Focus Writer Free Software

New software alert for writers who struggle with distractions… Focus Writer is a free program with a dynamite, simple interface.  It comes zipped, and can be loaded to a usb drive to use on the fly.

A screen shot, reduced in size:

What you see above is what you get—the colors are customizable.  I like purple, obviously, but you select the background you want… even an image.  The idea is that all you see is the text in front of you unless you move your mouse UP or DOWN. Your Windows desktop and taskbar are also obscured unless otherwise configured.

Move the mouse UP and you’ll get a taskbar like this:

 

 

The taskbar is also customizable. I recommend the MINIMIZER, since it allows you to get back to your desktop quickly and doesn’t tempt pauses, since it’s not visible unless you go looking for it.  The menu vanishes the minute you move your mouse away.  Better yet, the footer bar, which also auto-hides, keeps track of your stats, and these are all customizable, as well—work toward a daily goal of words, characters, pages, etc.; set your own time allotted, etc.

This info, including the file name, appears on the left.

The percentage of your daily goal, which you set, appears in the center of the footer bar.

The far end of your footer bar will show the time.  The minute you move your mouse away, it vanishes, just as the top menu does.

So what is the benefit?  I was curious, too.  I started a brand new file on a short story and gave myself a daily goal of one hour, 1500 words.  With the screen completely “purpled out,” nothing but the white space and my text in front of me, I banged out an RTF file that was formatted, ready to copy and paste or simply re-open, that exceeded my goal significantly.  1,872 words in an hour... and I was playing, not trying. Another lovely feature—spell check on the fly and this program automatically uses proper quotes in dialogue. 

Users can elect to have old-fashioned typing noises (which I found weirdly neat as white noise) and customize the experience in a ton of other ways.

Super sleek, portable, and FREE… this is my new first draft stand-by.

Get it HERE for free! 

http://www.snapfiles.com/get/focuswriter.html

Look What I’m Getting!!!!!!!

I love my man! I love my man! I love my man! I love my man!

As a reward for finishing Cry Uncle, which is coming out this fall with all kinds of special, additional, exciting caveats, contests, and cool shit, Ahmed is getting me THIS:

 

Be impressed… seriously… this thing is 100% custom.  Intrigued and burning with envy?  You can get one, too: 

DataMancer-- http://www.datamancer.net/laptop-preorders.htm

DROOOOOOOOLLLY MCDROOOOLAGE!!!

Snippet Sunday… Don’t Try This At Home

As part of our ongoing Snippet Sunday indie dork-fest, I am sharing a bit of Cry Uncle in which Maggie, our heroine, disables her boss, Leo, by putting three drops of Visine into his beer.

DISCLAIMER: don’t try it.  Yes, it does make the person sick as hell.  No, you can’t be sure it won’t kill him or her.

From CRY UNCLE, by Chrissy Olinger:

     I hated doing it.  Leo was such a good guy, and he didn't deserve what he was experiencing. Contrary to urban legend, three drops of Visine in a beer do not necessarily cause dangerous dysentery. But it can, if the nausea is bad enough.  And let's face it, the chili at Ruby's is bad enough to do some serious damage without help.
     "Ohmygawd there's bad stuff coming out of every part of me."  His voice was somewhere between a primal death-moan and a broken prayer.
     "I'm leaving some cold water and a bucket for you, Leo. I'm really sorry you're feeling so awful."
     "Goway. Please. Don't stay here. Ohmy--" nothing human should make that sound. Leo's dank, dark curls clung to his head as he retched into the wastebasket.
     "Jesus." Maybe he needed an ambulance. "Do you want to go to the ER?"
     "I want to find the sonofabitch who made that chili and kill him with razors, sand fleas, and a blow torch." Leo's milk-chocolate eyes were rimmed in a fiery red. His olive skin was dialysis yellow. What had I done?
     "I'm going to check back in with you in a few hours."
     "I'll be dead then."
     "It's just food poisoning, right? You said so yourself."
     "I'm dying. I hope I go fast. Oh, shit--" somehow he lunged from the bed, took three steps to the bathroom, and slammed the door. He wasn't retching this time. In fact, when he'd said "oh shit," he'd meant business.
     I ran like the coward I was. Guilt is an amazing motivator. I wanted Leo incapacitated for a few hours. Leave it to my dumbass brothers to come up with a plan that simulated food poisoning. The effects of my eye-drop boilermaker were audible, even through the door of Leo's room, as I sprinted for the dinged up rental out front. Glancing across the harbor at the steeple of Holy Family, I offered a silent prayer that I hadn't accidentally killed my boss.

Help Me Plan Ahead… Cover Pick!

In November I am bundling my first release under my own name—the fun novella, My Boyfriend’s Back—with three other shorts of similar theme and length.  The stories are already written, and seemed to work with the holiday/romance/comedy tone of MBB.  The first takes place at Thanksgiving, the second at Christmas, the third at New Year’s, and for those who don’t know MBB—it wraps up the collection with Valentine’s Day.

I’ll release each short story as the months pass, then bundle them as one, discounted collection in February 2012.  All focus on true love, fate, and fun.  There is no explicit content, but they are very sexy in tone.

Help me pick the cover!

OR

STROKE MEH!

Fun fact to know and tell… according to the National Stroke Association, I’m normal.

*Snicker* … somebody ain’t checkin’ they memoz.

But seriously, folks…

One of the unfortunate murky-linings of having PF and a cancer history is susceptibility to strokes.  I’ve had a few minor ones, and this week got zapped with another.  So far the damage appears to be minor, but one of the things I learned was how stealthy the damage can be.  Among the sneaky little gremlins? I may find myself “ignoring” or “missing” things on my left side.

Stand on the left, won’t you, buttheads of the world?

In all seriousness, while sitting around in-between appointments, the nice people at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge directed me to this site: National Stroke Association's Effects Page.  On that site I read up on my most recent stroke-age:

A stroke in the right hemisphere often causes paralysis in the left side of the body. This is known as left hemiplegia. Survivors of right-hemisphere strokes may also have problems with their spatial and perceptual abilities. This may cause them to misjudge distances (leading to a fall) or be unable to guide their hands to pick up an object, button a shirt or tie their shoes. They may even be unable to tell right-side up from upside-down when trying to read.

Along with their impaired ability to judge spatial relationships, survivors of right-hemisphere strokes often have judgment difficulties that show up in their behavioral styles. These patients often develop an impulsive style unaware of their impairments and certain of their ability to perform the same tasks as before the stroke. This behavioral style can be extremely dangerous. It may lead the left hemiplegic stroke survivor to try to walk without aid. Or it may lead the survivor with spatial and perceptual impairments to try to drive a car.

So far the damage I have seems NOT to have mucked up my driving… but I drive in Massachusetts, so it’s hard to tell.  Short term memory seems fine… but I have always had excellent long-term, but spotty short-term memory.  I’ve trained myself to leave my keys in the exact same spot ALL the time, and to write things down because of this.  But if the official testy-peeps say I’m good, I suppose I’m good.

I am listing to one side, dropping things on that side, and tripping because my left foot is dragging.  This makes it fun for Ahmed, who is in charge of catching me.  Hey… one excuse to cop a feel is as good as the other, right?

I learned a lot from this experience.  I seem to be speaking fine… but my pauses are longer.  I can type, but at a normal speed.  My speed was once legendary, so being average is pissing me off a little.

Lastly?  When my man unit announced to the world—in very classic Ahmed fashion—that I could do with some prayers, Facebook exploded with lovely good wishes.  It was incredibly touching, and you’re all in my  prayers, too.  MWAH!!!  Big, fat, hairy kisses… that pull slightly to the right.