‣ ‣ ‣ 1. Several of you commented on Friday’s post asking “how are you still blogging while moving?” I can’t claim I’m keeping up with everything perfectly – but RememberTheMilk.com has been hugely helpful. I can plug in tasks I need to complete for moving, tasks I have to complete for my shop, and anything else – and it sends me handy email reminders so I don’t forget anything! Super helpful.
‣ ‣ ‣ 2. I absolutely love rainy days. The sound of the rain against the windows is just so soothing and lovely. I think Tim is the one who showed me RainyMood.com … it’s an on demand rainy day whenever you want it!
‣ ‣ ‣ 3. Fellow readers: do you ever feel like you’re not sure what you should read next? Well, the aptly named WhatShouldIReadNext.com should prove helpful. You input books that you enjoy, and it recommends books that others who enjoy your books also enjoyed. Simple but pretty brilliant! Not all the answers are perfect, of course, but it’s a fun place to start.
‣ ‣ ‣ 4 & 5. Fellow writers: if you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo.org … you’re missing out! It’s for November which is NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth, and the basic premise is that you write a 50,000 word book IN A MONTH. It is crazy, insane, and a ton of fun. And whether you do NaNoWriMo or not, if you ever have trouble getting motivated to work on your writing, I highly recommend WriteOrDie.com. Let’s just say that it finds ingenious ways to punish you if you stop writing, and it’s great to crank out a high number of words in a short time – you can always go back and edit later. ;)
‣ ‣ ‣ 6. Fellow wives: (and especially those who like me who struggle with housecleaning) should check out Lori’s series on Cerebral Homemaking. It’s really helping me completely rethink how I approach homemaking! Although, being in the middle of a move … perhaps not the easiest time to implement! Still, once we’re in our new place, I can’t wait to really start putting more of it into practice. ;)
‣ ‣ ‣ 7. I know there are a lot of charities out there, but one you should definitely check out is Heifer.org. You’ve heard the saying “if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; if you teach a man to fish, you feed him for his life”. This site lets you contribute to third world families in a way that’s even better than just sending money – you can send a goat, a cow, a flock of geese … something that will continue to help them provide for their family over a longer time period! Check it out, and you could help a family provide for itself in a meaningful way.
‣ ‣ ‣ 8. If you like to make to-do lists (and in particular bucket lists), you might enjoy 43things.com … it’s a fun way to keep track of goals and aims. Checking off the goal “lose 20 pounds” or “move to Boston” or whatever goals you have from your list does feel good!
‣ ‣ ‣ 9. If you’re looking for a laugh on Twitter, you should follow Honest Toddler. Basically you’re following a fictional 3 or 4 year old with complete ability to talk/write/share his thoughts and feeling. He has status updates like, “Daddy’s home!!! Mommy’s telling him all the feelings she’d had since morning.” or “Learning about colors. When am I ever going to use this.” Makes me laugh. :)
‣ ‣ ‣ 10. And of course, a little shameless plug here, there are only a few days left to get August’s print of the month (shown below) for half off from my shop, FlourishCafe. Details are here. :)
What sites and finds have your found online? Share them below! I love to hear from you. :)
April, Great information! Thanks for sharing all of these ideas. I love NaNoWriMo…can’t wait for November! I also loved the link to rainymood.com. I live in Colorado where we have very little rain and I miss the rain storms from Ohio. Now I can have a rain day whenever I want one. Such brilliance! Have a wonderful day! Grace, Donna
Oh, fun, a fellow NaNo writer! What genre do you write? :D
Thanks for posting all of these! I bookmarked several to go back to later. I just wish I had control of the iphone (hubby uses it for his job) so I could add the remember the milk app. That would be handy when I think of things while I’m out and about.
Yeah … I don’t have an iPhone, so I just use it on my computer and get the updates by email … but it would definitely be handy as an app on a phone, too! :)
Ooh! Definitely bookmarked a few of these… Thanks for sharing! The Honest Toddler sounds like a good laugh :)
Yeah, it totally cracks me up. It’s one of those things where I think “why didn’t I think of that?” :)
Thanks for this list, I now have RainyMood playing in the background! I have always been a fan of rain and had just purchased a thunderstorm MP3 from Amazon about 2 days ago. The sounds are probably THE most soothing to my crazy brain that always seems to be running on high :).
Oh, yeah, I know exactly what you mean! Soooo soothing.
thanks for sharing!
i think that write or die is very interesting, but i started use 2 weeks ago a free program call “focus booster” http://www.focusboosterapp.com/ and i love it!
it give you 25 minutes of work and then 5 minutes for make a pause… and then restart working for other 25 minutes.. it helps a lot for focus on work but not become crazy!
NaNoWriMo seems so interesting!
personally, i love to “lose time” on http://so-relatable.tumblr.com/ it have many funny sentences that give me a smile everytime: a very good way for make a break when i work too hard!
i forgot this program http://www.ommwriter.com/
is a very useful text processor without icon that wants to help to concentrate only on what we are writing. i love it also because have some soft music to listen while writing, and i feel very relaxed and write a lot with it!
Oh, fun, thanks for all the neat links, Fede! :D
Oh, thank you for the “what to read next” link! That’s basically how I choose books but lately Amazon’s recommendations have been kind of lame. And the Focus Booster that someone mentioned is pretty cool too!