Fire Up Your Creative Productivity - With Your Phone!
I never knew my cell phone would
become such an important part of my life. I thought I would be texting and
searching the internet, catching up on facebook and twitter and using other
fun, playful aps, but I didn't realize it would actually help me with so many
of my writing adventures.
Here are ten ways you may use your cell phone as I do for writing purposes. Try one of these you don't currently use and please comment to share either a new way we may all use our phones OR let us know how you experiment with these ten ways to use your smart phone.
10 Ways to Use Your Phone to Write Articles, Top 10 Lists, How-to's, Poetry and More
- Listen to conversation being spoken around you. Eavesdrop to capture rich/true dialog using your note program.
- Take photos, especially those surprise images to write about later. Once you set the intention to be surprised visually, your eyes will begin to see more and more intriguing sights which will fuel your writing in surprising ways.
- Collect "jots" of writing in your notes program in three words or less... what you see, hear, smell, taste, touch, feel emotionally.
- Use your phone’s timer: Do timed stream of consciousness writing at any time in any space. Do timed writing with your note book while on a hike. Do timed writing on your laptop sitting in a coffee shop. Do timed writing directly into your smart phone.
- Keep a one sentence journal. At the end of the day, write a one sentence summary of either the entire day or whatever stand out event happened, even if it is “The intersection at Stockdale and California was more annoying than infomercials as I drove through it fourteen times today.” You may find juice in those words when you least expect it!
- Remember Haiku? It is the perfect form of micropoetry to use with your smart phone. It also helps to practice writing tweet sized, meaning and image filled sentences. Try it! Three “lines” – five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables. Go to twitter and search the hashtag #haiku for more inspiration.
- In your calendar note times (and set alarms!) for sunrises, sunsets or other "time attached" subjects. For example, an older slightly battered truck rolls by my house at about 6:40 a.m. daily. I consciously make a point to be out there so I can wave as I take notes. This truck and its driver has become a rich part of my writing life and we have never officially met.
- Take notes when people think you are texting. I recently did this at a birthday party where I didn’t know anyone. Since people are used to texting, in some circles this isn’t seen as rude. Be careful to not be totally oblivious to social nuances. Interaction at the party itself will also give you gems you can capture as you sit in your car before leaving or on the bus on the way home after the party is over.
- Create writing prompts from what you see. There is never, ever, EVER “nothing to write about!” Look around as you life and write into your phone… you may even tweet these short awarenesses. Examples: “The waitress with very red lipstick reminds me of…” (use later for a stream of consciousness prompt.) “I wonder where that old man at the bus stop is going?” (write later about traveling via bus, the elderly, your Grandpa) “The fallen tree at the side of the road calls me to prune my life of what doesn’t work.” (and later, write more.)
10. Write how-to articles. What technology do you suppose I used to write this one?
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