But if that ever changes, I want to keep these handy.

1. I am currently out of the office at a job interview and will reply to you if I fail to get the position. Please be prepared for my mood.

2. You are receiving this automatic notification because I am out of the office. If I was in, chances are you wouldn’t have received anything at all.

3. Sorry to have missed you, but I’m at the doctor’s having my brain and heart removed so I can be promoted to our management team.

4. I will be unable to delete all the emails you send me until I return from vacation. Please be patient, and your mail will be deleted in the order it was received.

5. Thank you for your email. Your credit card has been charged $5.99 for the first 10 words and $1.99 for each additional word in your message.

6. The email server is unable to verify your server connection. Your message has not been delivered. Please restart your computer and try sending again.

7. Thank you for your message, which has been added to a queuing system. You are currently in 352nd place, and can expect to receive a reply in approximately 19 weeks.

8. Hi, I’m thinking about what you’ve just sent me. Please wait by your PC for my response.

9. I’ve run away to join a different circus.

My favorite is #5. What about you?

-rlh-

cool way to get your news

This morning I discovered a cool web page called oursignal.com that uses the "cloud" to show what are the most talked about news items on the web. It's cool to look at, plus it allows you to skim through headlines and see what pieces you might want to read. Links begin to get smaller and smaller as readership drops. Below is a snapshot of the page the first time. The article that is lined-through on the left is the one I clicked through to read.

Skitch

I stumbled upon a new software for Macs tonight. It's called Skitch, and it is a free download at present. You can do fun things with photos, take a screen shot and write on it, snap a photo of yourself with your built-in camera, etc. Here's my first test of the software. (Click to see full size image.) It was very easy to do.

Kind of fun, huh?

Don't expect anything too brilliant out of me in this blog for the next week or so. I'm working like a mad woman, trying to finish my book, and my brain is on overload.

-rlh-

how the Christian community engages electronic technology

The Barna Group released an interesting survey earlier this week that explores social networking as well as how Americans use digital technology to get the products, services, and content they desire. The research identifies the mainstream - as well as emerging - platforms and practices.

Here's a portion, this part about social networking and blogs:

The Internet helps individuals express themselves. Millions of Americans have taken advantage of this, launching personal websites and blogs (short for "weblogs"). While these personal venues for self-expression have become a significant feature of the online landscape, most Americans remain on the digital sidelines: just one-quarter of computer users (23%) has a personal webpage or home page on a social networking site (such as Facebook or MySpace).

Even fewer adults have a personal blog where they communicate their ideas and experiences (10% of Americans with regular access to a computer). Interestingly, an even higher proportion of computer users (14%) had posted a comment on another person’s blog in the last week.

Blogging has not reached the "tipping point" towards becoming a mainstream activity (an emerging technology is often thought to "tip" toward majority use when the penetration reaches 20% or more of the population). Still, there are an estimated 16 million American adults who use their blog as a pulpit to broadcast their voice to the world. Blogs are most common among single adults, Northeast residents, homosexuals, those not registered to vote, and atheists and agnostics.

One other insight related to blogs is the sheer devotion many bloggers find in the pursuit, rarely letting their online journals grow dark. More than seven out of 10 people who have a blog update the online journal at least once a week.

To read the rest of the survey, including the part about the socially networked church, click here.

Now let's blog about it. {{grin}}

-rlh-

Kindle photos

In answer to some questions from Rebecca on yesterday's post about the Kindle, I took a few more pictures. All can be enlarged by clicking on them. One is of the Kindle the day I received it compared to one of my trade size paperback novels.

There are two "next page" buttons, one on the upper right (long one) and one on the lower left (smaller one). On the upper left (longer one) is the "previous page" button. The very small button on the lower right, lower than the bottom of the screen, is the "back" button. The "back" does more than just go to a previous page in the book. It will take you back to a different screen or to a different book or whatever you were looking at previously. The small roller on the right side of the screen is how you select items. You pretty much do everything with your thumbs. Although if I'm looking for a book on the Kindle store, I usually type with my index finger. I'm not as good with my thumbs as some "texters" are.

As for the text size, I took a shot of the screen choices for text size. As you can see (I hope), I use the third from the smallest. It is similar to what I find in most trade paperbacks. I could go much larger or somewhat smaller.

I hope these photos help a little. It's not easy since I don't have someone else to ask to take the photos while I'm using the Kindle. Between my digital camera and my iMac camera, I think I may have managed it. Hope so anyway.

-rlh-

the Kindle after 2-plus weeks

It's been just over two weeks since my Amazon Kindle arrived on my doorstep, courtesy of the FedEx driver. A blog reader asked me how I was liking it, so I thought I would do a quick update.

First of all, I love my Kindle. Never did I think I would like it as much as I do. In fact, I like having it with me so much that I bought a bigger purse/tote just so I could drop the Kindle into the bag before I head out the door. Here's some pros and cons in no particular order (click on photos for larger views):

 
• The Kindle holds a charge for more than 30 hours. How much more, I don't know. I ran it for 17 hours straight before it showed that half the "juice" was used up. And it recharges fast. From a totally drained battery, it only takes two hours or less to charge.
 
• I love the adjustable print size. I can set it so that it is easy for me to read.
 
• You can get samples of the books before you buy them so you don't order something you really don't want. But what I use the samples for more than anything is as reminders of what I might want to buy in the future. When I read a book review that sounds interesting, if a Kindle version is available, I'll get the free sample. Then, a month from now when I want something new to read, my samples will serve as a reminder.
 
• Not every book I would like to buy is available for the Kindle, but there are still plenty of books to choose from. Over 119,000 at this point, up from 90,000 in November.
 
• The Kindle weighs about the same as many trade paperbacks and is lighter than regular hardcovers. Perfect for reading in bed.
 
• The cover that ships with the Kindle isn't very good at holding the reader nor does it fully protect the page turning buttons on the right side of the Kindle. Some have reported damage to their readers because the cover doesn't adequately protect. So I spent an additional sum to buy a better cover from m-edge. It is a huge improvement! To read in bed, I fold the front cover to the back and clip a Mighty Brite LED light to it.
 
• Some owners wish the Kindle was backlit. But not being backlit is one reason the Kindle is easy on the eyes. I already spend lots of hours looking at a computer screen. I don't want to feel like I'm still on a computer when I'm reading for pleasure.
 
• Oh, that's another thing I like. The Kindle experience for me has been that I forget I'm not reading a traditional book. Pushing the Next Page button has become as natural as flipping a paper page.
 
• When I leave a book, then open it again, it will open to the last page I was reading. However, if I want to flip back to see something I read earlier, that isn't as easy unless I bookmarked the page. I can't just go back to page 115. I have to go to it one page at a time.
 
• I installed a 1 GB SD card and between it and the built in memory, I'm told it can hold more than 300 books.
 
• I haven't played around with the basic web or email. Some literary agents, I've heard, are sending manuscripts to their Kindles for a small fee so they can read them on their Kindle when traveling rather than lugging along a lot of paper. Makes sense to me. I also haven't used the USB connection. Maybe in the future, but the Manage My Kindle on the Amazon web site works great. I currently have ten books on my Kindle including the Complete Works of Jane Austen (counted as one book) and the TNIV Bible. Plus I have five samples and the Kindle User's Guide. I haven't even used a fraction of the space available.
 
• The reduced price of books remains one of the greatest benefits!
 
• Someone asked me if I thought it was worth it if money was tight. Well, I suppose "tight" can be a relative term. Me, I "pre-spent" my tax incentive rebate that is due this month. With the reduced cost of the Kindle edition of books, I figure I'm saving $5 to $15 on each book I buy over the price I would pay for a print edition. So I don't think it will take more than two years (and probably less) for me to make up the difference.

FYI, I am currently reading Try Dying by James Scott Bell. It is a fabulous book. I don't like and can't read (due to nightmares) really scary suspense books or thrillers. But I can read Jim's books. They keep me guessing but don't scare me.

If you're interested in a Kindle, I'd love to have you buy it via my Amazon store. But none of the above has been a sales pitch. I just really love mine.

the Amazon Kindle

Yesterday at noon, I finished my next book and shot it off to my editor. (Yes!!!!!) As if in reward, FedEx delivered my latest toy ... er ... writer's research tool — the Amazon Kindle.

About six weeks ago, after hearing and reading lots of good feedback about the Kindle book reader, I watched the short video on Amazon's site, and I was finally convinced that the Kindle would be an excellent addition to my library. So I placed my order. Amazon has been running way behind on filling orders almost since the beginning (November 2007, I think). Supposedly that situation is already changing, but I had to wait five and a half weeks to receive mine. In the meantime, I joined a Yahoo Group of over 1000 members so that I could be learning tips from other users.

I have never been particularly interested in ebook readers. When I owned a Pocket PC, I read a little on it, but only in a pinch. It was nice to have the Bible on it, I admit. However, the ebook reader has come a long way over the years, and the idea that I could have a lot of books in one 10 oz machine that doesn't give me eye strain was too good to pass up. One thing I heard several times about the Kindle was that users are reading more books than before. I have fallen so far behind in reading over the last few years, so this was very encouraging to me. I want and need to read more. Research books, reference books, books on the craft of writing fiction, other writers' novels — they all are important in my life, both for pleasure and for work.

After plugging the Kindle in and letting it charge yesterday afternoon, I downloaded a number of books, some at very marked down prices. Much less than they would cost me in traditional book form. I have been meaning to read all of Jane Austen's books this year. It has been way, way too long since I actually read an Austen novel. Complete Illustrated Novels by Jane Austen for the Kindle cost me $4.79. You can't beat that except in a used bookstore.

The biggest danger I can see with the Kindle is the ease of ordering. I will have to watch my spending, and not buy a lot of new books before I've read what I have on the Kindle already.

I took the Kindle to bed with me last night and began reading 90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life by Don Piper. It's been recommended to me a number of times. I found the Kindle easy to read as I lay in bed. I rested it on the book pillow I use and read for a long time before turning out the light.

The picture with this blog shows the size. The novel is a standard trade paperback. They're very comparable in size, as you can see.

I'll post about the Kindle again after it has had a longer test run.

-rlh-

Typepad on the iPhone

I'm watching American Idol. Syesha now in the bottom three. And as I await the end of the hour, I decided to post to my blog via my iPhone. Haven't done this before so this I'd a test run. More to follow.

be more productive - get a larger monitor

Last fall, I bought a new iMac with a 24" screen. I fell in love with it immediately, although I must admit that, if I need to move the cursor from the upper left corner to the lower right corner, it's a lot of real estate to scroll across. Today I read on-line that tests have proven that workers who use the 24" screens versus 18" screens accomplish their work faster:

Researchers at the University of Utah tested how quickly people performed tasks like editing a document and copying numbers between spreadsheets while using different computer configurations: one with an 18-inch monitor, one with a 24-inch monitor and with two 20-inch monitors. Their finding: People using the 24-inch screen completed the tasks 52% faster than people who used the 18-inch monitor; people who used the two 20-inch monitors were 44% faster than those with the 18-inch ones. There is an upper limit, however: Productivity dropped off again when people used a 26-inch screen. (The order of the tasks and the order of computer configurations were assigned randomly.)

I can believe it. For one thing, I can see at least two programs at once on the same screen, side by side. For example, when I'm writing, I have Word open on the left with the magnification at 150% (eases eye strain). On the right, I have open Apple's Dictionary and occasionally a third program that doesn't use a lot of space. My MacBook has the 13" screen. I have to hop between programs when I'm working on the laptop. It takes more time to do that.

So if you are in the market for a new computer, consider the size of your monitor. It can make a difference in your productivity.

To read the rest of the study, follow this link.

-rlh-

the learning curve

For a long while, I have wished I could share that occasional YouTube video when I stumble upon one that tickles me. I asked a friend how to do it, but I just couldn't find what she was telling me to do. Then this morning, I checked out the Help section on Typepad, and this time, it clicked. I was looking in the totally wrong place on the YouTube page.

And so, as a test run, I'll use the Evolution of the Dance clip which surely everyone on the planet who owns or has access to a computer has seen by now. If by some chance you, dear reader, have missed it, I hope you'll enjoy it.

Don't you feel like getting up and doing a little bit of dancing yourself? Get your blood pumping. It's good for your heart you know.

-rlh-

another apple in my life

I managed to resist the iPhone for about seven months, but on Saturday, I succumbed. It wasn't just iPhone envy, which I confess to have had since Steve Jobs first debuted it six months before its release. There were a number of reasons I finally bought an iPhone.

(1) Frustrations with the syncing between other smart phones (I've tried out two different ones in the past two years) and my iMac. I tried both the software that came with those smart phones and I tried special software that I purchased on my own. Nothing was perfect. Nothing synced them exactly. Getting photos on my phone to show up when someone called was a major pain.

(2) Trouble seeing the small screens/small type/small keyboard. I'm far sighted. I don't wear my glasses all the time. Often times the phone would ring and I couldn't see who was calling. And typing names and numbers was impossible without my glasses.

But the kicker was (3) I will be saving $45 a month with the AT&T iPhone plan over the plan I had with Verizon. And even though it will cost me less, I am getting 400 more minutes per month (unused minutes that rollover) and can send picture messages, too. I couldn't send picture SMS with my old plan. Text only. [Correction: Photos go in email, not SMS.]

The main thing that kept me from moving before now was that I believed the AT&T service in my area wasn't as good as Verizon. But two local friends who use AT&T convinced me that wasn't true (and $45 per month less sure made it worth trying the new service). With that last barrier out of my way, I arrived at the AT&T Wireless store on Saturday morning and purchased my new iPhone.

Oh wow! I am so glad I made the switch (and my daughter with young eyes and a Verizon account is glad to get my last smart phone). Syncing is a cinch, which I knew it would be. After all, it is the same Apple OS and the calendar in iPhone matches iCal exactly. No dropped info.

Among the things I love: the last smart phone I used pushed all of my email to my phone (or I could use filters to only push select senders' emails -- a pain in the neck). I didn't want all of my email pushed to my phone because I am in the office most days. I want the ability to check email when I'm out or when I'm traveling. The iPhone lets me do that. That is huge. I don't want to have to delete 150 emails per day from my cell phone, emails that I've already read on my desktop. Who has time for that?

One plus to waiting seven months is that there have been some updates to the iPhone so probably some glitches have been worked out that I will never experience.

Two days isn't a lot of time but as of right now, I'm giving this new tool a 9 out of 10. I'd give it a perfect score but I want to leave a little bit of room in case I find something missing that I wish it had.

Oh, it's fun to get to have special ringtones again without jumping through hoops. When my daughters call, it plays "Butterfly Kisses." When my best friends call, it plays "You've Got a Friend." For everyone else (at this point), it plays "Rockin' Robin." So far only one person has called me, and I was in the kitchen fixing lunch and missed hearing the phone ring in my office. Sigh...

Robin (who became a MacHead in February 2006)

Leopard arrives

My family pack of Leopard OS for the Mac arrived late this morning. So I upgraded my laptop while proofing pages, and tonight I've been playing around with the new system. I've found some cool things, and so far, everything is working as it should. In fact, both of my printers are working remotely with my desktop, which wasn't the case before, although I don't know why.

I wouldn't mind a manual to make sure I don't miss any of the goodies.

-rlh-

fun with iPhoto & Photo Booth

I haven't mentioned lately how much I love my iMac and MacBook computers. So I will fix that oversight right now: I LOVE MY MACS!!! I have now been a dedicated Apple user for 18 months.

My latest discovery was that I could create calendars in iPhoto (as well as books and cards). For the past several years, one of my brainstorming buddies has been designing and printing calendars for the entire brainstorming group (there's 11 of us), using photos taken at the previous summer's retreat. Designing took a fair amount of time in the special program she bought. Printing the calendar was another huge job and used lots of colored ink. Then she or her assistant had to take everything to Kinko's to be wire-bound and punched with a hole for hanging. Altogether, it was a time-drain.

This year, she needed someone else to take over the chore. And that's when I went looking for something on my Mac that could do the job. Sure enough, I discovered iPhoto's ability to not only make calendars with ease but also to order them on-line and ship to the various addresses of the members. So I volunteered. I did end up spending more time on the project than I thought I would, but that was because I was still learning everything the program could do, and I also wanted to do some special things that I created in Adobe Fireworks first. Next year will be much smoother.

So now I'm thinking maybe I'll make calendars for my family next year and give them as Christmas gifts. Hmm.

And just for fun, I thought I would share with you, my blog visitors, some pictures I shot with Photo Booth with my built-in iSight camera on my iMac. I took one regular with Poppet, then a couple of them using special effects. (Click on thumb nails to see the full size shots.)

And now I'm off to write.

Vista or the better OS?

I just couldn't resist sharing this cartoon with everyone. Yes, it's true. I've become "one of them." I'm coming up very soon on one year as the proud owner of a Mac. And I'm looking forward to Leopard, the Mac's new OS, due in a few months.

ecto: like a charm

I promised an update on ecto, the blogging software I was giving a trial run. I didn't need anywhere close to the 21 free days to know that this was easily worth the $17.95 price tag. I'm using the Mac version but it is also available for Windows.

Upon installation, ecto searched out the categories on my blog and other settings I've made. Pretty much all I had to do was learn how to do my Technorati tags and remember to check that Trackbacks are allowed. I couldn't drag and drop photos straight into Typepad's blogging screen, but I can drag and drop into ecto. This software also takes advantage of the various shortcuts available to those who use a Mac. In Typepad, I couldn't. I had to make use of their screen, not my own. ecto also makes quick work of links, including for Amazon.

Someone I know uses Camino, and that browser wouldn't let her see all the Typepad design buttons. Neither does Safari. This software takes care of that bugaboo.

For those who blog, I can highly recommend ecto.

-rlh-

Technorati Tags: ecto, blogging software

you had me at scroll

Last night, while waiting for my some files to be updated to a newer version of some software on my iMac, I sat on the couch with my MacBook and decided to watch Steve Jobs' presentation of the iPhone at the recent MacWorld conference. It lasted more than an hour, but I was hooked from very early in the presentation.

A few things I learned:

• This is not just another gadget. The iPhone is a whole new thing. It puts existing PDA phones to shame in more ways than I can count. For instance, if I have three voice mails awaiting me, I don't have to listen to them to know who I need to talk to first. I can choose to listen to voicemail #3 first because it's from one of my daughters or my publisher.
• For those who are on other networks than Cingular/AT&T, don't expect this to come to your network soon. Cingular has a multi-year exclusive contract as the provider for the iPhone. If you want an iPhone, you'll have to switch networks. [I am a loyal Verizon customer, but I've got to say, this may cause me to move. In fact, I'm almost sure it will.]
• I can currently sync my PDA with my iMac's calendars and contacts, but the iPhone will do it better and with more pizzaz.
• The 4 GB model will sell for $499 and the 8 GB will sell for $599. To compare you can get a newest model Treo for about $399. Yes, the iPhone is more, but most people have a Treo and an iPod (Nano is $199) so...

You have to watch this presentation to believe just how beyond cool the iPhone is. There is no way that words and bullet points can convey it. I know because I didn't understand until I watched the video for myself. I'm counting the months until my contract with Verizon runs out.

-rlh-

Technorati Tags: iPhone, MacWorld, Steve Jobs

ecto chango

Have I mentioned lately how much I love my Mac? Well, it is true. I do. And I love learning new ways to use it. Which brings me to this test of ecto blogging software. Since I became a blogger almost five years ago, I have composed my blogs within the control panel of my blogging service. It works fine most of the time, but there have been other times when Typepad has locked up/gone down/whatever and I've lost my entire post. Not a good feeling.

So yesterday I began researching different blogging software available for the Mac, and I settled on ecto for my first trial run. Supposedly when I'm finished writing this entry, I should be able to simply upload it to my blog with the click of a button. ecto is available for both the Mac and Windows, and it is reasonably priced at under $18. I'm using the 21 day free trial until I decide this is what I want. I'll be sure and let you know my final verdict. I'm always looking for things that will streamline my life, not make it more complicated.

-rlh-

Technorati Tags: blogging software, ecto

cell phone/disease study

Cell phones seem to be the topic of the day (see my post made earlier this morning).

Last year I got a new PDA phone. Soon after getting it, I ended up on a long chat with a friend (about an hour), and before I was done, it felt as if I had burned my inner ear. After that, it always bothered me to use the phone. Sometimes it still feels as if my inner ear isn't "right." I finally traded that phone in for a different, non-PDA phone with a lower frequency rating, one that doesn't feel hot to the touch in the area of the ear piece after using for a short while.

For quite a while there has been talk about whether or not cell phone use might contribute to brain cancer or Alzheimer's. I know someone who never talks on her cell phone without an ear bud because of the suspected dangers. One of her parents had Alzheimer's, and she doesn't want to take unnecessary risks. Seems smart to me. Especially when my left ear feels a little achy.

Now this report via Fox News about a UK Government study:

A mass study of the long-term impact of mobile phones is to be undertaken amid fears that people who have used them for more than ten years are at greater risk from brain cancer.

More than 200,000 volunteers, including long-term users, are to be monitored for at least five years to plot mobile phone use against any serious diseases they develop, including cancer and Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

Professor Lawrie Challis, who is in the final stages of negotiation with the Department of Health and the mobile phone industry for the £3 million that he needs to fund the study, told The Times that research has shown that mobiles are very safe in the short term but that there is a “hint of something” for people using them longer.

In an interview, Professor Challis, a world expert on mobile phone radiation, and chairman of the government-funded mobile telecommunications health research programme, emphasised that the “hint” was just that. One European study has found a slight association and using a mobile for more than ten years. The few long-term users developed more acoustic neuroma brain tumours which were found close to the ear used for phoning.

Read the rest of the report.

One of my daughters and several of my friends don't even have land-line phones any more. They are always on their cell phones. Makes me wonder...

-rlh-

ads come to cell phones

From the New York Times, Madison Avenue Calling:

People often say they do not like advertisements, but that may change if the ads start lowering their cellphone bills.

Cellular phone carriers like Verizon, Sprint and Cingular, now the new AT&T, are beginning to test and roll out advertising on mobile phone screens, and by next year, cellphone advertising is likely to be more common.

In exchange, the companies say, their subscribers will enjoy improved mobile Internet services and content provided free or at reduced prices. Other companies like Virgin Mobile USA and Amp’d Mobile are taking the idea a step further, rewarding customers for viewing ads by lowering their cellphone bills.

You can read the rest of the article here. (You may need to register, but you can do so for free.)

So what do you think? Will you watch ads on your cell phone in order to lower you bill?

-rlh-

of snow and spam and one good movie

December 1st? How did that happen? Didn't summer end just the other day?

Boise got its first real snowfall yesterday. (The mountains have been white for more than a week.) I was getting a massage when it started to fall. Went into the spa with dry roads and came out to snowy roads with already snarling traffic. It was worse when I got up this morning to go to the chiropractor's. The snow had turned to ice. Lots of fender benders around town. I am a cautious driver, leaving lots and lots of room between me and the car in front of me. Good thing, because when I gently applied the brakes to prepare to turn into my chiropractor's parking lot, I wasn't stopping. Ice had apparently built up on the pads (the temp was about 14 degrees F). I did the tap and release a few times, and then the old brakes started to work. But by that time, I was passed the parking lot. Had to turn into another lot, go back, and try again.

The snow did put me in the mood to get the Christmas decorations down from the shelf in the garage. I don't go all out the way I used to, but I do like to get some lights in the window and put up my little artificial tree. Most of my decorations are atop my upright piano.

Good thing I'm ready to get into the holiday spirit because it just so happens that the book I'm working on is another Christmas story, this time a romance for Steeple Hill to be published a year from now. To make this blog entry, I left my heroine skiing down a mountain, and I already know it isn't going to end well for her. She should have stuck to the bunny slopes. (The things we authors do to our poor, unsuspecting protagonists!)

---

I bemoaned my email woes earlier this week. It really was a nightmare. The problem started when I canceled a special anti-spam program because it wasn't making any difference in the amount of spam getting through to me, so I figured why spend the additional money for a service that wasn't helping. Well, apparently when they turned off that filter they did something wrong because suddenly my email started bouncing back to senders. Despite three calls to Tech Support on Tuesday, it wasn't until my fourth call (made on Wednesday), that one of the guys figured out the problem. By Wednesday night, emails were starting to get through to me again. Then the server went down early on Thursday (meaning I couldn't get email and no one could view my web site). It was finally up and running by early afternoon.

Needless to say, I felt like I lost an entire week to technology snafus.

And speaking of spam, it really is awful right now. I must be getting about 100 to 150 of those "Michael wrote:" "Kathy wrote:" "Somebody wrote:" spam messages a day. And so is everybody else. My web hosting company says that they are being swamped by these messages. It is slowing down everything on the 'Net.

So here is the question (actually several questions): Who are these spammers and what do they think they are gaining? Do people really end up buying that stock they are trying to sell? Or is the stock bogus and they are just doing this to create havoc on the Internet?

---

A friend emailed me this afternoon, wanting to know if I knew if the movie The Nativity is biblically accurate because she and her boyfriend didn't want to take their kids to see a biblical movie that wasn't ... biblical. Just in case any of my Write Thinking readers are wondering the same thing, here's what I told her:

The movie makes it very clear that Jesus is the Messiah and God made flesh. You can take the girls to this without a worry.

One place you can always check for Christian reviews is the Movie Guide. It gave The Nativity a 4 star (exemplary) rating. Here's the "in brief" portion of the review:

In Brief:
THE NATIVITY STORY is one of those very rare movies that brings the Gospel alive in a compelling, captivating, entertaining, and inspirational way that shatters expectations. The movie references and quotes Scripture throughout. King Herod sends out the troops to kill all the innocents in Bethlehem and stop the prophecy that there will be born a King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The movie then flashes back to a year earlier in the town of Nazareth, introducing the audience to the life of Joseph and Mary. Soon, an angel of God comes to Mary to tell her that she is with God's child, born by the Holy Spirit. Joseph and Mary have to journey to Bethlehem to register for the Roman census. In the fullness of time, the prophecies of God are fulfilled.

THE NATIVITY STORY is a nearly perfect movie. It has one of the best scripts ever for a biblical story. A sense of jeopardy is present throughout. The dialogue, the plot development, the turning points are refreshingly dramatic. Best of all, THE NATIVITY STORY testifies in every way to Jesus the Messiah and is clearly evangelistic without being preachy.

My edition of Christianity Today arrived this week, and they raved about the way Joseph is portrayed in the movie.

---

Well, I'd best get back to my heroine who is surely just about frozen by now. Hero to the rescue.

-rlh-

email woes

My domain mail has been down since yesterday morning. I have spent about an hour and a half on the phone to my ISP tech support, most of that time on Hold, just waiting to get through, only to be told that they are working on it. I was told it should be up last night. Not. I was told it should be up by 10:45 this morning. Not. Ack! All that bouncing mail. It's like having your telephone service cut off. I feel helpless and frustrated and can't help wondering what mail has gone astray, never to be recovered.

-rlh-

brainstorming & the intuitive writer

I missed the fact that a column of mine, Brainstorming & the Intuitive Writer, is up over on Charis Connection, posted on Thanksgiving Day. I guess I was too busy eating turkey to check blogs.

-rlh-

camino for mac

When I was still part of the Windows world (I am now seven months into my life as a Mac user), I made the switch from Internet Explorer to Mozilla's Firefox. Smart move for anybody using Windows. Firefox is just a better browser and lots more secure than IE from everything I've read. Happily, Firefox is also available on the Mac, and I preferred it over Safari (Apple's browser).

Tonight I was sitting on the sofa, icing my foot (I don't know what I did but it hurts and I'm limping) and browsing through the September issue of Macworld when I came across a review of Mozilla's Camino browser. Camino 1.0, made specifically for Macs, is a universal binary browser that runs natively on both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs. So I jumped on the Internet and did some googling to learn a little more. Finally, I decided that the price was right (free). I downloaded the software and installed it.

Camino is significantly faster than Firefox in downloading web pages. I miss the particular way Firefox saves passwords, but Camino utilizes the Mac's keychain, so I can live with it. My Typepad blog entry page appears a bit different in Camino than it does in Firefox, but this too I can live with.

So if you are a Mac user (whether the older models or the newer Intel Macs), you might want to give Camino a test drive.

-rlh-

mac's leopard

For those of you who haven't read Write Thinking very long, you missed my switch to what I affectionately call "the Mac Cult" in February of this year. Yes, my eyes start to glow with excitement when I talk about my Macs and their Tiger operating system. I have an iBook for travel or writing away from home and an iMac core-duo for my office.

I admit, there are some frustrations, some things I cannot do in the Apple OS, i.e. there is a web site that saves its Power Point presentations in some sort of Internet Explorer format. I cannot get the presentations and convert them to regular Power Point on my Macs. I have to have Windows to download  in IE and then save as Power Point files. Another is that WordPerfect isn't made for the Mac, and although WordPerfect can read Word files, Word can't read WordPerfect files. I have hundreds upon hundreds of WordPerfect files which I don't want or need to take the time to convert to Word. But I still need WordPerfect in case I do have to research something. I was using my old Windows machine for those occasional needs (which meant I had to go into another room where it is taking up space, fire it up, complete the task, and then return to my desk). But I finally screwed up the courage and installed Windows on a partition on my iMac's hard drive, via the Boot Camp beta software and Intel processor. So far so good except that I partitioned off a far too large section for my Windows use. I overestimated the size of the software I wanted to install.

Yesterday Mac OS X version 10.5 Leopard was previewed at their convention, and we Apple users could get our first looks at what some of the changes/additions will entail. I've already seen several things that make me excited. The bad news? Leopard doesn't start shipping until spring 2007.

Steve Jobs (or someone with Apple) reportedly said that Microsoft's new Vista OS, also due to release next year, was only catching up with Tiger, Apple's current OS (see photo at left) while Leopard surges ahead. Jobs outlined ten new things in the Leopard operating system, but said that there were more that the company was not talking about yet.

And so this new Mac convert will just have to wait for the Leopard to reveal the rest of its spots. Spring 2007 seems a long ways off.

-rlh-

zoom! how fast was that?

I got a letter yesterday from a Christian media ministry, and it contained some interesting stats on the growth of technology, especially as relates to the Internet. At least I found them interesting enough to share here:

• Ten years ago, 45 million people were using the Internet
• Today, over 1 billion people use the Internet
• Last year, household adoption of high speed, broadband Internet connection exceeded the 50% mark, spawning a new era of on-demand video communication
• Eight months ago, the video iPod didn't exist
• Today, millions of full-length TV shows and movies are being downloaded to computers, and synced to the iPods for "time-shifted" viewing on the go

Can you believe everything that has happened so fast?

A report revealed that 30% of people on-line are searching for Religious or Spiritual information. That's a lot of seekers. Research also shows a significant consumer preference of video over text. (Not good news to writers, but that's another topic.)

Now imagine a place on the Internet where bestselling authors and trusted biblically based experts on Gospel and Spiritual Truths, Sexual Intimacy, Parenting, Finances, etc., are available with short video answers to life's biggest questions, instantly accessible by computer, video enabled cellular phones and iPods.

It's coming, folks. And when I learn the link has been announced, I'll include it here.

---

Speaking of short video answers, have you watched any of the NOOMA videos from Rob Bell and produced by Zondervan. I was given video #1, RAIN, last fall and finally got around to watching it a couple of weeks ago. Powerful lesson taught in about 11 minutes. And wouldn't you know? I watched it the very day I needed to hear what Rob Bell had to say.

If you are part of a small group, I highly recommend these videos. They could kick off some terrific discussions.

-rlh-

love it hate it

Argh! Technology has been wrestling with me for weeks now, and it didn't let up this week either. For the past several days it has been my wireless Internet connection, my PDA smart-phone, and my furnace thermostat.

Yesterday morning at this time, my mom and I were shivering like crazy. Thankfully, that was fixed by 11:00 a.m. with the install of a new thermostat and the instructions of how to make the furnace recycle. The repairman was concerned, however, about the furnace not putting out heat until I did that recycle before he arrived. If it does this again, he'll have to come back out and check things out a bit more. (Please God, don't let me need a new furnace.)

The other two items mentioned seem to be resolved after way too many hours spent on the phone talking to tech support. I mean, most of these tech guys are really, really nice but it still isn't a lot of fun to be on the phone for such long stretches.

And now I am woefully behind on my writing. So far behind it gives me a headache. Today ... yes, today I'll make more headway.

---

Now I must get to work on aforementioned manuscript, but I cannot conclude this post without saying thank you to all those who phoned in their votes to American Idol so that a certain female contestant got the boot on last night's show. You all know who I mean.

-rlh-

apple thinking

I am now 18 days into my new life in the land of Macintosh. While there have been a few stumbles (anyone know how I can open a Microsoft Publisher document on an iMac?), all in all I have to say I'm loving my new baby.

• I love that I can press the On button and be using my computer in about 25 seconds.
• I love that I can drag and drop album covers into my iTunes with no added steps.
• I love how easy it is to remove programs if I change my mind.
• I love that I don't need to buy lots of new programs because just about everything I need comes bundled and built into the Mac.
• And those widgets in the Dashboard are just about the cutest things ever put on a computer.

---

I spent much of Saturday redoing the time line for RTM. Hours and hours messing with calendars and birth dates and character charts and so forth. Tomorrow, I'm making one more pass through the manuscript, making sure that I've made all the changes that are required with the reworked time line. More than once, I've felt like my head could explode with all the minute details. I hope to be done with this soon so I can start writing new pages again.

And, hey, I'll be writing those new pages on my new iMac. They should be even better than before, right?

-rlh-