This might be a long post.
I've been in an organizing frenzy in 2019. A lot of it had to do with a resolution I made in late 2018; some of it has to do with the deaths of two immeasurably important males in my life, five days apart, in February. Whatever the reason, I am more organized today than I've been in twenty years. Easily. But the fact is, I have only begun to scratch the surface.
Which brings me to the intent of this post: the topic of getting my fanfiction act together.
I also resolved in late 2018 (and 2017, and 2016 and 2015, but who's keeping track) to write more in 2019. I committed to getting back to the business of writing fanfiction, of re-examining (or further examining) my zeal for the fandoms I write for, and improving my writing. I am feeling like I've failed on all fronts. I managed to post birthday fics in January for two of my favorite characters, but missed Valentine's Day and am in danger of missing Chouza's birthday on the 22nd. I recognize my need for reinforcements.
I purchased a premium subscription to Evernote in late 2017, with the intent of using the tool to support my writing. Well, using it supports my journaling habit, but that's about it. Now, for what I pay to use the premium account, that is unacceptable. Evernote's challenges are:
-- a static and dated UI
-- inadequate API support from other apps
-- a crappy selection of templates
-- no relational database capability
-- no ability to back up data to a personal GDrive/OneDrive/Dropbox account (which ties in to the lack of sufficient API support from other apps)
-- quirky app functionality
That stated -- when I first got my Evernote account, I was elated. I thought it was the bee's knees! I have since come to the conclusion that Evernote, while becoming a thing in 2008, feels stuck in 2015. Meanwhile, other note-taking and task-tracking apps have come along and blown Evernote's status as an industry standard to pieces.
This year I discovered a project management app called Notion. I was fascinated by the way Notion could be customized. Notion has a free account tier, so I signed up for it. After playing around with it, I ultimately upgraded to a premium account -- and promptly began dumping my life into it. This is some of the stuff I can do with Notion that I can't do with Evernote:
-- create a database relationship between journal entries and tasks in a spreadsheet. Folks, my method of planning is to write out my thoughts. I can usually figure out what needs to be done from it, and those tasks are then committed to a to-do list. I've been using Microsoft To-Do to track those items. Unfortunately, that app is wanting too: there's no way for me to review the things I got done; I check them off the list and they go away. I don't even know where to find the archive of the list! In Notion, I write out my journal for the day, then commit any tasks from that journal to a To-Do table in Notion that I can then link to the journal entry for the day. So when I want to know what I got done for that day, I only have to check the journal entry to review the list.
-- use the app in dark mode. Dark mode should be implemented everywhere on the web. It's an eyesight-saver for sure.
-- Add emojis, art, graphics, photos and icons to each page. I can see my favorite images on all the pages. How's that for customization?
-- Change the color of the font and the background of a phrase, quote or sentence.
-- fashion an Instagram-style page. I've always wanted an Instagram, but because I believe that Mark Zuckerberg is Beelzebub himself, I've never had one. Thanks to Notion, however, I have created an Instagram-style page from Notion's gallery template, and use it to post photos I've taken with my Google smartphone. Score!
-- Create a parent-child relationship to infinity with pages. My personal section is the parent to the writing section, which is the parent to the sandbox, which is the parent to the ideas page, and so forth and so on. I could go deeper. That's a handy capability!
I could go on, but you get the idea.
So while I have migrated much of what I keep in Evernote to my Notion account, I have yet to bring over my fanfiction notebook from Evernote, and with good reason. My notebook is packed with artifacts, and if I want them to really be useful, I need to bring them into Notion in organized fashion -- which means I need a plan. I have drafted a hierarchy of pages and sub-pages. But what's kept me from bringing over the notebook was this: I found Notion to be such a comprehensive solution to my needs that I couldn't help but wonder if there was a viable rival in the midst that I'd yet to discover.
I've been evaluating the free tier of project management apps this year, searching for one that even comes close to Notion. Pleasingly, I found a couple.
PODIOPodio is an online collaboration space for teams -- small teams, if you ask me. It has a modular customizable UI and great features. It boasts a free tier with a 500-item limit and a 10MB file upload limit. It's ideal for fanfic writers UNLIKE MYSELF who team up with other writers on fanfiction efforts. It can also be practical for lone wolves LIKE MYSELF who need to be more organized in their fanfiction writing efforts, or writing efforts in general. Or life, in general -- Podio has lots of practical features, known as apps, to support non-work, non-project, general personal productivity and organization.
PODIO TIPS:
-- The Podio app comes with a Podio App Market, and Podio's accounts come with a Demo Workspace where apps from the App Market can be installed to try out. Do this!
-- Create a personal workspace for items such as Notes (journal), Wish List, Inspiration (Instagram-style gallery page), appointments and ideas.
-- Create a home workspace for items such as home-related inventory, appointments, goals, wish list, inspiration and tasks (also known as the Honey-do List).
-- Create a fanfiction workspace for items such as projects (works in progress), Inspiration (Instagram-style gallery page), ideas, Library, Notes (journal), quarterly goals, editorial calendar, milestones, action items, favorite authors, and a link library, such as for favorite works of fanfiction
FREEDCAMPFreedcamp is an online productivity tool for those who can't afford to use the pricier sites. It's also superb for singletons and freelancers. The UI is without, and the features are basic. But it's got Zapier API support, add-ons for GDrive/OneDrive/Dropbox integration, and like Podio, accommodates collaboration, file sharing, group discussion and creating projects that can be broken into tasks that can be assigned to others. There's a freelancer account tier that's $3.49/month billed annually or $4.99/monthly otherwise. And that's not even its cheapest tier! The free tier also limits the file upload size but that's less of an issue when you can use free cloud storage accounts such as GDrive, OneDrive, and Dropbox to back up your Freedcamp content.
FREEDCAMP TIPS:
-- Freedcamp's dashboard is all business. The first thing I wanted to do when I logged into it was create fanfiction projects and dump project-related tasks into it.
-- To journal or add notes, first create a project, then add a discussion to the project.
-- Consider purchasing the minimalist tier, which at $1.49/month billed annually means you can upload 25MB-sized files, and collaborate as much as you want without paying an additional fee for your collaborators.
These two apps opened my eyes to features I don't currently have access to in either Evernote OR Notion. Thankfully, some of those features can be created in Notion, since the UI is customizable, and templates can be created in Notion as well. My plan going forward is to realize the draft file hierarchy I've created for my fanfiction in Notion, with the addition of features discovered during my evaluation of Podio and Freedcamp, such as the link library and the shout-out! page. I've also decided I'll create a gallery of all the coolest comments I've received on my fanfiction over the years, to encourage me when I find myself lacking the inspiration to sit down and write.
LOL there sure is a lot to unpack here! At least I'm writing ...
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