Every author needs an APE

If you are writing a book, you need Guy Kawasaki's how-to book APE (Author, Publisher, Entrepreneur).

APE will help you get your book written, finished, published, and read.

I've written about APE several times before, but it deserves another mention. It is that good.

Time is short

I don't feel like doing much blogging for a while. I am having a strong urge to withdraw from social media, blogging, writing, yoga, photography, filmmaking... in short, everything that normally energizes and interests me.

I'm not sure what caused this feeling. It began after a lifelong friend was hospitalized in a local long-term care facility.

The facility is probably one of the best in the country. The staff is skilled, caring and mostly young. The patients are mostly elderly. Many are alert, but a few spend their days slumped in their wheelchairs staring into the distance. Most of the people spend their days doing things like playing bingo, going to Sunday church services, or attending chair yoga class.

I live in a small semi-rural community. Often when I visit, I see someone I know from the community who is now in a wheelchair.

None of them planned on ending up here. Had you told them two years ago that they'd be in these wheelchairs today, they would have scoffed at the idea.

Some are younger than I. I look at them and think, "That could be me in 3 months."

An 84 year old friend listened to this story, and replied: "Time is short!"

Yoga and health after 60

 

Image from Iyengar Hatha Yoga Center of Hawaii - Manoa Yoga Centerwww.manoayoga.com

'I don’t consider fifty as old. Over sixty, the life energy begins to decline and it is important to use the skills and intellect to counteract this decline in life energy. This energy is very sensitive and when it detects a weakness it (Flows less?) and the body quickly becomes stiff and weak.' --I remember reading this somewhere I think it was in BKS Iyengar's book, Light on Yoga.

For someone over sixty, health is a much deeper and more complicated issue than “fitness” and “weight. It is the very flow of life itself. 

As Iyengar said, it is very important for someone over sixty to use intellect and skills to stay healthy. The body/mind detects weakness in bio-life energy and reacts accordingly by further restricting this energy.

This may be why an hour a day of gentle yoga can make such a profound difference in health after sixty.

Repost gives publishers a way to repost articles

One-Liner Pitch: Repost.Us helps publishers share and embed complete articles on the web, including the original publisher's advertising and branding.
Why It's Taking Off: The startup aims to make it as easy for publishers to share complete articles as YouTube makes it to share videos.

Mashable link to Repost.us is here.

2013 Pulitzers

The 2013 Pulitzer Prize winners and finalists (via The Press Democrat)

Published: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 3:17 p.m. Last Modified: Monday, April 15, 2013 at 3:17 p.m. JOURNALISM Public Service: The Sun Sentinel, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., for its well documented investigation of off-duty police officers who recklessly speed and endanger the lives of citizens, leading to…

Recording and transcribing Skype calls on a PC (for writers)

Long post on recording skype audio on a PC. Links at end.

I have used Skype for interviews for the last three years. I use it for both straight interviews, and for ghostwriting gigs. (Ghostwriting *requires* that I record interviews. I need good recordings to listen to and transcribe, to be able to write a piece in someone else's voice.) 

Choosing proper audio recording tools is especially important (and difficult) for me, because I have serious hearing loss. Without high quality, reliable recording tools, I can't work.

The best tool I have found for recording Skype calls on the PC is a paid program called Callburner. 

(Mac is a different world. From what my friends tell me, the Mac has simple, elegant handling of audio.)

I have tried several of the free Skype recording tools, but none of them are reliable enough for professional use. One "free" tool erased my past recordings! Other free tools crashed frequently.

The Callburner  developer really understands the (fracked up) Windows and PC audio environment. He built Callburner to be both stable and useful.

There are three other components necessary for recording/transcribing.

1. Audio playback software.

Until very recently, I just used the PC version of iTunes. The lastest release of iTunes changed the user interface (they simplified things!) after the change, I find it almost useless for transcriptions. In the past I have also used  other pgrograms for audio including: Audacity (quirky, easy to forget user interface, but reliable and free) and Cakewalk (reliable, simple user interface).

2. A foot pedal that will work with your system.

Use it to start and stop the playback as you transcribe. (I haven't found a good footpedal setup for Skype-pc yet.)

3. A good headset with microphone.

Choose a good Logitech combo from the recommended units on the Skype site.

Another transcription option I've used is to just send an MP3 file to a professional online transcription service. This is fast and reliable, but I don't get the 'gestalt'' of the interview the way I do if transcribe it myself.

Links:

Callburner

http://www.callburner.com/

Audacity
http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/windows

Cakewalk
http://www.cakewalk.com/

Headset and microphone
http://shop.skype.com/headsets/

Bonus link:
This web based tool for transcribing looks like it might overcome need for foot-pedal (Disclaimer: I have not used this tool yet)
http://transcribe.wreally.com/

Avoiding El Bujiazo--the spark plug crime

Avoiding El Bujiazo, or 'Why to spend your first night in Lima at a hotel with its own airport shuttle and skilled, street-savvy drivers.'

After spending two weeks in the Amazon jungle, I was thinking only of a hot shower when we landed in Lima. The driver from our hotel met us inside the airport. He held a sign displaying the name of our group leader. Like the rest of the staff at our hotel, he was a professional, distinguished looking gentleman of fifty or so dressed in a suit. He greeted us warmly then escorted the group to a new shuttle van in the parking lot outside the Lima airport. After stacking the luggage in the back of the van, and getting everyone seated we left the airport for the hotel.

We were about five minutes away from the airport when the driver noticed that two of the women in our group held their hand bags in their lap. He got very excited and said, "On floor! Purse and backpack on floor!"  The women quickly stuffed their purses under their feet, and we drove the rest of the way to the hotel in silence. All the way there I wondered what upset this competent, distinguished man. What was he worried about? Why was everyone telling me "purses and backpacks on the floor or in the trunk!"

When I got home, I went online to find out why the driver got so excited. The crime is called El Bujiazo. A thief runs up to a car when it is stopped or moving slowly in traffic. He strikes a window sharply with a spark plug, shattering the safety glass. He reaches inside to grab a purse, then runs away and disappears into the city.

There are a dozen YouTube videos of the crime online. One popular short video was taken from inside the car as the window shatters.