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Digital Tools for 2021

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Happy New Year! Or maybe not so happy. I do allow myself some cautious optimism for 2021 even though Denmark is currently in another lockdown because of Covid. I’m currently sitting at the small kitchen table in our three bedroom apartment, while my wife and kids occupy the other rooms, each with their own laptop and online work schedule. My workflow has certainly also changed in the last year and it wouldn’t have been possible without some of these awesome digital tools:

Simplenote – notes on the go

I’ve had severe problems with the Notes app on my iPhone and mac. Syncing issues, where the note I just wrote disapeared, all notes gone after an ios update, stuff like that. I spent hours trying to troubleshoot, no dice. So instead I bought Simplenote, which syncs across all platforms and should my phone or mac ever crash, I can just log in from any device with my email and password and all notes are there in the latest version. Simplenote also allows for tags so it’s easy to find story ideas, recipes, contacts or whatever you decide to put in.

https://simplenote.com/

Tripit – plane travel made easy

This tool may not be the most needed during a pandemic and various lockdowns. But keep it in mind when the World hopefully returns to some sort of normalcy. Tripit is a travel app that collects your flight info in one place, letting you easily access time, flight number and the most basic info. After a quick and free setup, forward the email with your flight itiniary to pIans@tripit.com and within seconds it’s nicely organized within the app on your phone. No more frantically searching your inbox for your ticket, no more scrolling through seven pages of terms and condition to find the flight number. really a time saver.

https://www.tripit.com/web

Savefrom.net – simple YouTube downloader

I’ve recently used movie clips for educational purposes and YouTube is without a doubt the best place to search for stuff like that. There are also a lot of royalty free stock footage on the platform. But how do you get it out of YouTube and onto your computer so you can edit? Simple: Use this free YouTube downloader. Just paste the url and click download.

https://en.savefrom.net/18/

Editframe – the podcaster’s new best friend

This I use for uploading podcast episodes to YouTube. I’ve spent fruitless hours looking for an audiowave effect to add some movement to the episodes as a thumbnail picture is just not that interesting to look at for an hour. Editframe can create movies and social media clips with the effect over a thumbnail, audio and video. Really simple editor, very intuitive and free to try. I look forward to using this in the future rather than opening up iMovie every time I need to edit something small for Instagram or YouTube.

https://editframe.com/

StreamYard – streaming and online meetings made easy

This is another new service I signed up for because of Covid. It’s basically a home studio setup that can stream directly to your Facebook page. You can invite guests, add your logo (with the paid monthly subscription) and save videos of every stream for later use. Neither you or your guests need to install anything as it is all web based. Simple, intuitive and super functional for online events and meetings.

https://streamyard.com/

Auphonic – audio editing for dummies

For someone who edits his own podcast, I must admit my skill in sound design is sorely lacking. That wavy, squiggly line scares the crap out of me, I have no idea about room tone, noise reduction or audio levels. But thanks to Auphonic I don’t need to! This free (up to 2 hours of audio a month) service fixes all that automatically. I just upload my file and it makes it better. I have no idea how, I just now it works. And if I need more hours I can top off with my credit card (currently $12 for an extra 5 hours, $22 for 10) – no recurring fee.

http://auphonic.com/

Streaks – rock-solid habit builder

Streaks is basically just a habit tracking app. Plenty of those around but this one ensured that I did daily exercise for over a year now. Started just doing a few push-ups and kept at it, because I was reminded daily. You can set up any habit and frequence. The app doesn’t completely replace good old fashioned discipline, as you can obviously just mark it “done” with no fear of repercussions, but it’s worked for me. Much more than I had anticipated.

https://streaksapp.com/

I also cannot make a list of digital tools without mentioning Dropbox, which makes sure I have access to all files on all devices. I save everything in there and I truly love the service.

What are some of your favorite digital tools? Let us know in the comments!

Tiny Habits and Baby Steps

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Hey, it’s a new year! Maybe you made a resolution that has to do with your creative craft, like write the script for your graphic novel or draw a page a day. A big goal, something to strive for! That’s the way to go, right?

Turns out 80% of new years resolutions fail by February.
There’s a better way to achieve your goals: Little habits, that can build skill and confidence over time. Small steps towards your big goal, instead of the big goal itself.
Making things a habit is a great way to get things done. Because a habit means it’s something you do without thinking about it. The more you rely on inspiration for your creativity, the less likely you are to be creative.
Being more creative is no different than trying to eat more healthy or getting fit. You need to make it super easy for yourself. Set the bar for success really low. Like “sit down at my desk and look at my comic every day for ten minutes.” You can do that, right? You don’t even have to work on it, just sit there. But I’ll bet you can’t helping doodling a little once you plant yourself in front of it. Maybe those ten minutes will turn into a good productive hour. Maybe not. The point is to set yourself up for success by lowering your expectations.
You also need to make it hard to fall into whatever traps you tend to fall into. I had a TV addiction once. I had this tiny little TV that fit inside my cupboard, so I coiled the antenna cable around it and put it in there. Every time I wanted to watch TV I had to pull it out from the cupboard, unwrangle the cable and plug it in. Bit of a hassle but totally doable. Here’s the thing; just making it a little harder to watch TV and putting the damn thing out of sight made me forget I had the option.
The same goes for Facebook. I deleted the app from my phone, so now I have to open the browser to check my feed. Again, totally doable. But you bet I go on Facebook a lot less since the app is no longer right there reminding me of it’s existence every time I look at my phone.
There are several apps for monitoring iPhone usage, I never tried any of them. I know the result would make me feel ashamed and miserable, even though my notifications are off and it’s always on silent. But we all check our phones more than we need to and it’s stealing precious time from us. Time we could spend flexing our creative muscles, even if just for a few minutes.
Waiting at the bus stop?
Instead of checking your phone, how about pulling out a small sketchbook and just draw what you see. Pick some small detail, like the window in the house across the street, the telephone pole or the old lady on the bench. Just look and notice the lines, understand the three dimensional object. Try to copy it on your notepad with as few lines as possible.
Bored on the train?
Draw one of your fellow passengers. Don’t judge your drawing, just make it. Then do another.
Standing in line at the post office?
Try to think of the main character in your story. What would he or she be thinking about right now, what would their posture be like, their look on the world around them.
There are many small things you can do that over time will move you towards your big goal. Try listing 3 things you can easily do, maybe a daily or a weekly thing. And then list 3 things you can easily stop doing, something that’s really taking you away from your goal. Commit to doing or not doing ONE of those things for a month, see if it sticks. If not, then maybe that strategy wasn’t built for you. You still have 5 other things to try out.

The Cost of Feeling Inspired

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Something I’ve been thinking about lately, is how much we as artists (in whatever media or form we work in) are dependent on our own mood and mindset to be prolific or even just get a little something done. Call it tenacity or grit or simply lying self talk that allows for us to continue working on something that the rest of the world deems useless. But what if you’re just not feeling inspired?

Here’s the thing: Inspiration is rare. It’s fleeting. You can’t sit around waiting for it, you’ll end up waiting forever!
So here is a list of things you may find helpful, to avoid having to rely on inspiration to be the driving force of your work:
Habit and routine
I have a studio space about a 15 minute bike ride from my house. So every day pretty much without fail, after I drop off my kids to school I just keep going. I’m already up and dressed and halfway to work. Well not quite, but you get the idea. The idea is this: I don’t have to debate myself of whether to stay in and watch Netflix or get to work. I just go. And having other people at the studio makes me feel slightly guilty for the occasional day off, I’m sure that is a factor as well.
Allocated time
And it needs to be time enough to actually make a dent in the work. This depends on the type of work of course. If I only have a few hours, there’s no way I’m going to get any writing done on that novel. I’ll just mindlessly scroll through the document, correct a spelling here or there but it doesn’t feel like progress. For me, I’m probably better off not even opening the document at all, since it always tend to leave me feeling like a s**tty writer.
Deadlines
The best thing you can do to make sure you have exactly the right time for the work, is for someone else to decide when they need it. You know of Parkinson’s Law? Basically it’s like this: “Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion”. So if you have a week to do something, that’s how long it will take. If you have a day however, you could probably do it in a day, whatever “it” is. Deadlines are a great way to beat the feeling like you need to be inspired, because you simply don’t have the time to sit around and wait for it.
Preparation
I can easily sit down and sketch a few pages if I already know what’s going to be happening on them, if I already made thumbnails or roughs. A blank page and no script? Not so easy. So mental preparation is in order. The same goes for tools of course. If you spend the first half hour looking for stuff you need and getting the canvas ready, there’s less time to do the actual work. As described in this post, the best productivity hack I can give you is decide the day before what to work on, so you can jump right in.
Shut up your inner critic
You know that voice in our head that tells us it’s a piece of crap we’re working on, that nobody would want it, it’s a waste of time? Yeah, not really helping, is it? Steven Pressfield calls it The Resistance, an almost metaphysical force trying to stop us from what we want and need to do. I sometimes manage to shut that voice up by listening to the same soundtrack over and over. Like telling my brain we are in work mode. I’ve also recently found that Synthwave really put’s me in the zone and makes me keep moving. If I’m drawing, I listen to audiobooks or podcasts, mostly to battle my anxiety/boredom/need-to-check-my-email-or-Facebook-every-5-minutes.
I’d love to know what works for you! Leave a comment below.