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Mac'ly speaking...
Sep. 24th, 2008 04:39 pmI'm really enjoying playing with the PowerBook that we've been loaned. It's a whole lot of fun to experiment and create without many of the irritating little issues that Windows tends to throw at me during the course of a work session. It's a bit like knitting with a hangnail - on the whole you can accomplish the task well, but every now and then, the wool snags the hangnail and OUCH!!! It reminds you why you occasionally feel the need to take up cardmaking instead...
Still, I know that one comment like that will have my entire f-list polarised into the two "Windows rocks!" and "Windows sucks!" camps, and obviously, never the twain shall meet. I'm not particularly interested in that, as I've always been a contrary little madam, and I like aspects of both, and nothing that anyone ever told me changed my mind. I'm an experiential sort of a gal.
Anyway, moving on... I'm enjoying the PowerBook tremendously, and GarageBand is *still* more fun than a box full of kittens. If I could just figure out a way to get vocals onto some of the tracks, I'd be even happier, but that would involve unplugging the Edirol from our main sound recording machine, and you can pretty much guarantee that if I start futzing with cabling, the whole thing will refuse to work ever again. So for now, I'll just stick to building backing tracks. It's still a lot of fun!
The keyboard on the PowerBook is particularly nice to use - really loose, clicky and soft, which is exactly how I like to type. This means that I am giving some serious thought to doing more creative writing on the mac than on the PC which is (a) mainly my work computer. However, I haven't found a good novel writing program for the Mac yet. I quite liked "WriteItNow" but the demo is disabled to the point where I don't want to put any amount of work into the program to test it because I can't save anything. I'd happily pay £30 for it, but I really want to try and see how it works first.
Any suggestions for things that you like? I'm particularly interested in programs that will allow me to plot timelines, character sketches, locations, inspirational poems/photos etc. in the same place so that research is easily retrieved within easy reach of the main writing window.
All suggestions gratefully received. I used yWriter for the PC, but am not particularly happy with it, as it isn't as instinctive as I'm used to, and it always takes me a few attempts to remember how to create a new chapter, by which time my plot bunny has hopped off into the vegetable patch and I'm left pulling my hair out.
I'm looking forwards to being able to take the PowerBook out to a coffee house somewhere and do some writing - perhaps during this year's NaNoWriMo, which I would *like* to be able to participate in (if my family can cope with the fallout in neglected housework and catering...). I just need to do it once, I suspect, so that I can feel like a "real writer" with my Macintosh in a coffee shop. Cool ;-)
Still, I know that one comment like that will have my entire f-list polarised into the two "Windows rocks!" and "Windows sucks!" camps, and obviously, never the twain shall meet. I'm not particularly interested in that, as I've always been a contrary little madam, and I like aspects of both, and nothing that anyone ever told me changed my mind. I'm an experiential sort of a gal.
Anyway, moving on... I'm enjoying the PowerBook tremendously, and GarageBand is *still* more fun than a box full of kittens. If I could just figure out a way to get vocals onto some of the tracks, I'd be even happier, but that would involve unplugging the Edirol from our main sound recording machine, and you can pretty much guarantee that if I start futzing with cabling, the whole thing will refuse to work ever again. So for now, I'll just stick to building backing tracks. It's still a lot of fun!
The keyboard on the PowerBook is particularly nice to use - really loose, clicky and soft, which is exactly how I like to type. This means that I am giving some serious thought to doing more creative writing on the mac than on the PC which is (a) mainly my work computer. However, I haven't found a good novel writing program for the Mac yet. I quite liked "WriteItNow" but the demo is disabled to the point where I don't want to put any amount of work into the program to test it because I can't save anything. I'd happily pay £30 for it, but I really want to try and see how it works first.
Any suggestions for things that you like? I'm particularly interested in programs that will allow me to plot timelines, character sketches, locations, inspirational poems/photos etc. in the same place so that research is easily retrieved within easy reach of the main writing window.
All suggestions gratefully received. I used yWriter for the PC, but am not particularly happy with it, as it isn't as instinctive as I'm used to, and it always takes me a few attempts to remember how to create a new chapter, by which time my plot bunny has hopped off into the vegetable patch and I'm left pulling my hair out.
I'm looking forwards to being able to take the PowerBook out to a coffee house somewhere and do some writing - perhaps during this year's NaNoWriMo, which I would *like* to be able to participate in (if my family can cope with the fallout in neglected housework and catering...). I just need to do it once, I suspect, so that I can feel like a "real writer" with my Macintosh in a coffee shop. Cool ;-)
