We all know it’s true. You go to work and pretend to be one person, but once 5:oo hits, you’re out the door and onto pursing your other dreams—riding, writing, reading, scrapbooking, or even swordmaking.
It’s okay. There are others out there just like you.
Do you have troubles keeping your two lives straight? I do. Well, I did. I thought it fitting to talk about this on Labor Day – finding a way to make your life a little less laborious… 😉
Last year, I discovered Evernote, a free application for your computer, tablets, smartphones and even paper notebooks. This is easily the most accessible, comprehensive and amazing app out there when it comes to organization.
Though I failed miserably in going completely digital, I can’t imagine organizing my double life without Evernote.
By day, I’m a social media coordinator for a university. How does Evernote help with social media-ing? Oh let me count the ways:
– “Clipping” web pages to save for reference later
– Stockpiling pre-written posts – since I don’t like pre-scheduling posts, I store them in Evernote and then copy and paste later.
– Creating presentations and storing notes for coaching sessions
By night, I write historical fiction. As with any writing, there’s a fair amount of research involved, which Evernote is just perfect for.
– Clipping images, websites and sources for later reference
– Saving story ideas into a “Story Idea” notebook – I now have a dozen ideas I could start on at any moment.
– Taking notes at conferences, tagging them by topic, and emailing them to other writer friends or reviewing later.
– Sharing folders with other writers or organizations I work with
(I also use Pinterest for brainstorming, but double-save everything into E-note as well.)
As a word processor, it is simplistic and distraction-free. Though I do the bulk of my writing still in Word, Evernote has proven to be my tool of choice. I recommend it to every writer, businessman, stay-at-home-mom, dog trainer and roller-coaster tester I meet (as well as every other profession in between.)
Try it out – sign up, install the Web Clipper into your browser. Download the app to your phone or tablet. Share a folder with your spouse to keep track of groceries. I dare you. See if it helps!
What other tools do you use regularly to organize your life?
Hi Nicole,
I’ve heard a lot about Evernote and will give it a try. I have used mind mapping for years. For me, it’s the difference between creating lists of things versus creating mind maps, visual documents that help me see how one idea is connected to the next. Ideas and information exist in context, and I’ve always found it hard to understand context when using lists. (But at some point I do export the mind maps to Word as an outline, which I then begin to fill in–but only after I’ve done my “thinking” is the map.)
Let me know how it goes for you! I happen to be a list person, so I would love to see if this works for you and the way your mind works! 🙂
I just downloaded evernote onto my iPad and see how that works. But what do you mean that you use Pinterest to brainstorm? Do you mean that you browse images for inspiration (a great idea)? Or is there some way to actually brainstorm?
You can see more about Pinterest here: http://www.nicolemillerbooks.com/2012/05/14/is-pinterest-really-worth-the-risk-of-addiction/
By brainstorm – I do that in my own mind and create boards around particular themes that might come in handy later on. It might be cool develop a tool to help authors utilize it as a brainstorming technique, but that is a bit outside my skill set. 🙂
Hope you enjoy Evernote!