Category: Technology

In this last Blogifying post, I’ll deal with some of the ways I deal with inspiration, ideas, and concepts for this blog.

The essential idea in this post came from something Steven Furtick said on his blog the other day…

For now, keep your eyes open for every little piece of inspiration God gives you. And have a pen ready.

The inspiration we are given that we do not immediately record will likely be lost. We as writers need some kind of system to notate our ideas. Here is what I do.

1. Paper

I carry a Moleskine notebook with me wherever I go. I used to carry a different brand of notebook, but got the idea to check out Moleskines from Michael Hyatt. It is sturdy and just the right size to carry in my bag or in my Bible cover. I use it to write down all kinds of ideas, but when a blog post topic comes to mind, I label it as a “blog seed.” When I look for things to write about, I thumb through my Moleskine and pick up topics I have not yet covered.

2. Phone

There are a few apps on my iPhone that I use to record ideas. The most often used is Evernote. I love this app, and have versions of it on my iPhone, iMac, and my work laptop. All my notes, voice notes, web clips, archived emails… anything I put in it… are synced to all devices and the web. I set up a folder to hold “in progress” posts, and get a rough draft down as quickly as I can.

I also use Dragon Dictation. This app types what I say. I have written entire posts in my car just by saying them into my phone.

The WordPress app is wonderful. I can write, add photos, and publish entire posts from start to finish straight from my phone. I have done so a couple of times.

3. Whatever works.

If none of these means are available (rarely the case), I write things down on whatever is handy. I ALWAYS carry a pen (well, the only place I don’t carry a pen is the gym, for obvious reasons). I have grown to love my Uni-ball Jetstream RT, so I use it to write on anything I can find. I’ll write on my hand if necessary (ask people that know me – I often have pen on my left hand). Whatever it takes to NOT LOSE an idea.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

I’ve decided to blog about blogifying for a couple of posts.

Why blog about blogging?

Let me make this point very clearly: I am NOT an expert. I have been doing this for a while, but I am just learning. However, I have decided to document these processes because…

1. I consider this blog a type of online journal. I describe important events, outline milestones, and record thoughts and opinions that can be accessed for years to come. How all this came to be seemed, at least to some extent, noteworthy.

2. There are some people I know that have indicated they would like to get started in blogging, but are unsure how to proceed. I have made some missteps along the way, but I believe I have found a pretty good system and intend to stick with it for the foreseeable future. Maybe I can help people add to the society of ideas while avoiding the mistakes I made.

3. Another aspect of number 2. I truly consider this blog as a ministry, and would love to see others take advantage of blogging to further the distribution of the Gospel in particular and Christian living in general.

Mistakes

I have had Not a Camouflaged Soul on a couple different platforms before this one. I started out on Blogger. I was never pleased with the formatting of my text and the interface seemed clunky. Back then, I was without a reliable computer, so I was attempting to blog from my Samsung Blackjack. No matter what I tried, my posts never achieved a cohesive look.

The biggest leap occurred when I accidently posted a blog from iWeb on my brand new iMac from work. I had a MobileMe account, and one day I put together a basic website in iWeb and hit publish to see what it would do. As it turned out, my MobileMe subscription came with web hosting (much of my techy-ness comes from happy mistakes). I thought, “Hey, that’s neat!” So I started messing with it and found a template I really liked. Then I contacted Church Media Hosting to acquire my domain, and voilà: NoCamo version 1.0.

I got some really good traction out of that site, but I saw its limitations early on. The primary limitation was a big one: in order to update, I had to be physically at my iMac. I actually continued to use Blogger for a while as an instantly-updateable “iBlog.” I would run an RSS feed from Blogger to a page of the website for updates when I was on the road or when it wasn’t convenient to be at my Mac. Then, when I was able, I would update iWeb with my iBlog content to make it an “official” post.

Platform

Then, a few weeks ago, I got on WordPress just to look around. Apparently, I set up a profile some time ago and forgot about it. I got to looking around and realized it was what I was looking for.

I am a newly minted WordPress junkie. I love the interface, the tools, the reliability. I am able to update from any computer I choose, from my iPhone, even instantly add audio from any phone. Things I only dreamed of doing before.

Now, many of the über-bloggers I read, like John Saddington, Michael Hyatt, Carlos Whittaker, Scott Williams, and  Jonathan Acuff utilize a customizable, self-hosted version of WordPress that is tempting in many ways. But I feel that, at this time, I am content to live within the boundaries of the free version that requires virtually no upkeep. I just write the content and it looks great in spite of me!

In the weeks to come, I will likely do some more tweaking. Specifically, I plan to move my domain from 1.0 to 2.0. I am also considering a couple other custom options, but time will tell.

Next: why do I blog?