Tools I Use: The Process

I have a full-blown process in place and I use this process daily to write.  Specifically, to write the other blog and to work on growing it. 

1. Get up and write my 3 pages per day.  Keep a separate notebook handy.
2. Whenever I get an idea that pertains to the blog (I get a lot, it seems), write it down.
3. When I'm done with my 3 pages, sit down at my computer and start working on "the list".  

Here's an example of yesterday's list.  I don't get too worked up whether I finish everything or not, and some of them are just ideas that I may dismiss later.

• Mom's canning story (work on it)
• Neptune Society (add a link to it from the blog)
• Reply to comments personally
• Story about how much I cuss and how much mom hated it
• add a "coming soon" widget to the blog
• Another story idea about ALS
• Email mom's ALS coordinator about the site and about resources (oh, and about mom's suction machine)
• set up a donation link on the site for the ALS Association
• Email a guy at work about a thing
• Buy some blue pens and a digital voice recorder
• check messages at "PatientsLikeMe.com"

Each day, I add to the list.  Some days I actually accomplish everything, then it's time to go back through the lists and do those things I didn't get to before.  Sometimes stuff just falls off my radar, or is an idea that is so uninspiring that eventually I just don't do it.

Tools I Use: 2 (This is a Double Feature!)

The first tool is really just a personal preference.  I mean, all I'm talking about is a pen.  But I do love this pen.  It is balanced, sturdy, fits in my hand well, and I love the ink.
See, I hate despise pens that don't put out enough ink.  Then it feels more like you are etching words onto slate rather than writing smoothly.  Scratch, scratch, scratch.  And then the words are all spotty and pale and completely lacking authority.  All that scratching makes me pissy, too.  The sound of it is like, yes, fingernails on a chalkboard. 
On the other hand, a pen that produces too much ink makes your handwriting look like that of an addled junkie.  It looks like you may've paused too long mid-word, maybe taken a bong-hit, and just let the ink leak out of your pen with absolutely no guidance.  Hey guess what, the freebasing freelancer character (totally NOT referring to Hunter S. Thompson, specifically) is so 60s!  I like my handwriting to be at least legible, if nonsensical.  I can't have my journals looking like a vast collection of ransom notes and drug-induced poetry, even if they are.
I finally found the perfect pen.  It's the uni-ball Jetstream (I opt for the 1.0). If you want to write nicely, check out that pen.  Now, if you want to write well, check out Tool # 2 of this post!

Admittedly, the first tool in this review is probably "not all that important" to some.  It might seem pretty trivial.  So, along with the "not all that important" Tool I Use, I'm going to sing the high praises of a tool I discovered two years ago and am still using.
It is "The Artist's Way" by Julia Cameron.  This book changed my life.  God, I'm like a freakin' jumble of advertising snippets and cliches today, huh?  I had a couple of false starts with this book, but then really worked through it when I was also training for the miracle marathon.  By working through the book, I learned the value of writing daily, and writing through anything.  If you are remotely interested in writing as a career, get the book and work through it.  If you are not interested in writing as a career but are thinking of "doing something new" with your life, the exercises can inspire you.  Since finishing the book I've also finished writing the first draft of a book, I've continued writing every day (with some lapses), and have completed several short stories.  Oddly, the exercise has me reading like you wouldn't believe.  I've read a lot of books over the last two years.