Macinations

September 17, 2023

🖊️ A quick look at my writing workflow

Over the years I’ve worked with a huge number of writing tools whether they be editors or grammar tools and while I’m always willing to try something new, there are 5 main tools I use to take an idea and get it published: NoteList – This is where I store ideas and make outlines. I list the topics I’m interested in, make a rough outline of topics, and add links, and store notes. NoteList is simple, but effective in gathering research material and giving me the general structure of what I’m trying to say. The actual NoteList file is part of Scrivener, and sits in the Research folder, so it’s always available. No searching through folders, right-click, Open in External Editor. Scrivener – When it comes to writing, everything is done in Scrivener and it’s been that way for 8 years. My articles, my journals, my technical documentation, even emails of more than a couple sentences are all composed in […]

Mac 0 2 min read

September 10, 2023

🖊️ Scrivener and Markdown 📝

Since we’re on the topic of Markdown, let’s not forget that Scrivener, my absolute favorite writing tool, can handle Markdown no problem. No, it doesn’t have a preview button, nor does it have buttons or menu choices for adding the Markdown tags. You actually don’t need them. Write and format your document as you normally would, with bold, italic, citations, and tables, and then export the document to Markdown. That formatting gets converted to the correct Markdown codes. From the Scrivener website: This takes a rich text document and converts it all to MultiMarkdown syntax: bold, italics, footnotes, tables, lists, block quotes—the works. …simply tick a checkbox and have all of the rich text converted to MultiMarkdown during export. Markdown is part of the “Compile” function rather than the Export function you see on File – Export. Once in the Compile dialog, select the “Compile for:” option, and MultiMarkdown are displayed, along with a few variants. Under the Formats section, […]

Mac 0 1 min read

September 3, 2023

⌘ Creating “workspaces” with Keyboard Maestro

A workspace is a group of apps, files, and folders that open while working on a project. For example, when working with Katalon, I open Katalon, SnippetsLab, CodeRunner, the Reports folder in Finder, Stackoverflow in a browser, and the Katalon forums. When I work with Scrivener, I open PaperEdit, WordWeb, MWeb and WordPress. This gives me a consistent work environment and I don’t have to stop what I’m doing because an app wasn’t ready. When I’m done, everything closes without searching for each app or folder and closing it down. This is also the time to close down apps that might interrupt or derail my work, for example closing Messages, Slack, or Discord. A workspace is also good when you have to share your screen if you work remotely. This keeps your personal email notifications from popping up, iTunes from launching, and other distractions while you’re presenting information. People don’t need to see personal emails or see when a friend […]

Mac 0 2 min read

August 27, 2023

💬 Some fun with Comic Life 3 and AI images 🖼

I previously wrote of my adventures and amusement with Comic Life 3. I’ve also discussed toying around with AI image generator. So, what happens when you combine the two? Is it possible to make comics using AI image generation and the correct prompts? Simple answer is yes. The idea came from my kids who brought up Halloween where one wanted to be a zombie character. The other asked why not Spider-Man? Even though there is Venom, the answer was a simple, Spider-Man isn’t scary. Zombies are fun and scary. Spider-Man isn’t a zombie. But, could he be? Could you stretch the bounds for Halloween? I went to the AI generator to run a couple prompts through the processor. This set the wheels of imagination turning. The first result was basically a green Spider-Man, which was kinda cool, but not a zombie by any means. However, it was a bit Green Goblin-esque, maybe Riddler inspired, which sparked a story idea. After […]

Funny 0 5 min read

August 20, 2023

👨‍💻 A deeper look at MWeb Pro

Since I was referencing MWeb, and listed it as my tool of choice for Markdown, I thought it would be good to list some of its features. If you’re heavy into Markdown, and using a Mac, this is a serious tool to get. MWeb is a full-featured word processor that handles long documents or short notes. I’ve made the comment before, it’s similar to Ulysses, but without the huge subscription fees. At the $20, one-time fee, it’s a powerful editor at a very reasonable price. The first feature to look at is MWeb’s Library. It’s similar to Scrivener’s binder, allowing you to have multiple folders with multiple documents inside. You can organize further with nested folders. This lets you make categories, then subcategories, and additional subcategories inside of those. Mimic a folder structure, web site headings, or class topics so you know where everything is. This is pretty much a standard for Mac, so it’s not a big deal to […]

Mac 0 4 min read

🖊️ A quick look at my writing workflow

🖊️ Scrivener and Markdown 📝

⌘ Creating “workspaces” with Keyboard Maestro

💬 Some fun with Comic Life 3 and AI images 🖼

👨‍💻 A deeper look at MWeb Pro

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