Here’s the best of the web that I’m using, reading, and writing from this last month:
Using:
Quest
A task manager that gives you new equipment and things as you level up, complete with glorious 8 bit graphics. Obviously not a replacement for Asana, but it works really well and I’m using it for grocery lists and around-the-house tasks. Currently iPhone only, sadly.
Cite
Cite does exactly what it says on the tin: you use it to share text as images on Twitter. Super seamless, easy to use, overall great experience. I only wish they integrated with Buffer, but apparently that’s not in their plans.
Also, if you have to parse Amazon KDP data on a regular basis, BookReport is great at helping you get actual usable data from it.
Reading + watching + sharing:
- Janelle Monáe Is Building a Music Empire That Will Spark ‘a Revolution in Your Head’
- How to design a workspace that’s good for you
- I’m totally doing this: Elle Luna: 100-Day Project. I’m doing 100 days of visual art (although I’ve missed a few days, I’m trying to keep truckin’!). If you want to follow along, here’s my Instagram. It’s not too late to join if you want!
- I’m very intrigued by this Kickstarter, & totally backed it: Betterback – Perfect Posture Effortlessly
- The 5 Most Common Mistakes New Freelancers Make – #2 should be a familiar one, since I harp on it all the time
- How to Unschedule your work and enjoy guilt-free play
- Life Lessons from a 40 Year Old Vine Star – an example of what can happen when you jump on a new platform (although of course it doesn’t hurt to have an existing audience)
- Semi-related: An example (from Austin Kleon) of an artist using Periscope to showcase her process. Interesting.
- The Fizzle guys (who are one of my favorite small biz resources out there, and one of the very few straight up business podcasts I listen to) did a six episode series on the stages of small business and what you can do in each stage to move into the next. First episode and notes here.
- If you’re into podcasts and feminism and sci-fi, this Stuff Mom Never Told You ep on if sci-fi can change the world is awesome. (And if those things are relevant to your interests, might I totally unbiased-ly share Worldslip with you?!)
- The Real Secret to Productivity
- Advanced Instagram Strategies – I don’t know if I’d call them all advanced (and some are shady, I hate it when articles throw in “buying followers” with legit tactics *eyeroll*) but there’s some good tips and apps here
- The Subtle Things, about the difference that make or break a user experience/product
- The best interface is no interface: why we don’t always need An App For That (I found the step by step of the car key app kind of eyeroll inducing, but otherwise it’s good food for thought)
- How To DIY A Super Cheap, Super Effective Writing Retreat
- A few things on Baltimore: pictures the TV isn’t showing you (and one that was shared, that wasn’t what it was said to be). Why things aren’t the same. Baltimore, Changing the World, and Why You Need to Just Accept That You Are Wrong.
Other media: Daredevil is amazing. That article above reminded me to listen to ArchAndroid from Janelle, which is also amazing. Matt and Kim’s new album (New Glow) is great for work, fun lighthearted danciness.
Writing:
On Bombchelle:
- Workflow Wednesday: The “six list” for prioritizing + organizing
- Monster recap: Nov/Dec 2014 + Q1 2015
- How to Manage Your Own Projects as a Freelancer
- Creating a business that’s not about business: a new podcast
Elsewhere:
- In case you missed it: Multipassionate Branding is now available as a self-study! (Okay, not quite writing, but kind of!)
- Over on Facebook, I went on a big rant about the responsibility that I feel like business owners have to not share crappy journalism, especially when it’s in regards to spreading misinformation about marginalized communities.
- How to scale your customer service (without losing the personal touch)
- 10 things you can do after you publish a piece
- Worldslip has kind of been put on hold so I can wrap the full-book edits and get it out. But there’s six chapters up now for you to read and the full Kindle book is coming soon! If dystopian urban fantasy with a snarky lady protagonist/narrator sounds up your alley, well by golly, go read it.
Behind the scenes sneak peek for things coming up:
All right, that’s it for this month. What about you? What did you read that you loved? Do anything fun? I’m working like a crazy person to get this dang novel done so that I can move on to working on the Kickstarter, eee!
Anddd if you enjoyed these links and you want to get more things like this, directly in your inbox, on a weekly basis, you can do that by signing up to the newsletter below or right here. Bonus: You get a ton of other free workbooks and business related goodies as well. See you in April!