Jul 24Member-onlyTech for Freelance Writers: using AI to build a better work trackerLike all freelance writers, I have to keep track of a lot of work. There are pitches, assignments, records of when and where my work was published, with URLs and — because link rot is a thing — a PDF archive copy. For a while now all of this has…AI7 min readAI7 min read
Nov 28, 2021Member-onlyTech for Freelance Writers: keep on top of your pitches with SQLFreelance writers send a lot of emails. There’s the usual back-and-forth with editors, arranging interviews, sending questions to sources, and most importantly the constant churn of looking for the next job. It’s easy, if you’re not careful, to lose track of your pitches among all this inbox clutter. But if…Freelance Writing7 min readFreelance Writing7 min read
Mar 13, 2021Member-onlyCapture your ideas anywhere with this simple scriptI’ve started using Obsidian to organise my notes. …Python36 min readPython36 min read
May 26, 2018Member-onlyWhy does my beer smell of butter?Imagine. You’ve got your hands on a beer at last. It’s been a long day. You’re tired, and you’re thirsty. There’s nothing you want more than to enjoy those first satisfying swallows of beer. But as you lift the glass to your mouth, what’s that you smell? …Beer5 min readBeer5 min read
Jan 14, 2018Beer Temperature MattersIf you chill your beer too much it won’t taste of anything. If you drink it too warm, it won’t be at its best either. Here’s a quick version of my guide to recommended serving temperatures.Beer1 min readBeer1 min read
Jan 16, 2017Coding a simple Twitter botWhen I last posted some six or seven months ago I was just taking my first steps with Python, having moved on from shell scripting in bash. Since those first attempts I’ve found that I really enjoy using Python to achieve things I’d never have…Bots5 min readBots5 min read
Jul 11, 2016Programming challenge: updateTowards the end of last month I wrote a post about how I wanted to come up with something that would reformat a log file for me into a more readable format. It’s taken a while, but today I have that solution. I moved on from shell scripts to python…Python1 min readPython1 min read
Jun 29, 2016Programming challenge: reformatting a log fileI don’t work in IT, I work in book publishing. Nevertheless, I’m finding more and more that automating tasks can have real benefits for my job so I’m teaching myself to code. Sort of. My approach has been slightly haphazard, to be honest, dictated mainly by what I need to…Programming3 min readProgramming3 min read
