Also when I was young, I was really into writing stories. I wrote stories on my mother’s old blue Smith Corona type writer until she couldn’t stand the sound of the hammers smashing anymore and had to confiscate the thing. I went to summer school just so I could take the creative writing classes. When I got to college, my first year there I took creative writing, introduction to science fiction, greek mythology, and philosophy. Doesn’t sound like the kind of stuff a computer science major would be taking, does it? Sure, I also took Physics and Calculus and Linear Algebra and Discrete Math and a bunch of computer programming classes. I even ended up as a TA/exam proctor for a lower level computer science class.

As far back as I can remember, everyone expected me to go into computers. They certainly had good reason, I can say without ego that I’m incredibly good at what I do, among the best. I have presented at programming conferences, user groups, and written and co-written 14+ books on computer programming, some of which have ended up as dog-eared bibles on the desks of developers. Over the past 10 years, I have made it my goal to be among the top computer programmers in the world. So what’s the problem then? Why blog about this? The problem is that I have never been truly satisfied at any “day job” that I have ever had. Sure, there have been really great jobs, but even then those began to seem unsatisfying. I used to think it was because the job was getting boring (and sometimes it was).  But now I realize that there was a deeper cause to my unhappiness at work.

I didn’t want to work in a cubicle building stuffy, boring computer software all day long. Especially when it felt like there wasn’t a single creative step in the process of building this software. I wanted-needed- to build, create, let my mind free and imagine worlds and people and events that stimulated my imagination. The most fun I’ve ever had programming was when I was building MUDs (Multi User Dungeons/Dimensions) – big, expansive, text-based worlds that let players roam around and solve puzzles, complete quests, and kill things in classic “infocom” style. I got to use the creative and analytical sides of my brain at the same time.

This past October, I decided that I’d had enough. I was done being a computer programmer. I made the mental switch to believe in the old adage that I am not my job. I forced myself to admit that I was a writer and that I was merely paying the bills with my job as a computer programmer. I was no longer a programmer, but instead a writer who knows how to write computer software. It was amazing what a difference that simple change in perspective made on my life. I have been “present” more in my life in the past few months than I have in the past few years. Not only that, but I’ve got a short story coming out in a published anthology soon, I’m writing a few more stories for other anthologies, and I’m finally moving forward on my fantasy novel with real, measurable progress. It’s amazing what a difference a little change in perspective and priority can make.

Part of me mourns the loss of my previous identity. Part of me feels guilty every time I choose to ignore some blog post about a new piece of software. Part of me feels the tug of stress and anxiety when a new development tool or platform comes out. The old me, the one obsessed with being one of the best coders on the planet, would rush off and absorb this new technology to the exclusion of all else – family, friends, responsibilities, hygiene. Now, I feel the tug and am aware of the call but I don’t answer it. I have decided that I don’t need to obsess about my career as a software architect. I have decided that because I just don’t obsess anymore. I will still bust my ass for my employer and give them 100%, I just won’t spend my nights and weekends obsessing about every new thing that comes along.

I now know what makes me happy. I know what I need. I know who I am.

I am a writer, for all the good and bad that entails.

Delicious Facebook Stumble This Post

Have you ever been in the middle of the line at the grocery store and all of a sudden that plot device that gets your characters from point A to point B that’s been eluding you for weeks hits you like a ton of bricks? You promise that you’ll remember it but by the time you negotiate traffic to get all the way home, the magic cure-all solution to all your plot problems has vanished as quickly as it arrived.

Have you ever been at work and had this fantastic idea for a scene for your book and you wrote it down in a Word document at the office but forgot to put it on a flash drive to bring it home? Or worse, you resorted to emailing yourself ideas from your work email to your home email and your home mailbox is positively littered with subjects like “Dude, you need to remember this” or “IDEA!” ?

If this describes your life, then EverNote can fix your problems. When you’re done with this blog post, head to this link for a complete set of videos showing you the incredible power of this tool. EverNote has a web interface for viewing and creating notes, but its true power lies in its ability to synchronize notes you create from anywhere. You can create new notes from your iPhone, from your Windows machine, from your Mac, from the web, from a mobile phone that has web access. Every time you create a note it synchronizes that note and the next time you connect any of your EverNote devices, they’ll get the notes you created. This makes it so that you will never lose an inspiring thought ever again. EverNote lets you record a voice note which is great for dictating some narrative that is just too painful to write on an iPhone or mobile phone keyboard. You can also take snapshots and upload existing pictures from iPhones or any of your computers.

Based on the volume of notes that I create, most writers can probably get by using the free EverNote account. If you want to allow other people to share your notebooks, edit/contribute to shared notes, or you want to be able to upload larger attachments then you can pay $4/month or $45/year.

Bottom line is that ever since I started using EverNote, I haven’t lost a single middle-of-the-night inspiration or awesome location inspiration picture or great new grocery-store-express-lane book idea. I highly recommend that any writer take a look at this tool. It is absolutely, hands-down, the most important writing tool I have after my brain and my computer.

Delicious Facebook Stumble This Post