tychoish, now without a net

With a title like the “Daily Grind,” I suspect you’re expecting a post about how I’m acclimating to my new 9-5 job. Wrong. I think this one is more about publishing schedules in new media, but, it’s probably a lot more connected than I want to think about.

I suppose first off, I should cop to the fact that I am totally guilty–when I know I’m going to be in crunch time–of writing entries in runs of six or so, and then posting them out one by one, so that the blog maintains a daily publication schedule, and I can put energy when it needs to go.

Second off, I should note that I’ve been listening to Jared Axelrod’s’s now daily (or almost compleatly daily, at least of ep ~60-70 where I am now) podcast “The Voice of Free Planet X.” I’ve been listening to VoFPX for a while, and I’ve always liked it (so if you don’t listen to it, you should it’s good stuff), but Jared’s said something interesting recently–by my frame–that I want to reflect upon.

Jared reported having some trouble keeping a weekly posting schedule, because it was something that you could put off if things got tight and still–more or less–keep your schedule. In contrast, you can’t really put off something that is supposed to happen daily more than a few hours or else you don’t meet the deadline. I’d also add that in a lot of cases as creators we say–at least to our selves–if it comes out weekly it has to represent a weeks worth of work, whereas if it comes out daily it represents–in most cases–proportionally less work, and just has to exist.

And the truth about writing, and creating–particularly on the internet–is that success is pretty random. Having a story, or a site, podcast, or a video that “works” and becomes popular is not the effect of some transcendental skill, and even a not incredibly strongly correlation to skill; but rather a function of the quantity of output. You got to keep putting things out, keep making things, and the more you make the more likely something is to really “make it.”

When blogs first started, everyone praised them because they made publishing online really easy. You wrote something and hit post. That was it. For the most part blogs (and other related media) succeed as we hit the post button more. And this corresponds to our reading style. It takes just as long to read a blog post with meticulously crafted prose as it does to read one that was written in the morning on half a cup of coffee. And the chances are, that posting frequently will lead to more success (where success equals audience size) because people will check regularly updated sites more often than sites that update less frequently.

As a result of this I’ve made the observation on a number of occasions, that while a firm and regular posting schedule will cement and stabilize a your audience/readership of plus or minus a few percent, you can’t “jump” levels simply by increasing volume of content generation.

So I guess there are a couple of threads to this argument the “schedules are good for audiences” and the “schedules are good for creation.” Having trounced the former sufficiently, lets move on to the later.

I think clearly we all work at different speeds, and we do different things, I think I do better with this kind of scheduling. It’s helped the blogging, for me, and projects like 365 Tomorrows, and Thing a Week, j.r. blackwell’s photos and so forth, all seem to be creative successes (and I suspect distribution-increasing successes as well.)

It’s just a hair brained idea at the moment, but I think it might be fun to start a project like this for the fiction writing that I’m not doing at the moment. A daily routine would have the effect of a) getting things out there. b) inspiring an increase in productivity, and writerly practice. Also, I think I’m likely as busy at the moment as I’m likely to be at any time in the next couple of years, and I think I feel like I’ve “got” the blogging rhythm down, and it’s time to add a new project. Just a thought, and I’m making no promises, that’s for sure. More musings in the future.

Onward and Upward!

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tagged: academia • interwebs • journal • writing

I said that I’d write a post about headphones, given my latest headphone recovery project. I have a few thoughts about this so here goes…

I think having a good set of reasonably isolating headphones is one of the most important pieces of technology that an aspiring writer should have. Not ear buds, I’m talking big, over the ear headphones that block out most of the background noise. “Active Noise Canceling” isn’t required (though mine have it, I don’t often turn it on). And since you’re likely to wear them a bunch, headphones that are comfortable have reasonably good sound quality.

A good set of headphones is to my mind, crucial for most group living situations, like dorms–particularly where there isn’t shared music interests. Even if music selection isn’t an interest, having headphones allows independent sleeping schedules and at least let me set up a more distraction free writing and studying environment.

It’s kind of like the perfect personal office. And putting the headphones on can act as a personal marker to separate “work” and “play” times (particularly relevant for me as a writer, as “dicking around on wikipedia” and “writing,” are not otherwise substantially contextually discrete activities.) Though I write whilst listening to music (I basically listen to music constantly) I do sometimes just use the headphones as sort of dorky earplugs, I’ll confess: just to get the isolating and ritual effects.

It’s possible to get the headphone effect with “real” isolation, and it’s possible to establish rituals using other objects/habits, but it’s harder. And you can’t really argue with success.

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tagged: anthropology • productivity • writing

So we’re in a sort of “long stretch” part of the Latvian-Dreaming sweater. But I just wanted to post something to remind you that you can start this any time and that I haven’t forgotten about the project (it is in fact, basically my own project at the moment).

So here’s the plan:

1. The project materials (PDF chart, excel file with a more modifiable copy of the chart, a read me file explaining how to read the chart) are located here. Download them now!
2. Obtain yarn. Fingering weight to DK, in two colors. You’ll probably need a chunk more of the background/darker color. I’m bad at predicting this. I got about 1425 yards of each color, but I had the end of a skein leftover from a previous project of the background color. I think this should be enough, and I anticipate significant leftovers. This also depends a lot on factors like your gauge and any resizing.
3. Determine your gauge and the number of stitches that you need to get a sweater that you fits you. Hope that your number is close to 340. If it’s a bit smaller, don’t sweat it, if it’s a bit bigger, add a couple of stitches at each underarm before stitch 1 on the chart. If it’s more or more than a few stitches less, (read this](http://www.tychoish.com/2008/05/strategies-for-upsizing/).
4. If you want a ribbing cast on 320 and knit in two color ribbing for a couple of inches, then knit a row in the background color and increase to 340 like so. And/or adjust.
5. If you don’t want a ribbing, or want to think about about it yet, provisionally cast on 340 (or however many number of stitches you need) and begin knitting the pattern in the next row.
6. Ignore anything I said previously about 344 stitches. My fault.
7. After you’ve increased, begin knitting the pattern, following the chart, and the instructions for chart knitting included with the chart. You’ll be doing this for a long time.
8. Ask any questions you still have. (Before you ask about making a cardigan, read this.)
9. Keep knitting. Other than follow the chart, I’m not doing anything until the sweater is 12 inches long. This is 3 inches from the underarm point. I’ll get to what happens here in an upcoming post.

Knit in good health!

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tagged: knitting • latvian dreaming

I should preface this review by saying that I’m not a huge fan of Earl Grey tea. The flavoring can be overpowering, and it’s hard to get the tea to brew strong enough, to compensate for the really powerful flavor. At the same time, as a class of teas, I think bergamot-flavor works better with tea than many others. Though I’m fond of vanilla flavored black teas, I will admit that they don’t always work well.

So, having said that. English Tea No. 1, is bergamot-flavored but, the base is comparatively strong. So we end up with a rich, strong tea with what is really just a hint of bergamot. The tea also takes milk better than other Earl Grey-type teas, which I consider a plus.

This is a winner, without question.

It’s also conveniently packaged (I was able to get foil wrapped bags) in a form that brews a good, large cup. In point of fact most of the remaining tea bags I have have found their way into my tea stash in my book bag, and are my choice “road tea.” Though I suspect that I’ve even begun to horde them in my own way, which is high recommendation indeed.

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tagged: tea

As part of the “putting things in order,” I’m doing some very rough budgeting and prioritizing of expenses and projects in my world. I’m looking for jobs and trying to figure out my needs and what not. Turns out this is hard stuff.

This is in part difficult because I’m a pretty frugal person, I’m low key, I get a lot of clothes second hand (there are some great local second hand shops). And when you think about knitting as an entertainment (which it is) the dollars to hours ratio is pretty good. Same with spinning, only potentially more so. Same with books and reading. And writing is, well free. And while I’m pretty up to date with what’s happening with technology, I have a 3+ year old computer, a 3 year old cell phone, a somewhat newer iPod (that I totally use constantly). Embarrassingly I don’t even have my own digital camera, and don’t seemed too inclined to get one, (I have a 20 year old film camera that I don’t use much though!) You get the picture.

As a sort of thought experiment, I made a list of “things I would buy if money were no object.” Not extravagances exactly, but all of the things that I’ve said in the last couple of years “you know it’d be nice if I had X.” I’m not going to list these things because that would be absurd, but it’s interesting to see what I listed. A surpassing number of things were I’d estimate 20 dollars or less, and at least 80% of the list were things that were 100 dollars or less. And most of these things are piddly like (a desk chair which is two inches taller–which I suspect doesn’t exist–and leans back a little, or a sippy-lid for a nalgene bottle.) These are things, that I mostly need to just drag myself to the store to get done–complicated only by the fact that I sort of hate shopping.

I think this would make me a lousy lottery winner. It’s really hard to spend a few million dollars on things under 100 dollars. Reminds me of Cory Doctorow’s story Other People’s Money (podcast here) a little.

I’ll write more about headphones in another post, but my writing headphones have been ill for the past six months or more. Their detatchable cord had been chewed by a certain long dog and while this didn’t ruin the cord, it did hasten it’s demise. As I said the cord was detachable, which lead me to believe that it was also replaceable. Unfortunately, the manufacturer used a non-standard attachment size–not the connector which was perfectly standard, but the end was a bit smaller than the generic cords.

So I had this very nice set of headphones, and no way to reliably plug them in, and I had given up on them, and had convinced myself to ask for them as a birthday gift (Next Monday). As I started to do some research looking for the right replacement pair I became confused and disgruntled (reading the musing of audiophiles often does this to me). So in frustration I was finally driven to take a blade to one of the ends of a mini-stereo cord. and… Lo and behold, I was able to make it fit without compromising function.

Ergo. Good as new headphones. In fact, better than new headphones, as the cord I have now is thicker and not broken and therefore more conductive, so the sound is noticeably better. I’m happy. On the downside I don’t have a clue what I want for my birthday now. Sigh.

I hope you’re having a good day. My presence here will be sporadic over the next several days, but I think I should be able to keep in touch.

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tagged: journal • observations

Egad, I’ve not gone this long without posting in a long time.

I’m well, worry not kind readers. I’ve been dealing with family stuff, and some sort of lingering cold for the past week and haven’t had enough time all in one place to get much knitting or spinning done, let alone writing.

I’m also aware that I’m starting a summer work contract for the second year in a row with the same place. And about the time I started last year, I started this website. Even though I’ve been blogging a long time, and I’ve folded in old archives into this site, in a very real way, we’re pretty close to an anniversary. Not quite yet, because a year ago (almost exactly) I was busy graduating from college. And I started the job sometime in mid/late june. But anyway. Yes.

Also my birthday is in a week. I’ve not prepared myself from this. Yes

I can safely report:

• I have seen my new cat-to-be-probably. It’s fuzzy. And splotchy. The mama-cat is long haired, but it’s unclear if the kitten will be as well. Very cute. Very social. Too soon to tell much more. Three more weeks till he comes home.

• I’m teaching a lot of knitting and what not in the next few weeks. Egad.

• I’ve knit about 7 inches (including ribbing) of the Latvian Dreaming Sweater. It’s slow going. I’ve not been able to concentrate on it very much.

• I’ve been listening to a lot of podcasts of late and have found this to be productive.

• I really need to clean my office. That’s the project for tomorrow.

• The morris dance ale is soon, I am excited.

Excitement.

I’ll be more coherent later, likely as not.

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tagged: journal