Really.

I think it’s the fact that I switch between them without carrying all of these giant hardcover books. I think it’s the, hmm, I’ll just read for a moment (yes, my iPad is close by almost all the time), that I like.

Unfortunately, I don’t really want to buy these books all over again (fine Under The Dome was a gift) so I can read them on my iPad. Then it hit me.

What if I could go to Chapters and turn in the books for credit towards buying the book through Kobo? Sure, I’d love a one-for-one trade, but I think that is hoping for a bit much. Now, Chapters could resell the books (unlikely) or donate them to the library. Think of how many new books libraries might be able to get!

In my mind, I think this could be a great way for Kobo to get more folks using their reader (maybe the credit could go to buying a reader) or the iPad/Android/iPhone versions of the app. Myself I really like the Kobo iPad app. Until the recent updates to iBooks, I thought it was a better eReader app.

So, let’s see if Kobo thinks this is a good idea.

There is no question that book publishers are looking at ereaders with a bit of both fear and elation. Will people stop buying (paper) books? Are ereaders the real future? Pearson is jumping on the ebook and iPad revolution with both feet and as I wrote about on the Future Shop blog, so are many schools and universities. So what might be wrong with expanding the use of ebooks with a video or two?

How about this idea, classic works with audio commentary available? Interactive notes and glossaries in works that might need some explaining? I see Pearson and Penguin’s moves to include media with books as a smart use of technology and a sharp vision of what people want.

People still want books. People still read. Now more and more people want to carry a large library with them and use that instead of a bag of books. Do I miss the feel of a book? Not really. In fact that’s the topic of another post…

Stay tuned.

First off, I think that friends on Foursquare are a different sort of friend than other social networks. On Twitter, I follow a lot of people, because my info is already public, so there isn’t much to lose there. On Facebook, I’m more discerning, but more willing to add “friends of friends”, I also don’t use Facebook for much, nor do I post stuff there that I would be aghast to see in public.

Now, Foursquare is a horse of a different color.

While I’ve been expanding my circle of who I’m accepting friendship requests from, Foursquare is still the one place where I really pause and wonder “do I want this person to know where I am and where I’m not?”.

This got me thinking about how people add and expand their Foursquare circle of friends. Do you see who is checking in on Twitter and see if you’re already friends with them? Do you see who is at a venue and add them if you know them (this is a mobile-centric task)? Do you go through Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail checks periodically to see if anyone new is on Foursquare who you missed?

All together, I think Foursquare is the start of a new paradigm of social networking friendships. Friendships that are, in fact, more based on real life than on Internet life. So the next operative question is whether Facebook and Twitter will move towards “accept everyone” and then more “private” services will come up in their wake. Or will Facebook and Twitter start promoting ways of having “personal intranets”? I know Facebook has the ability to make groups of friends right now (and I admit that I don’t use them), but those groups aren’t more than self-filing systems. In our era of openness, will Foursquare, in fact, herald an new approach to friends that might bring things closer again?

Or maybe I’ve had too much coffee this morning.

Update: Interestingly, Gina Trapani talks about this same idea, social media friends and friends in real life—The “Only If We’re Offline Friends” Rule | Smarterware.

Do they set the tone correctly?

Did I use the right style for the series (each of the books in the various series have a style and format)?

Are they long enough?

Funny turning in the final chapters isn’t hard at all. Those are a celebration. The completion of the first half of the journey (editing comes next, which is fun all its own). The first ones, however, are just a bit anxiety causing.

Almost there…almost there.

Like all the social media tools we use now, Foursquare wouldn’t be much use without its users, so I want all of us to be in the book too.

Here’s the idea: share with me your stories, memories, anecdotes about Foursquare and I’ll put them here and there throughout the book.

Just leave a comment here, DM me through Twitter, or use my “Contact Me” form. If you want to be anonymous, that’s fine with me. Of course I’d rather people use some sort of name, so when you send your memory to me, please include how you’d like to be credited in the book.

Simple as that and you can be in my next book!

This isn’t about ego, it’s, frankly, about business. With one book on the shelves, another due next month, a third this fall (I’m guessing on the date), and a video series coming out, I need to make sure that I can get the word out as far and wide as I can. There is no doubt that Twitter is essential to that distribution. Just Google isn’t enough it today’s mega-info world.

Well thanks to Twitter support I’m finally back in Twitter’s search results!

So the operative question is: will it make difference?

Just based on the fact that about 7200+ people follow me on Twitter, there should be enough distribution shouldn’t it? Well only if a large number of people retweet something I say.

I think being in search will help people find me, and my books, more easily. Since it’s been only about 24 hours since my tweets are back in the index, I don’t think I can say if there has been a commiserate rise in followers, but this post should be a fair test.

I’ve also tweaked my FeedBurner settings so that hash tags are included in the tweet … so if someone has search for Twitter this post will probably come up.

I’ll keep you posted, because I think this is a pretty interesting test: what happens when you disappear from Twitter search then come back.

And let the searches commence!

I also promoted using Thesis for people looking for a solid way to build sites. All the while I was unaware of all the issues surrounding Thesis and GPL. Rather, I knew there were issues, but I didn’t think it was a big deal.

Then I started writing Using WordPress.

My editors asked to have Thesis included in the book and I thought it was a great idea. It wasn’t until my technical editor pointed out that it wasn’t really fair to readers to have examples that required people to spend money to follow along with that I started to look into this whole topic more.

The more I read about GPL and WordPress themes the more I felt that themes are derivative works. Look I’m not a lawyer and my opinion is really based on gut feel and the fact that a WordPress theme can’t be used without WordPress. The more I read the more uncomfortable I became with using Thesis on my site.

I switched to Twenty Ten mostly by accident (I thought I was clearing out one site through the command line when in fact I was in my main site), but I’m rather happy that I did. Sometimes simple is better.

Yesterday the debate on GPL, Thesis, and WordPress took at pretty ugly turn. It became very public and very nasty.

And it sickens me.

Here are just a small number of the posts talking about it (there are posts on both sides of the argument):

• GPL Showdown | Digging into WordPress
• Would WordPress Sue The Maker Of Thesis, A Leading WordPress Theme? – with Chris Pearson and Matt Mullenweg
• Important People
• WordPress › News » Themes are GPL, too
• Why the GPL does not apply to premium WordPress themes — perpetual beta | release
• Why the GPL/Derivative Work debate doesn’t matter for WordPress themes — perpetual beta | release
• The Great Thesis (#thesiswp) vs. WordPress Debate Rages On | mitch canter {dot} com
• Impending Legal Precedent for GPL Licensing? — Technosailor.com
• #thesiswp « Jane on WordPress
• Syn-thesis 1 — Matt Mullenweg
• An analysis of GPL’ed code in Thesis « Drew Blas – The life and code of a passionate developer

I think and feel that we owe a lot the hundreds (thousands?) of developers who have contributed to WordPress over the years. It seems to me that it’s a slap in their face to not follow the GPL terms.

I think what bothers me most, besides the fact that I didn’t research this topic a lot more before I started using Thesis, is Chris Pearson’s attitude of “fine, just sue me”. This just seems like the wrong way to decide something.

Myself I’m not going to encourage or recommend using Thesis for any project. I have to look at how I can pull a couple projects off Thesis (luckily there aren’t many). In the meantime Catherine just pointed me to a Thesis to Genesis sale (Genesis is the StudioPress framework. StudioPress themes are are released under GPL): Thesis to Genesis Conversion Sale! | WebDevStudios.com.

Now back to reviewing book chapters…

Update: Mark Jaquith wrote probably the best summation of the themes/GPL/Thesis/WordPress posts I’ve read. Well, well worth your time: Why WordPress Themes are Derivative of WordPress « Mark on WordPress

If you imagine that for any given chapter or topic in Using WordPress I would have maybe 15 minutes to explain it (across three videos), so in WordPress Essentials I’ll have more time to show each topic in more detail instead of cherry picking “oh I’ll show this as a screencast”.

I think after I get all these books and such done I’m going to need to do something like the “blogging with WordPress” box set with Create Your Own Blog, Using WordPress, and WordPress Essentials as an all you need to get going package. I think it will work.

Anyway, yes, I’m staying busy and I certainly love doing all of this and plan on continuing long into the future.

My next book is: Teach Yourself Foursquare in Ten Minutes

Which explains why I suddenly added a bunch of friends to Foursquare and started checking in more frequently. What is even more exciting to me is that this should be the first (or one of the first) printed books on Foursquare.

I’ve been (trying) to keep this under wraps for the past several months that I’ve been working on it, but well you guys know how bad I am at keeping secrets.

I also need a favour…I’ve been trying to reach out to the folks at Foursquare to get the inside scoop on the inner workings, history, etc. So if anyone has an in with them, I’d greatly appreciate it.

I’m expecting that Teach Yourself Foursquare in 10 Minutes will be out in the fall (I have to finish writing it in short order). Using WordPress is due for mid-August right now, so I could get a hat trick of books published this year!

The last bit of great news with Teach Yourself Foursquare in 10 Minutes is that Catherine Winters agreed to be the technical editor on this project! You can be assured that Catherine is going to make sure that the book is up to snuff and accurate. She’s promised me that she’s going to try not to assail me on my grammar, well at least in public.

Wee!

I know this really goes against the geek grain. Come on I have two DSLRs and a bunch of lenses. I know that either the D80 or D30 will take great pics, but at what cost? They are certainly bulkier. They are certainly heavier.

Here’s a really “out there” thought…Just bring a couple point-n-shoots (I, ahem, still have a demo unit from Samsung on hand) and my iPad. Unfortunately I don’t have the camera connection kit or I’d be able to connect the camera and upload pictures tomorrow. Maybe that’s a good thing though? Leave the laptop at home. Disconnect for a bit.

Sure I’m going to write about the trip, but I can compose those and post them on Tuesday. Yeah I might Twitpic something here and there …. honestly though, I think it’s time that Sheila and I have some downtime and some time where I’m not tethered to this machine.

Sounds like a plan.

Yeah, that doesn’t work so well, does it?

We really can’t work all the time without burning out. And the worst problem with burning out is the time it takes to recharge everything back up to productive levels. Believe me, post-burn out recharges for me sometimes are a week or a month. Sure I get “work” done during that time, it’s just that the “work” I get done then isn’t the best stuff I could turn out.

Like today, I’m going through all my ongoing projects in my head:

• Using WordPress…waiting for more chapters to proof.
• But I could be doing new/replacement screencasts … oh but not when doing laundry
• Client work…still waiting for feedback or need to check something or … oh yeah I could do this or that
• Book three … right always more to work on there
• Next project …. well I could think about that…

See, it doesn’t end! I had, actually, thought I had enough well in hand to justify finishing “The Girl Who Played With Fire” this weekend, but no going through that list I thought of at least two or three things I could do.

What’s the solution? Today, I’m going to read for a bit, then see if I have enough info to start a project, then …

Aw hell, who am I kidding. I’ll be back here working away on a chapter in a couple hours I’m sure.

Ah well. Maybe I’ll take time off another time…like next year.

This is why I’m not at Mental Health Camp, it’s just not a good idea for me.

Right now, life is pretty stressful. The wedding is drawing near (btw, weddings are expensive buggers). I have one book nearly complete, but starting another (which needs to be written by the end of the summer).

And frankly, I’m just getting back to and even keel after a downturn (thank you medication adjustments) so I know that talking about mental health and hearing stories about mental illness will not do good things for me.

So as much as I fully support Mental Health Camp…I know that for myself I must support it from afar.

Before you think it’s going to be all fun and games, it’s a GM Canada-sponsored trip to the Okanagan.

Here are the usual disclaimers: I haven’t been told, or even asked, to blog about it. GM is covering the expenses for us to go. We’re overnighting at Burrowing Owl Vineyard, which we both already love, so there is no bias there. This is a fun thing for us and may a nice fringe benefit for my beloved because I sit in front of this computer so much.

Yeah, really large jpegs aren’t a good idea are they.

Oops.

I think, however, that you might like some insight in how I even get to the point of looking at starting Chapter 4 and thinking … “hmm, I think we’re off track here” and then getting back on track (and finishing).

Although I eschewed outlines in school, I rely on them now to make everything come together. Yeah, all my teachers from High School on are all saying in unison “See, I told you…” and of course they were right.

Well mostly.

My problem with outlines in school was their finality. It was like when pencil hit paper and one item followed another, that was it, the die was cast. Yeah, yeah notecards. Uh huh, if you’ve ever seen my office or previous apartments you can see why having me rely on a stack of cards in a box to keep things organized isn’t a great idea (let’s not even get into the whole handwriting thing). Enter the world of computers, mindmaps and writer’s programs (Scrivener specifically).

My outlines now start with a mindmap if I’m really at a loss for how to start (big documents, larger books, tangly topics). My mindmap then becomes an RTF or DOC to be put into Word or Pages. If I can grapple with the concept well enough, I’ll start out in Scrivener creating “documents” and “folders” for ideas and bins. Scrivener is more than a word processor. Word processors think in terms of a document. Building connections between and among documents is pretty tricky. Scrivener is designed for writers. It looks at projects. Each book is a project. It has parts and a whole. I can export a single chapter as one file, or the whole darn thing. I can keep my notes, images, links, ideas … everything there.

But I digress.

So I have, essentially, an outline in Scrivener and I export the outline into Word or Pages. Of course before the whole export process, I have moved everything around (either in mindmap or Scrivener versions) so I’m happy with the outline (that for the moment makes sense). Why all the exporting? Well, I live in the real world and in this world my publisher does everything in Word. The book proposal form is in Word and that’s where my outline goes. This outline does have some detail to it so the reviewers will know what I’m planning for each section. This is, actually, an essential part of the submission process (making sure the reviewers know I know what I’m talking about).

At this point the outline is pretty solid in my mind. Sure my editor and I might tweak it here and there. Maybe add a section of reword a chapter title, but essentially that’s what goes forward.

Then the writing starts.

I write the entire book in Scrivener. Using WordPress is, in fact, the first book I’ve written entirely in Scrivener. I wrote most of Create Your Own Blog in Word, and after that torture, I’m not going back to Word (or Pages) for hardcore writing. I do most of my writing in Scrivener if I can (sometimes it doesn’t make sense to have to import/export all the time), though sadly I have to edit my books in Word (remember that “real world” creeping in again). Still the writing part.

As I’m writing I’m looking at what chapter or section I’m on and how it will fit in later with the rest of the book. Hitting the “well, if I talk about this here, what will I cover there…” is pretty common. Around chapter 2 or 3 I seem to hit the point where I go, hold the phone, this outline isn’t making sense any more.

This is where, as a writer, I fall in love with Scrivener a little more each time. Move a section (“document”) from one chapter (I use “folders” for chapters) to another? Not a problem, drag, drop, done. Add another chapter? Move chapters around completely? All just simple moving like you’d thing you can. If I really hit a wall (as I sometimes do early on) I switch into “corkboard” view and move the notecards around (yeah the metaphor works here). Because everything is together in a project, I can look at it all at once. When I wrote books in Word, I might be working on Chapter 3, but if I wanted to restructure for something in chapter 7 that file might not even exist yet! It would be back to the original outline to see how it fits together.

Efficient? Not so much.

Before finding Scrivener the process I went through in a couple hours this evening, where I pretty much reorganized the book from chapter 4 to 10, would have taken much longer. Actually I think I wouldn’t have done it. I would have fought through and dealt with the conflicts when more of the book was done. Now, I have a stronger book and outline from the start. Plus I now have a place to start tomorrow (chapter 4) that makes much better sense in context of the greater whole.

Well at least for now.