I’ve loved the lists we’ve been seeing on this blog lately, so I thought I would jump in with my own version. These are in no particular order. Just as they came to me.
1) I am an Apple fan. Period. I left the Windows world behind in early 2006 and never looked back. So no surprise that the first item on my list of favorites is my 13” MacBook Pro. I also love my 27” iMac that’s in my office but I have been doing more work in recent months on my MacBook because I can work in the living room while raising a puppy.
My MacBook Pro as I prepare this post
2) This year I got a new large iPad Pro with a Smart Keyboard. This tablet is not for holding like a book as it is heavy when compared to a Kindle or a smaller iPad. For me, it’s primary purpose is to use during travel when I don’t want to take my MacBook along. It can’t do quite everything a computer can do but it’s close. And paired with the Apple Pencil, it’s a dream machine.
The 12.9″ iPad Pro with pencil and keyboard – Love it!
3) Speaking of my iPad Pro, I absolutely LOVE the app GoodReader (not to be confused with the website Goodreads). GoodReader allows me to read, proof, and correct page proofs in PDF of my books. I can use the Apple Pencil to write on the PDF or I can type in notes and changes. When I’m finished, anything I have typed is exported into an email to my publisher, along with the corrected PDF itself, so they can make the changes. I’ve been using this app for many years now, and it has made changes/corrections at this final stage of a manuscript so much easier than they used to be.
Goodreader on the iPad with handwritten notation
Exported corrections in email
4) I love storing “in the cloud” so that I can move easily between two computers and my iPad Pro. My primary cloud accounts are with iCloud (available to Mac users) and Dropbox (available to all), and I have occasionally used OneDrive because of my college work. Years ago, I was reluctant to use the cloud for my computer files because I didn’t understand those files weren’t only in the cloud. I didn’t understand they were physically on my computer and I didn’t have to have Internet connection in order to access them, only to sync them. What a difference it made when I finally understood how it works.
iCloud Drive folders shown on my Mac
5) The Kindle. Yes, I am a digital reader. Love that I can have hundreds and hundreds of books with me in my Oasis (my current reader) and it still only weighs about 8 oz. Not counting my Bible, I do almost all of my reading, both pleasure and research, on a Kindle.
The home screen on my Kindle Oasis
6) The Kindle app on my MacBook. When I started reading books on a Kindle, I swore that research books would never join the novels on it. But then came Kindle highlights and the ability to pull all of my highlights and notes from the Kindle app on my computer. Game changer!! Now when I highlight something for my books, I can copy and paste the info into my Scrivener research folder, and those highlights come with all of the documentation automatically added. Awesome!
Highlights showing in the Notebook in the Kindle App
Highlight when exported to use in another document
7) Scrivener, the app for writers. If you write anything—fiction, non-fiction, term papers—this software is for you. It has so many features it can feel overwhelming, but it is well worth the time it took for me to learn to use it. (I highly recommend watching all of the videos prepared by the makers of Scrivener.)
The Binder in my Scrivener app
8) Audiobooks from Audible. It feels like the dark ages when I would go to the bookstore and plunk down a small fortune for an audiobook, made up of about ten to fifteen CDs, to listen to on a road trip. Audiobooks were too expensive to listen to on a regular basis, and for the most part, only bestsellers were available in that format. Then came Audible.com. I think I bought my first book from Audible in 2005. I saved money right from the start, but then I became a member. The savings are even greater for members.
Audiobooks loaded on my iPhone for listening on the go
9) Finally, I love the Activity App on my iPhone to aid me in staying active. I try to close all three rings (Move, Exercise, Stand) every day.
So there you have it. Some of my favorite tech tools (at this moment).
Do you have any favorites to share?
~robin
Robin Lee Hatcher
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What a wonderful list, Robin! I, too, love my Mac Book Pro and the Audible app. 🙂