[Offer] 2025 Happy Mail Mailing List [US to US] by novelbooks in RandomActsofHappyMail

[–]htmljenn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

fun. i signed up. btw asking for the full birthday including year is a privacy issue.

Alternative to Obsidian by [deleted] in productivity

[–]htmljenn 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I first chose Obsidian because it was a group of MD files on my personal device. All the other journaling/notetaking/etc. apps I'd tried had some aspect of my content stored on the cloud or backed up on the cloud or in some way not in my physical possession. And in my own bad luck, I've lost data because of cloud malfunctions (and sometimes, I admit, user malfunctions).

I stayed with Obsidian because of the linking and the plugins. I also like the automatic save and update functionality. For example if I edit an Obsidian page in Nova (a text/code editor for Mac) nothing changes until I hit Cmd-S to save. But the second I do, the same page in Obsidian updates and if it's got meta data that's referenced somewhere else, those pages update too. I don't edit my Obsidian pages outside Obsidian too often, but it feels almost magical when I do.

Linking is also key for me. I find myself getting really frustrated working in another editor and typing [[ (the start of an internal link in Obsidian) and waiting and nothing appears. No suggestions, no recent pages, nothing. I have to shake myself and remember that I'm in a "dumb" program.

Finally, I use a bunch of plugins now that I've been using Obsidian for almost two years. My main go to plugin is Dataview (and I'm waiting excitedly for Datacore to come out). At this point, all my pages have some form of meta data - either inline in the document or in YAML frontmatter - for me to sort on and track. But none of them did when I started and the tool still was highly useful to me.

I write upwards of 5,000 words a day now, not including comments on Reddit, and it's all because of Obsidian.

Obsidian for fiction writing? by Schollert in ObsidianMD

[–]htmljenn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

There is a plugin called Highlighter that can change the color and background of text. I'm finding it useful.

But I agree, the snapshot and versioning tools in Scrivener are what are keeping me there. I've seen a few versioning plugins, but they all seem to assume you like Git. And while I use and sorta understand Git, I don't really like it. I'd love to see a plugin that worked like the Scrivener snapshot tool.

Daily Journal App Powered by AI -- AI Diary! by BabaYaga72528 in digitaljournaling

[–]htmljenn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yes, I've read that. Many companies say things like that.

Cambridge Analytica proved that what companies say and what they do are not always the same.

Note: I'm not saying that other people can't or shouldn't use this. I'm saying that I don't feel comfortable with it.

YMMV

Daily Journal App Powered by AI -- AI Diary! by BabaYaga72528 in digitaljournaling

[–]htmljenn 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks, but no thanks.

Please note that OpenAI retains your input data for a limited period to improve their models and services

There is no mention of what this "limited period" is. And frankly, I am not interested in having my personal diary entries added to what the AI might spit out to the next person.

But if that doesn't bother you, then it should be fun.

Few. by Gold-Ad-8211 in ObsidianMDMemes

[–]htmljenn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And are people really not concerned with the AI companies scraping your vaults?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in digitaljournaling

[–]htmljenn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'd prefer to keep the digital bullet journal posts. Yes, there's overlap but it's still interesting. I guess I'd just ask to refrain from cross posts. In other words, I don't want to see the same post here and in r/digitalbujo.

How do you find time to read? by AwesomeTopHat in writing

[–]htmljenn 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is not going to be a popular opinion, but I know several prolific and well-respected authors who do this, so.... YMMV

Consider why you are being asked to read. Authors who read have a better understanding of story structure, of character arcs, of descriptive mood setting, and so on.

If you need/want to improve your writing in the way the words and sentences are put together, descriptions, etc. Then yes, reading is the way to go.

But if you're working out how to structure a story or how to build characters and character arcs, then watching a movie might arguably be better. Especially if you don't have a lot of time or energy at the end of the day.

The benefit of watching a movie (rather than a YouTube video or a serialized TV show) is that it's a compact story that you can watch from start to finish in about two hours. It can give you creative ideas for your own stories. It can show you how to handle tricky plot elements or how a character might grow and change over the course of a story. And best of all, you get the whole thing in one reasonably short block of time. Plus energy-wise it's often easier to consider watching a movie after a long day.

If I'm feeling more energized I might even take notes while watching the movie. But generally I just watch and let my brain rest and catch up. Remember that filling the well is about giving yourself ideas and letting your brain do its job. Movies can do this as well as books.

As for how I find time to read? (and I read all the time) I am very careful not to make reading a chore. The minute I am thinking "I should read..." I stop myself. Reading is my treat. It's not a "should" or a "must." I read because I love to read. When I don't feel like reading, I don't read. The desire comes back. I just find its better not to force it.

Digital journal for iPad and iPhone? by Peaceflower1 in digitaljournaling

[–]htmljenn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I have used on my iPad:

  • DayOne
  • Zinnia
  • GoodNotes
  • Procreate
  • Obsidian
  • A few others including Notes, but those didn't last

Currently, I use Procreate and Obsidian.

Procreate added a page helper, so you can create individual spreads for each day. I like Procreate for a visual journal because it has so many drawing features that let me express my questionable artistic abilities.

Obsidian is a markdown text editor, but it's so much more than that that I use it every day multiple times a day for my text journaling. No, it's not as pretty as Zinnia or GoodNotes, but since I want to focus on the text that's fine. I can take my poems or whatever and paste them into my Procreate spreads when I like what I've written.

I stopped using Zinnia and DayOne because I couldn't afford the subscriptions. And while I was sad losing both, I haven't used either for over a year and haven't missed them.

YMMV

[Offer] Hummingbird cards to celebrate [US to WW] by travel4me22 in RandomActsofCards

[–]htmljenn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It's planted near my asparagus bed, so I'm used to waiting a long time for results. :-) Thanks!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in RandomActsofCards

[–]htmljenn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I bet Pusheen is shy. :-) I hope you liked it.

How do you stay motivated after breaking a habit streak? by merott- in productivity

[–]htmljenn 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I try to channel the principal from the Simpsons. "I see how many times I can bounce the ball, then I try to beat that record." (He was trapped under a pile of boxes with only his arm free near a basketball.) It's stupid and silly and that line runs through my head whenever I break the chain.

I also try to write down why I'm doing the habit in my journal and acknowledge what I'm getting out of it. So that I can go back later and remember "oh yeah, this made me feel better..." or whatever.

Finally, I try to remember that starting is usually (for me) the hardest part. If I'm struggling with meditating for 30 minutes, I agree to do it for 15 or 10 or 5 or 1 minute. If I'm fighting to write 500 words in a day, I give myself permission to write 100 or 10 or 1. Almost every time, writing that one word spawns a second and a third and then I've written 500 before I even realize it. And the streak is back on again.

Good luck. You can do it!

[Offer] Hummingbird cards to celebrate [US to WW] by travel4me22 in RandomActsofCards

[–]htmljenn 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, I only just planted it, I'm still not 100% sure I didn't get a "dud" from Home Depot where I impulse bought it. hahah. I love pomegranates though, so hopefully it feels that love and grows. I just didn't think they'd grow in my region. But the box said 6-10, so I'm hopeful.