6 Things I Like About the Kindle Fire

I was reluctant to buy an eReader.  I love books.  I love the smell, the rasp of turning pages, looking at the colors and sizes of them on bookshelves.  I’ve surrounded myself with books as look as I can remember.  Going to an electronic device that would replace the physical presence of books was inconceivable to me.

Courtesy of Pierre Lecourt via Flickr

I had a plethora of reasons not to convert.  Before… the displays were hard to read unless you had a specific quality of light, or if it was too bright, you couldn’t use it. Furthermore, I am clumsy. If I drop a tree-based book, there’s no harm done. If I get the book wet, it is annoying, but you could always dry it out.  If you lose a book, it is an inconvenience and at worst, you are stuck with the cost of replacing the book, not out $100 + dollars to replace an eReader.

But the $150 price tag for a Kindle Fire was too hard for me to resist. I bought one on the release day as a birthday present to myself.  It seemed like a low-risk way to give eReaders a try and start getting in touch with one of the hottest literary trends out there now, eBooks.  And I am surprised to say that I like my Kindle Fire.  I like it a lot. So what do I like about it?

• Free Books – This has to be (by far) the best thing about the Kindle Fire.  Every day, Amazon (in cooperation with the authors and publishers) has literary classics available for downloading as well as a selected list of eBook versions of popular books.  They may only be free for a couple of days, or somewhat longer, but there is always a variety of free books for any reading interest. Some of these books are only available on the Kindle in an eBook format, while others are free books to introduce readers to a new author or series of books.  Every day Kindle lists the Top 100 Free Books.  I’ve downloaded over 250 free books so far and have been happy with the quality and value of the information in most of them so far.
• Highlighting and Note Taking – For books in my personal collection, I’ve always had this obsessive need to keep them neat and unmarked.  With the Kindle’s feature that allows you to take notes and highlight passages, this becomes an easy way to track important info or review your thoughts as you read through a book.
• Games – A guaranteed time waster for a writer, but I LOVE playing Words with Friends on my Kindle.
• Internet Browsing – This is pretty smooth for a portable device despite the difficulty of entering text quickly into the search or address windows.
• Netflix – With a decent wireless connection, video content is easily watchable and fun.
• Free Apps – Every day Amazon features a new application that you can download for free.  Most of the offerings are free games, but some of them have been very nice commercial applications (such as Documents-to-Go).  It is fun waking up each morning to see what the free app of the day is.

So the Kindle Fire seems to have slipped away from being a luxury gift to something that I have to take everywhere with me.  There are a few things that I don’t like about it, but I’ll save those for another post.

15-Minute Writer Site Review - Dumb Little Man: Tips for Life

Dumb Little Man: Tips for Life is another good source of “brain hacks” which consist of detailed, well-written articles from a talented group of writers, who really understand what makes us tick, and how we can stop sabotaging ourselves.

Although this blog is focused on being more efficient and eliminating roadblocks to productivity, many articles address issues of interest to writers, such as these recent posts:

• 7 Simple Steps to Becoming Well-Read
• 7 Powerful Tips for Becoming a Better Listener
• How Resistance Kills Our Flow

This site posts several new articles every week, and also has over 2000 articles of additional content for you.  It also allows you to follow it via Facebook, email, RSS feed, or Twitter. As a result, this site is a must-add to any 15-Minute Writer’s blog roll. I've added it to mine.

Dumb Little Man: Tips for Life gets ***** out of 5 stars.

15-Minute Writer Rating Scale: * - SPAM is more enjoyable and entertaining; ** - Content not fit for a link farm; *** - An OK site, probably won't be back here often; **** -  Good resource, bookmark and visit often; ***** - An essential resource to consult daily.

15 Minute Goal Setting for Your Writing

This article courtesy of the duolit Blog is a perfect fit for The 15-Minute Writer. The article entitled: No Excuses: 15 Minute Goal Setting for Authors is an incredible use of a 15-minute writing session. Based on the 15 Minutes and You're Done feature in Real Simple magazine, the author breaks down the goal setting process into short, manageable tasks. It blazes through the goal setting process by having the writer list various goal categories, then list the possible goals within that selected category, next edit the goals to make sure that they are realistic and measurable, then break down that goal into small manageable tasks, and finally do some cleanup work such as adding due dates to the tasks and adding them to a calendar.

This article has a way of making an intimidating process approachable and is a must for any writer who wants to write but has no idea how to get started. Using great examples in each of the steps, this article illustrates this process for the writer so he/she can imitate it.

I love the idea of making goal setting a 15-minute process. I highly recommend you check out this article. 

I’m also adding this blog to my blogroll for The 15-Minute Writer since the other content I’ve skimmed on the site is also excellent.

Getting It All Done - Quick and Dirty Tips

There are tons of organizational gurus out there these days. Oprah has about 12 of them on speed-dial. Getting organized is now a multi-million dollar industry. Because, let's face it, our lives are a mess. 

As part of the Quick and Dirty Tips website, the Get-It-Done Guy, Stever Robbins' podcast the Get-It-Done Guy's Quick and Dirty Tips Guide to Work Less and Do More, now has over 170 episodes and covers all sorts of tricks and techniques for handling almost any type of organizational task. 

From forming a new habit (Episode #163) to creating text macros (Episode #167), Robbins covers techincal issues and decisions (such as buying a computer - #154), dealing with specific organizational problems (such as organizing gift and credit cards - #165 or planning a successful group trip - #161), or general work habits (such as how to use the phone better - #151 or making good decisions - #111).

Stever Robbins also has a lot of great advice specific to writers to help us with the glut of information that all workers in the 21st century encounter... but writers in particular. 

His podcast is short, too the point, and (at times) humorous. Whether he is advising you on how to file so you can find anything Instantly (#3), taking killer notes (#16), or keeping track of ideas (#153), Stever knows how to deliver the advice you need during a minute or two of your precious time.

Have You Visited Lifehacker Yet?

If you don't know about Lifehacker yet, you are missing great content.  You will be seeing a lot of links from me here to that site.  It has a lot of great tips on time management, self-improvement, as well as lots of practical advice on daily life, such as this article on getting better customer service, technical how-to's such as this one on recovering from an e-mail disaster, and reviews and information about products and services that may make your life better.  



This site has fresh content hourly and you never know what kind of advice it will generate.  Today's featured articles focus on disaster preparedness in the wake of the catastrophic earthquake and tsunami in Japan.

In addition, the site allows you to link it to your Facebook and Twitter accounts, see 49 of the most popular articles right now, and search the massive Lifehacker archives via the Search feature.

So do what I do, set up an RSS feed for it in Google Reader, or just bookmark it.  Then, check it out daily.  It will be well worth your time. Lifehacker gets ***** out of 5 stars.

15-Minute Writer Rating Scale: * - SPAM is more enjoyable and entertaining; ** - Content not fit for a link farm; *** - An OK site, probably won't be back here often; **** -  Good resource, bookmark and visit often; ***** - An essential resource to consult daily.

Muse Reviews: Throw Out Fifty Things

Throw Out Fifty Things: Clear the Clutter, Find Your Life by Gail Blanke


My rating: 4 of 5 stars
If you saw the condition of my home office right now you’ll immediately understand why this book intrigued me. It has way too much stuff in it. Bookshelves overflowing. Papers piled in baskets, in computer paper boxes, or just scattered around. My daughter has clothes she wants to sell on eBay, I have hundreds of HeroClix figures and accessories that also need to go on eBay. Scrap wood, library books, old magazines, cardboard boxes, bags and packing material, old printer and computer equipment all stored haphazardly throughout what once was a rather large and impressive workspace.


Ms. Blanke takes a concept made popular by shows like TLC's Clean Sweep and presents an unintimidating method to attack the mind-boggling, energy draining piles of STUFF that we collect and retain under the idea that maybe we should keep this because it will be useful someday. She asks you to consider the value of the object vs. the amount of energy that it sucks up in exchange for its continued existence. Sure, those cheap wire hangers that you have gotten from the dry cleaner for every item that you’ve taken there since 1993 might come in handy someday… but do they need to take up all of the rod space in all of your closets? I have a huge Rubbermaid tub FILLED with just power adapters and cables that I don’t know what to do with. I have no idea what they go to… cell phone chargers, video game systems, computer monitors, portable phones, and more. All of the plugs are different, so when I find myself desperately seeking the proper adapter for recharging the video camera battery, it is never there.


Throw Out Fifty Things walks you through the process of getting rid of the stuff that is draining the energy away room by room and gives you options for passing along items that you no longer use to others or recycling them. Now Michael, you say, I could throw out 50 things in the front entryway of my house… sure you could, except for one little ingenious twist thrown in by Blanke. Any of the same object is considered to be only one object of the fifty to get rid of; Hence, all of those cheap hangers in every closet in the house… one item on the list. That tub of AC adapters? One more item and so on. So say good bye to all of those single socks with no mates, those ugly gifts that you received from Aunt Margret taking up precious space in your hall closets and attics. If it drains energy from you when you see it… no matter what it is or how useful it is… GET RID OF IT.


Among the 50 things that you are going to throw out are psychological. Ideas such as letting go of mistakes from the past, the need to have everyone like you, or having to do everything yourself. All of these things drain your energy that can be better spent elsewhere and contribute to the generation of physical clutter as well.


The book is easy to read and provides space for you to create your own list of throwaways as you work through the book. It also provides many examples from Ms. Blanke’s personal experience and those she encountered working as motivational consultant. Last, the book also provides a resource list for ideas on how to get rid of those things that you might not know what to do with, but are still usable or recyclable. All in all, excellent book with good information. I highly recommend it.

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