So here I am typing away on Focused. Focused is a compact adobe air app that blanks your screen and provides you an area to type on. Enabling you to stay ‘focussed’ on what you are writing, with no distractions. It has basic settings which allow you to choose the area on which to type and the font used.

The idea is similar to other desktop apps that are available. The same can be obtained in most word processor apps by clicking on the full screen option, and you’d still retain all the bells and whistles associated with your particular flavour of bloatware.

Are there advantages to focused?

• Well it is a tiny app.
• It is quick and easy to launch
• It does what it sets out to do
• It will help you learn to spell correctly

the disadvantages?

• The opposite of the above

I’m going to keep it installed and see how it goes for the next few weeks. The big question for me is whether or not I’ll actually bother to open the app. Having said that, white, or just off white, text on a black screen is very, very cool.

You can try it out here

The reason ‘to do’ lists are helpful in planning what you need to do, is their simplicity. All you need is a piece of paper and something to write with. You write what you need to do on the paper and then tick or cross it off once it’s completed. The reason many software based ‘to do’ list solutions aren’t, is because they are over-complicated. They are great if you want to procrastinate for hours adding items to them, but that rather defeats the object.

Now I often fall into that later category, so I was very pleased to find out about MiniTask, an Adobe AIR based widget, to sit on the desktop of your computer (MAC or PC becasue it is AIR). It’s strength is its simplicity, just like pen and paper, you simply list what you have to do and then do them… mmm, now how do I procrastinate.

MiniTask has a few additional features to pen and paper but they don’t get in the way of the simplicity of it. And the website is possibly one of the best in terms of telling you what MiniTask is, what it can do and how to get it up and running. Don’t belive me, then follow the link… and be creative.

MiniTask – Minimalist task management – Flash Player Installation

Writing, art and music are three staple areas of creativity. There are plenty more but these three will often come out if you ask people what areas of creativity they are involved in. With this in mind I thought what tools are available to help people in these areas. In fact what software is available, and then, taking it a little further, what free software is there?

So I present to you the three pieces of software that IMHO are the three best, free programs for creative writing, digital art and making music. These are all available as Windows programs, and these are the ones I have used and tried, so if anyone want some add some MAC programs then please do.

Free writing software
When it comes to creative writing the best piece of software out there is the wonderful yWriter. A beautiful database that has been pulled together by a writer for his own use and shared with the whole world. The software is currently up to its fourth incarnation and allows you to create characters, scenes, chapters, notes and so on… there is far too much functionality to list here. It is far better than any other writing software package I have seen. if you want to write that novel, then yWriter is for you.
yWriter

Free art software
When it comes to free image software there is only one name to bother with. The open source Gimp project is photoshop on a budget. A budget that is so small it costs nothing. So you may think becasue it is free that it isn’t as good. Well it doesn’t come with all, the bells and whistles, but then that also means you don’t spend a whole day trying to work out why you can’t add a gradient fill to a shape (yeah, okay I used the manual in the end). The point is the Gimp gives you all and more than you may need. It is powerful and extendable. If you want to make some creative computer art then start here.
Gimp

Free music software
Again as above, when it comes to recording some music Audacity is in a world of its own. This is pro powered software. It will let you create loop-based music or record your own from scratch. It is extendable with plug-ins, of which there are many, and is so simple to use it is frightening.
Audacity

I do want to add an almost free package here. Well, it is free although technically you need to buy a magazine to get it. Computer Music magazine has been giving away a free music creation software suite of programs for several years now and it is fantastic. It can handle audio just like audacity but it is also a fully fledged VST (virtual intruments and effects) player and sequencer. In fact it comes with its own drum machine, sampler and effects. You can order a copy of the magazine, enjoy the content and ads and then fire up the superb music software. It even runs from a USB stick if you really want it to.
Computer Music

I hope you enjoy… go and create.

The creators of some of the best virtual instruments on the planet are making available, for free, their kore player. This is both a stand-alone and VST instrument. It comes with some basic sounds but is also expandable by buying Kore Soundpacks.

Personally I love Native Instruments, I already use their Xpress keyboards and this new addition looks set to add firepower to my virtual arsenal… now all I need is the musical inspiration; time to look up Eno and his Oblique Strategies.

NATIVE INSTRUMENTS : Products : Kore Line : KORE PLAYER

It happens to the best of us (me) and it can strike at any time. We don’t know what causes it to happen (well perhaps someone, somewhere, knows the reason but they are not telling the rest of us) and the resolution is often drastic. I am, of course, talking about a windows fatal error. Windows won’t load, it crashes, it gets stuck in endless loops. You follow all the rescue tutorials, (printed out from work as you now have no access to t’internet at home) use all the rescue disks, (even the installation disk that claims it will either rescue the OS or overwrite any corrupt files) but still no joy. When this happens there is only one thing to do… reinstall. Well this, as you may have guessed, has just happened to me. XP went AWOL and so I had to bite the bullet and say goodbye to a hard drive crammed with… actually a lot of rubbish, which leads to this post.

Having started the process of getting the family PC back in working order there were one or two things that I had to do, or think about, which could help us all in our creative journeys. So hold on tight and let’s take a look.

• Rip it up and start again. Sometime what you have isn’t working, we shouldn’t be afraid to simply let it go and say ‘bye, bye’, however long we have been working on it. If it isn’t working, sometimes it needs to be thrown out.
• Reassess what you have. My PC was full of many programs that I really didn’t use. They had been loaded with the intention of using them ‘someday’. Although diversity is needed within creativity it can sometimes hinder. Too much choice is as damaging as too little. So, do you really need to ‘waste’ time deciding the medium for your creativity?
• Do you really need it. Similar to above but more of a ‘clear your head’ attitude here. I had backed up certain files and folders but not everything. A reinstall would mean that I would lose anything that wasn’t backed up. There were one or two things that I would need to work on again but… there was a lot of junk and clutter that was simply sitting there, gathering dust and clogging the creative cogs.
• If you need it, keep it safe. We all know we should back-up the important pieces of work we do, but how often and how well do we do it? If you are a writer do you have your work in hard and soft copy and in several locations should one be destroyed? If you are a painter where are your canvases kept, are they safe from fire, flood and theft? Of course, we are limited by our resources but we should be as careful as we can be, or afford to be.

Well, I am going back to reinstalling the software that I do need, speak soon.

PS Yes I know I could also do the following:

• Use a different OS
• Not change the file system from FAT 32 to NTFS without reading all the small print
• Stick to pencil and paper

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Well, not quite but that does sound very good and I’d like to promote this piece of software as much as possible. If you take a look at this previous post, you’ll see that I think Launchy is a great little application. The peeps who put this together have now upgraded the software and a new version is out and ready to aid you in your journey to ‘creative zendom’.

Take a look yourself and I’m sure you’ll find this application a tremendous boost to making PC work much easier.

Launchy.

One of the frustrations with working creatively on a PC is the time it takes to move from an idea to creating with a specific application. It is far too easy (OK, I am talking windows here) to have an idea and then stumble around trying to find the application to use.

One solution is to have your desktop covered with shortcuts. However, I am a firm believer in Desktop Zen. My PC desktop has nothing on it at all and my sidebar is on auto hide. Less distractions equal more creative productivity, for me. Another option is to create special toolbars for those creative moments. I have used this for a while. A toolbar for web design apps, a toolbar for graphic apps and so on – as you can see I collect applications, [which could be an issue to deal with in the future.] The problem with this, and also the basic structure of Windows, is ‘where will the app I want be?’ Do I go start> all programs> or do I go toolbar> web>? Then the question is how have I labeled the shortcut? Where is Paint Shop Pro? Is it under graphics, Paint Shop Pro or Jasc Software? All of these, minor distractions and irritations, can hinder my creativity… until now.

Enter Launchy. I was skeptical when I first read about this wonderful little application. Basically it is a little, free Windows utility, that lets you forget about shortcuts, toolbars and start menus. It has a small memory footprint and sits silently in the background until you need an application.

Case study: I have an idea for an image and need to fire up Paint Shop Pro. Previously I would have been struggling to remember where it was and how to get it. Now I simply hit the alt and spacebar at the same (ish) time and up pops launchy. Then I start to type. By the time I have typed P-A-I for Paint Shop Pro, it has found the icon, and by pressing enter the program is firing up.

I think this is one of the best ‘free’ applications around, and ideal for creative types. So take a look at the website and see how this amazing simple program could help with your creative inspiration.

You can find out more here

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There is an old adage that says nothing in life is free. Well that isn’t true for the above. As I start out on Nanowrimo all the planning for this month of self-punishment has been done in yWriter a wonderful piece of free software, from Simon Haynes, who has also written some published novels using this very same software. Designed by Simon specifially to be used for writing – by a writer for a writer – yWriter is really great.

It takes a while to get used to, the GUI isn’t the most pleasant and it is obviously for the more literary minded, don’t expect stunning landscape vistas to inspire you as you type away. I have had to restart several projects as I learnt to use the program by clicking and typing (yeah OK, I should have read the online help, but hey, who does?) but even though these are negative points the software does work, is very functional and is perfect for planning that novel… and writing it too. But it never claimed anything other than being a functional piece of software.

So, if you need something that will keep, organise and develop your ideas then check out yWriter, surely one of the best pieces of free software out there.