Finally decided to do something about the Windows Live Writer Dictionary myself. As I suspected the dictionary is just a text file that is available in other applications. So I found somewhere where I could download the British Dictionary and replaced the file.
The replaced file is ssceam.clx in c:\program files\windows live writer\dictionaries
Sorted.
No I can write colour and prioritise, honour and saviour without having to remember which is the right one.
Following on from my previous post “My working day & my blogging day” I thought I would tell you how I actually write a blog these days. I say “these days” because I am constantly looking to define my method so that it focusses the maximum amount of time on the post itself and the minimum amount of time on actually posting stuff.
It’s also fitting because the tool I use (Windows Live Writer) has just been updated.
I am currently using Windows Live Writer, I have previously used BlogJet but the process is similar in both. This blog is hosted on Typepad and Windows Live Writer has a configuration for my two blogs on there. I also have third configuration at the moment because I am working on the set-up of a wordpress blog for someone else.
So this is how I do it:
- When it comes to be time to write a blog I look in my hand written list of tasks for some of the blog ideas that I have written down.
- Mull over whether any of the ideas has reached a sufficient level of maturity for me to write it.
- Start Windows Live Writer
- Check that I am using the correct account for the post I am writing.
- Write the blog body. I sometimes include the links as I go along, but other times I find this distracting so do them at the end. Most posts include an emoticon or two for which I use a Writer plugin. I normally read each post through a couple of times.
- Create trackbacks. I always do trackbacks at the end.
- Select categories for the blog.
- Give the post a title.
- Create some Technorati tags. I used to use a plugin for this, but the new tag capabilities built into Writer do as good a job.
- Insert a Flickr image. I use the Flickr4Writer tool. When I upload images to flickr I give them all a tag “noblog”, when I use them in a blog I remove this tag. This lets me search for the images that I haven’t used in a blog yet.
- Click on publish.
- When the browser window with the published post comes up I click on the permalink link. I then copy the post’s URL and click on the Flickr image. I then put the post’s URL into the image’s description in flickr. This helps me know where I’ve used the image.
That’s it done, just like that. I try to spend most of my time on post creation, but some posts just don’t work out that way 
.
The new version of writer is a good step forward; I liked the previous version so perhaps I’m biased. It’s still lacking a proper English dictionary which I think is my only gripe at the moment, oh yes and the spell checker still doesn’t understand ‘words marked in single quotes’. I’d like it to highlight my spelling a grammar issues in the same way as Word does, but you can’t have everything for free.
(I’ve just noticed that Flickr4Writer has been updated since I last used it).
“If I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter” – T.S. Eliot
I like to think about how I can make the most of my time. This means that I regularly question why I do things in the order I do them to try and get more out of the time I have.
When I am working from home (which is most of the time at the moment) I find it’s vital to have something approaching a routine. The routine enables me to be focused, but I’m not so embedded in my routine that I can’t be flexible with it.
I thought others might be interested in my routine, so here it is:
- Breakfast
- Walk – I find that a walk in the morning wakes me up. It’s good for my brain and also good for my posture which isn’t great after 20 years sat in front of a computer.
- Quiet time – I listen to quiet music, read and relax. There is a sofa in my study which I use. I read from books during this time because the great thing about a reading a book is that you can’t flick to some other application while you are doing it. If I have thoughts about things I need to do during the day I will write them down so I don’t forget them, but I won’t do anything about them now.
- Blog reading – The tablet sits within reach of the sofa. While still sitting on the sofa I start FeedDemon and go through the blogs that have been written overnight. Because I live in the UK there are a load of blogs to catch up on. I sort of follow a GTD method for blog reading. I will scan read all of the blogs. Those that I think I might read later get flagged within FeedDemon, those that I think I will reference at some point in the future get posted to del.icio.us. Everything gets marked as read. I will make a note of things I am going to blog about if anything.
- Diary check – I check today and a few days further forward so I know what I need to get done.
- Check email – My role means that I get email all through the day and night. I don’t read email outside my working day so there are always ones to catch up on in the morning. Again, I follow a GTD type approach with anything being scan read. Everything that needs an action gets flagged and everything gets marked as read.
- Write task list – I write my task list out on a piece of paper. Physically writing each one makes me think about each one and how I am going to tackle it. The ones that I am going to do today get a star.
- Tasks and meetings – Having planned my day I will then on with tasks and meetings.
- 50 minute sit, 10 minute move – The day is split into chunks of work which involve sitting at a desk and others that involve moving around. This means that I don’t stiffen up too much, but it’s also good for my brain and makes me more alert when I am moving and also when a return from movement.
I’m not declaring any times because that’s my business and not yours , you can be sure that everyone gets what they are paying for.
tags: GTD, FeedDemon, del.icio.us, blog
I use two different site meters on this site:
I thought I would try them out and eventually pick one, but actually they both do different things.
Statcounter (for free) is limited to the details of the last 100 hits. This can be limiting, but the details are first rate.
Google Analytics keeps the details for far longer (don’t think I’ve found a limit), but is less appealing at the detailed level. The graphs and trends are far more useful because of the amount of data being retained.
Google Analytics maps use a flash map which when you zoom in, to see enough of the UK for it to be useful, also scales the font. This means that you can’t read what is in the text box. It’s quite interesting that the Statcounter details are far better, perhaps it’s because they use the Google maps API 
.
Keeping with Google Analytics, the ability to adjust the date range is great. It would be really nice if it remembered your last date range though.
Statcounter doesn’t have an ability to tell you absolute unique visitors in the same way as Google Analytics does. Nor does it have the ability to drill into the numbers.
I like both of them, and will keep both of them because they do different things.
tags: Statcounter, analytics, statistics
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