William does not simply work at AppleInsider, he additionally has a bunch of different writing assignments going continuously. Here is how William juggles not simply the calls for right here, however in every single place else too.
I am Deputy Chair of the Writers’ Guild of Nice Britain and in addition do some work for a UK charity, so I are inclined to have complete units of apps and paperwork that I change between. No matter I have been doing earlier than AppleInsider, I run a Keyboard Maestro macro and all of these apps and paperwork are closed, then all the pieces I would like for AppleInsider is opened.
Each day — seven days every week — begins with the Fantastical calendar and OmniFocus To Do apps on my iPhone. The alarm goes off, these two apps go on, and I am checking what I have to try this day. Invariably the day means being at my workplace M1 Mac mini or on my M1 Max 14-inch MacBook Professional, and AppleInsider work all the time begins with Keyboard Maestro.
There are many methods to do that and I have been utilizing the free Bunch app, however Keyboard Maestro is ready to deal with a number of Areas. I’ve a really extensive monitor, however I additionally use Areas in order that apps I exploit solely often are a swipe away as an alternative of in my face, or lurking behind different home windows.
Keyboard Maestro macro for beginning AppleInsider work
Keyboard Maestro opens up about half a dozen apps, positions their home windows in a row throughout my monitor, then strikes to a brand new House earlier than launching the others and routinely logging in to varied providers.
It then strikes me again to the principle House and I am off writing in Drafts 5, checking accounts in Apple Mail, making notes in Apple Notes, and eternally and all the time being out and in of Safari, Fantastical, and OmniFocus.
I am regularly shocked to say that I’m additionally out and in of OmniOutliner each single day. The shock is as a result of I am not a lot of an outliner, but this app lets me jot down a single concept after which add to it, increasing, transferring and rearranging till I’ve bought a plan for an occasion, a workshop, an article, or so on.
Fairly often it will likely be that I simply notice down {that a} piece should cowl one explicit factor, it is only a notice to myself to make certain to recollect it. Usually, although, that strikes on to my fascinated with how I can cowl it, so I make an extra notice, and that turns into a sentence.
Or two. I’ve inadvertently gone on to write down complete articles in OmniOutliner. Mike does not like this a lot.
Switching roles inside a job
Whereas I am on AppleInsider, I do not see anything, any apps or paperwork. I’ve experimented with utilizing Focus modes to even disable electronic mail accounts such because the Writers’ Guild one, however in that case I discovered I used to be all the time questioning if I had been lacking one thing.
You by no means realise how a lot you want a Stream Deck till you could have one.
Even inside one job, although, I might be switching between writing, analysis, picture work, and producing the AppleInsider podcast. And all through every of these, my Stream Deck XL is a boon.
If I change to Safari, for example, I get a button on my Stream Deck that keys the brower’s nice translation characteristic. It’s a nice characteristic, I do use it rather a lot, however you need to wait whereas Safari tells you a website might be translated, after which places up a translate icon — that it strikes from left to proper on the tackle bar.
In follow, then, I am going to comply with a result in a website in French, say, anticipate a beat, then press that Stream Deck button. It calls up Keyboard Maestro, which then seems for the translate icon and clicks the mouse on it.
Or for podcast manufacturing, half my Stream Deck modifications as a result of I’ve now an entire collection of buttons to do with that. When the podcast session begins, I press a button and it opens a brand new Drafts doc with the date and time in, for example.
Then as we go, if I or my co-host Wesley Hilliard make any sort of mistake like a cough, I press one other Stream Deck button. It appends “Edit Wanted” with the minutes and seconds into the recording.
Equally, I’ve bought buttons for attainable chapter begins, attainable advert breaks, and so forth.
By the tip of the recording, I’ve a Drafts doc with a shot checklist. If I had been to make use of that checklist as written, although, every time I made an edit then the entire following occasions could be out by nonetheless lengthy that edit was.
So as an alternative I take my shot checklist and work backwards from the tip.
{Hardware} I depend on
The AppleInsider Podcast is recorded regionally by each hosts and any friends. In my case, the recording is completed often in QuickTime Participant, however over the previous couple of months I’ve switched microphones.
Hollyland Lark M2 Wi-fi mic
I am now utilizing a Hollyland Lark M2 Wi-fi mic that I purchased to movie 58keys, a YouTube channel for writers that I produce. I’ve had peculiarly combined outcomes with tiny wi-fi mics earlier than, however this one has been flawless.
Not too long ago I additionally changed my defective AirPods Professional 2, however I do not truly like them for podcasting or particularly for enhancing. So as an alternative I put on Sony MDR-7506/1 over-the-ear headphones that had been advisable to me by UK coaching for Piece of String Media again in 2021.
A way more current buy that is made a major enchancment for me is the Lexar Go transportable SSD with hub. I backed this on Kickstarter and acquired a 2TB model that I can plug into my iPhone for filming 58keys.
These days I’ve discovered AirDropping video from my iPhone to my Mac has been problematic, and all the time after I’m on a deadline. So now whereas there are alternative ways to do that and I am nonetheless exploring, I can on the very least simply unplug the Lexar drive from my iPhone and plug it into the Mac.
Lexar’s 2TB transportable drive has been a boon for filming movies
As soon as it is there, I edit video in Remaining Reduce Professional and even earlier than the brand new model 11, you’d have needed to prise it from my fingers, I like that app a lot. I do now additionally subscribe to the iPad model and whereas I am not utilizing it sufficient, or as a lot as I anticipated, I do like after I make a first-pass meeting edit on it.
I have a tendency to do this after I’m required to be away from my very own workplace due to household points. These points, because it occurs, have additionally led to the final of my new buys in 2024.
That 49-inch monitor is so extensive it will get distorted in images
Again in August, I purchased a Ugreen 100W charger and it is changed all of my numerous plugs. One charger, with three USB-C ports and one USB-A, it expenses all the pieces remarkably rapidly.
In 2025 I’ll be doing extra travelling, beginning with a go to to a faculty in Switzerland, and that charger will go together with me in every single place. So, in fact, will the iPhone 16 Professional Max I simply upgraded to — and which reveals me OmniFocus and Fantastical each morning.
