Amanda Hocking

If you haven’t already done so and you can afford to, please donate to RedCross.org and/or Shelterbox.org to help those hurt in the disasters in Japan. I know a lot of people can’t afford to give much, but every little bit helps. Also, if you know of any other good relief efforts that are worthy of donations, please post them in the comments section. I know I’ll check them out, and hopefully, other people will too.

The phenomenal Zoe Winters pointed this app out for me called “Focus Booster.” It sounds stupid because it’s basically just a timer on your computer. Okay, it’s not basically that. It is that. But somehow, watching the time go down has kept me focused, and I’ve actually managed to get a lot of work done. I think I ended today with almost 8,000 words, and the awesome part is that it only took me four hours to do it. Because I just stayed off the internet when the timer was counting down. It was some bizarre psychological trick that totally worked.

So, if you’re a writer, I would highly recommend you getting it. It sounds silly, but it really helped me. 

And, on the subject of Zoe Winters – the internet has really latched on to me as an “indie darling” (their words, not mine). But if you really want to have a leader for the indie writer movement, it should be Zoe. I’m not sure of her exact numbers, but I know that she makes a living off her self-published works and her rankings are pretty good.

But more than that, Zoe loves being an indie writer. Loves it. She’s crazy about doing all the crap that drives me insane. She chose to go the route she did because she believed she could put out a better quality product on her own, and her case, I’d say she was definitely right. She’s a valiant and outspoken proponent of self-publishing, and if you really want to know anything about it, read her blog.

Also – I’ve been forgetting to give a shout-out. My laptop has been showing up a lot in the pictures when reporters and what not photograph me. If you’ve seen those pictures, you may have noticed the decal on the back of my Dell.

That decal is from Gelaskins.com, a company that makes decals to fit all your electronics, including laptops, Macbooks, iPads, ereaders, and phones. That particular decal was done by an artist named Lawrence Yang, and I absolutely love his artwork. I have several of the pieces he’s done for Gelaskins so that his various artworks adorn my laptop, nook, Kindle, and phone.

I love his work. I think it’s really brilliant. Lawrence Yang also has a website where he sells original artwork and prints. I’m waiting until I move to buy some so I can figure out exactly where I’m going to put, but his artwork will definitely end up in my house.

And the tee shirts I wore for the pictures taken for the Star Tribune, Associated Press, and Pioneer Press were all from Threadless.com because I love ironic tees.

Here’s the one I wore for the AP stuff and it’s one of my favorites. It’s called “A Simple Plan,” and it’s available in tee shirts and hoodie:

The majority of my writing today was done whilst I listened to the soundtrack to the Pixar feature film Up because it’s awesome. Up actually is one of my favorite movies. It’s sandwiched right up there somewhere between The Dark Knight and My Own Private Idaho. And also I listened to the Gin Blossoms Outside Looking In: The Best of the Gin Blossoms.

I like promoting stuff I enjoy. And I’m off to bed now.

Oh, don’t forget to set your clocks or change the time in someway. I don’t own any clocks that don’t automatically update anymore (my phone, laptop, and cable box all do it themselves). And that’s a big relief. Every clock should automatically set itself.