Writers need to make notes

OneNote in action

It's pretty obviously really, but whether you are a non-fiction author like me or a fiction person, you need to make notes. Traditionally writers have used nice chunky notebooks - and many still do, and that's fine. But I like the searchability and cut and paste options of a computerized notebook. For a good number of years I've used OneNote (see my post on it) and it serves me well in most respects. But one thing I've always been irritated by is a lack of a good version to have in my pocket.

As it happens, there is now a version of OneNote for the iPhone - but it isn't available in the UK yet, and Microsoft's PR department is being very tight lipped about when it will be released. Once I was aware of this I started to think just how useful it would be to access and input notes from my phone. And there is an alternative - the free product Evernote. The great thing about Evernote is it's available on pretty well everything: PC, Mac, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, Android, Palm, Windows Mobile. Slap the application on your devices and you can start making notes.

Desktop Evernote - it's less confusing than it looks!

It's not as sophisticated as OneNote. One thing I like about OneNote is the way you can structure information in various folders and sections and tabs and such. And the OneNote notes are very rich - they really are like a piece of paper. You can plonk text and photos and sounds and documents wherever you like on the page. By comparison, Evernote does pretty straightforward text notes (though you can have notes with a photo/sound in them). But the big thing about Evernote is that it synchronizes across your devices.

Evernote on the iPhone

Make a note on your phone and soon it will be accessible on your desktop. And vice versa. Without you doing anything. There are limits to this. The free version has a relatively low upload per month - fine if you are just doing text, but relatively easy to use up with photos. There is a pay version with a much bigger limit that isn't too extortionate, and also throws in offline access to the notes on your phone (the free version has to download them when you want to access them).

When OneNote for iPhone comes along I will certainly give it a try, but for the moment I've adopted a hybrid approach that works pretty well. I use Evernote for random notes and scraps. I see something online I might want to use - clip it into Evernote. I remember while I'm walking the dog that I need to do something - I make a note in Evernote. But OneNote remains my structured repository for notes about the books I'm writing and my business. So far it's working pretty well. If you haven't tried Evernote, particularly if you use a mobile device part of the time I'd really recommend giving it a go.

Why I hate opera

If I'm honest, the title of this post is an exaggeration to make a point. I don't really hate opera. There are a couple of operas - notably Monteverdi's Incoranazione di Poppea and Purcell's Dido & Aeneas - that I quite like. But what I do find truly sickening is the reverence with which opera is treated, as if it were some particularly great art form. Nowhere was this more obvious than in ITV's 2010 gut-wrenchingly awful series Pop Star to Opera Star , where the likes of Alan Tichmarsh treated the real opera singers as if they were fragile pieces on Antiques Roadshow, and the music as if it were a gift of the gods. In my opinion - and I know not everyone agrees - opera is: Mediocre music Melodramatic plots Amateurishly hammy acting A forced and unpleasant singing style Ridiculously over-supported by public funds I won't even bother to go into any detail on the plots and the acting - this is just self-evident. But the other aspects need some exp...

Is 5x3 the same as 3x5?

The Internet has gone mildly bonkers over a child in America who was marked down in a test because when asked to work out 5x3 by repeated addition he/she used 5+5+5 instead of 3+3+3+3+3. Those who support the teacher say that 5x3 means 'five lots of 3' where the complainants say that 'times' is commutative (reversible) so the distinction is meaningless as 5x3 and 3x5 are indistinguishable. It's certainly true that not all mathematical operations are commutative. I think we are all comfortable that 5-3 is not the same as 3-5. However. This not true of multiplication (of numbers). And so if there is to be any distinction, it has to be in the use of English to interpret the 'x' sign. Unfortunately, even here there is no logical way of coming up with a definitive answer. I suspect most primary school teachers would expands 'times' as 'lots of' as mentioned above. So we get 5 x 3 as '5 lots of 3'. Unfortunately that only wor...

Why backgammon is a better game than chess

I freely admit that chess, for those who enjoy it, is a wonderful game, but I honestly believe that as a game , backgammon is better (and this isn't just because I'm a lot better at playing backgammon than chess). Having relatively recently written a book on game theory, I have given quite a lot of thought to the nature of games, and from that I'd say that chess has two significant weaknesses compared with backgammon. One is the lack of randomness. Because backgammon includes the roll of the dice, it introduces a random factor into the play. Of course, a game that is totally random provides very little enjoyment. Tossing a coin isn't at all entertaining. But the clever thing about backgammon is that the randomness is contributory without dominating - there is still plenty of room for skill (apart from very flukey dice throws, I can always be beaten by a really good backgammon player), but the introduction of a random factor makes it more life-like, with more of a sense...

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