Thord D. Hedengren

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Month: July 2013

  • Appricorn Shelved

    I have decided to put the Appricorn project on hold, despite having both content, concept, and the technical solution ready to go. What’s left is the actual design, launch procedure, marketing, and possibly signing up some additional writers outside the small crew I have.

    And yet, the project’s shelved for now.

    The Behind Appricorn blog logo
    The Behind Appricorn blog logo

    I’m not blaming time for once, but rather a growing flaw in the basic premise. Appricorn was to be monetized by affiliate links, and since the only apps covered would be good-to-great apps, there would be no issue of trust. The idea was that every app covered would be a great deal.

    The problem is, the App Store is changing, and that change is affecting the Appricorn concept. More apps are using freemium business models, or in some fashion relying on in-app purchases. I think this is good for a lot of apps, but it puts a serious dent in the Appricorn model.

    (more…)

  • It’s OK To Not Be Productive

    “How do you manage to work all the time?”

    “Stupid brain, focus! My free day is going to waste!”

    “If I get up an hour earlier I can write another 2,000 words and finish the novel in two months…”

    “Did I tell you about my startup? We’re making an app on weekends!”

    The silly things we hear, say, think, and push ourselves to do. The term overachiever is thrown about, but every time it comes up I cringe. So you’ve got your career, and a bunch of other projects to top it off. So you think you can balance your workload. So you count the hours and figure that if you’re really productive you could finish ahead of schedule. So you’ll just have to be really focused and extremely productive and all will be well. So you want to do everything at once.  (more…)

  • The Logitech Tablet Keyboard And AAA Batteries

    I was a little bummed out when I got my Logitech Tablet Keyboard for iOS. People who follow me on Twitter or App.net have heard me complaining about the less than stellar plastic sleeve that turns into a stand. As a stand, the Tablet Keyboard is something of a failure since it risks sliding around on a flat surface such as a tabletop. I’m using said plastic thingy as a stand for my iPad mini as I’m writing this, and although it does work, I really wish I could motivate myself to go upstairs and fetch the excellent Compass stand from Twelve South.

    This isn’t about stands though. This is about batteries.

    (more…)

  • Don't Publish Everything

    Just because you wrote it, doesn’t mean someone else should read it. It’s harsh, I know, but true nonetheless. It really doesn’t matter how many words you have written, it might not be publish-worthy even if you spent years writing them. Book manuscripts comes to mind, but the same trail of thought should be applied to most written things, including blog posts, emails and yes, even tweets and Facebook updates.

    Whenever you write something that turns out not to be publish-worthy, you have to decide whether to continue working on it, or not and start over. Edit and revise, or hide in your digital sock drawer, so to speak. There are no middle grounds here, and no shortcuts.

    Every time you trash something you’ve written, you feel bad about it, perhaps even doubt your writing skills. Don’t, at least not for trashing your words. On the contrary, understanding when something isn’t good enough, beyond salvation, is a skill every writer needs. Cherish it.

    What’s good enough to publish, well, that’s a completely different story altogether.

  • The Best Computer

    Let’s make a list.

    • Best computer: iPhone
    • Best mobile device: iPhone
    • Most used computer: iPhone
    • Favorite computer: iPhone
    • Workhorse computer: iPhone
    • Computer for work: Mac

    Innovate faster, app developers!

    Incidentally, happy fifth birthday, App Store. This is really almost all your doing.

  • Taking It Easy

    I had planned to write about something completely different today, but things happened. Not today per se, it’s more of a slow moving long-term kind of thing.

    Stuff happen. Shit happens. Things change.

    All my glorious plans for this summer took a hit this past month due to way too much work. The outlook for these projects are pretty bleak at the moment, but we’ll see. I’ve rescheduled books, and other books have rescheduled themselves due to reasons out of my control. The idea is to free up some time to catch up on vital things, such as breathing, and possibly drinking too.

    Taking a breather is important. I’m an always on kind of guy, I get bored easily and I need several projects rolling at ones. But it’s exhausting too, and the strain you’re under tend to extend to your loved ones as well, in a lesser degree of course, but still.

    Photo by pasukaru76 (CC).
    Photo by pasukaru76 (CC).

    So this is me telling you to slow down if you can, when you can. Take a deep breath, or ideally several, and allow yourself to rest up a bit. Reload those batteries.

    I proclaim July to be International Battery Recharging Month.

    The flip side of slowing down? I’ve got three new ideas already, and yesterday I finished an unscheduled short story. While I’ve been taking it easy, I accidentally solved a problem with a storyline, and although I won’t be hitting that draft just yet, I know that when I do I’ll do so at full pace. I’ve also caught up with most of my correspondence, done another story outline, decided to kick off that newsletter in August, and written some lyrics.

    Who knew taking it easy could be this productive?