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annerbhp · 5 years

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What’s your writing process like?

A hot mess.

No, seriously. It’s a complete mess, but it’s my mess, tailored to me perfectly, and I think that’s the big battle with writing–coming up with a system that works for you, and being able to deal with it and modify when it stops working for you.

Here are my current eleven painful steps to writing a fic:

1. Conception - I daydream a lot. Like, while I’m falling asleep at night, while I’m doing the dishes, taking a shower, commuting to work, running an errand, sitting through boring meetings, I’m constantly running scenes and imagining snippets in my head. This is usually when a new story idea hits me. So I daydream about it for a long time. I start collecting emotions and visualizing moments. A lot of ideas die at this point, getting lost in the chaos of life or just not capturing my attention long term. The ones that do though, eventually crystallize enough that I feel compelled to start actually writing it down.

2. The Mad Scramble - At this point, I open a document and word vomit. It’s a scramble, to try to purge all those various imaginings and scenes and snippets of dialog and feelings and just get them down as fast as possible before they fade or I forget them. Totally out of order, totally unconnected, just vomit, vomit, vomit. Interspersed with brainstorming, since most of my stories are AU, I’ll just write long narratives of where are we, what has changed, why, and often the ideas change and evolve as I am writing them down. That doesn’t make sense, what about this instead? What would happen if that happened? In this phase I try very hard not to edit myself. I always know I can come back later and massage and edit. Again, a lot of stories die in this phase. Or fizzle out and get chucked back in the writing file as another idea starts taking over my daydreaming.

3. Rough Skeleton - After a lot of word vomiting, I usually pull back a bit to try to wrest some sort of logical order. Usually this just means shifting things around so there is a Point A: where the story starts, a Point B: what is the big dramatic beat where conflict erupts?, and a Point C: where are we when it ends? Often these specific three scenes are the first to get written, even if never in their final form. This starts to crystallize the overall journey of the fic. What is the plot change? What is the emotional change? What is the character change? And since I write mostly ship fic: how has the relationship evolved by the end? This is usually the point I can start imagining titles, which lets me know that I kind of know what the point of the fic is.

4. Useless Puttering - Now I descend back into my favorite past time: daydreaming. I imagine scenes, once again totally out of order, but that fill in between Point A and Point B, and Point B and Point C. Other important beats get established. I just dream up dialog and scenes and imagine emotions, and things just happen. Some of them get down on paper again. Not necessarily in their final place, but I get the most important dramatic beats in between the main points. The story is now full of unhelpful notes like: Have Hermione show up here and say something that makes Harry think about blah blah. Or, don’t forget that Ron is still mad at Ginny here. Was blah blah ever explained? And my least favorite placeholder: kissage. Stuff I will go back later and deal with but don’t want to now. I pretty much let myself write whatever the hell I want at this phase (the ‘good’ bits), knowing I can come back to things later. Momentum is too important here.

5. Rereading - Now comes the phase I get stuck in endlessly. At this point, I start obsessively rereading what I’ve already written. On a good day, that means I will start editing and filling out and toning some things down (my first word vomit versions are usually over-the-top DRAMATIC), pulling threads through the fic as I go along, making sure the emotional beats are going in a believable and satisfying way. Chapters start to form if there are going to be chapters. But more often than not I just re-read and re-read with very little changes. This is another big stall out point for me.

6. Walk Away - With almost every story at this point I feel the need to walk away from the story. I get bored with it after re-reading it so many times. I get frustrated. I run out of ideas and I generally stop caring about it. I have to admit, quite a few stories die at this point. And sometimes for good reason. (This is also where I start whining to people who are kind enough to listen, as I am sure @bethanyactually and @weatheredskies and @runawaymarbles can attest.) This is a really good point to put it away and just ignore it. My daydreams go somewhere else (and inevitably this is where my next story is born). When I was writing The Changeling and hit this point, this is where the majority of the Armistice Series was born. When I was stalled out on pick it up, this is where my coffeehouse AU was born. It’s good palette cleanser. Sometimes this lasts a few days, a week, a month. For The Changeling that one time, it lasted A YEAR. (Though there were other Real Life considerations influencing that as well.) I fill out a lot of memes at this point. Get caught up with asks and comments. I read other people’s fic.

7. Hello, Old Friend - If I’ve been away long enough, coming back to the story for a fresh re-read is like coming home to an old friend. Hey, this isn’t as bad as I thought! I really like this bit here. And this new wave of energy comes up. I start daydreaming again, I re-read and modify as I go, and the story starts to fill in more and more. I start getting antsy to share it with people. I might give small snippets to my long-suffering friends who listened to all my complaining.

8. Pen and Ink - At some point the second honeymoon ends, and I start getting frustrated with the document, feel overwhelmed trying to wrap my brain around things. Depending on the size of the story, this might be post-it notes and outlining time, where I use color coded paper and/or pens to make sure there is balance between narrative POVs and plots and themes and whatever threads are being dragged through the fic. I will also hit a point when I can’t edit on the computer anymore and I print out a chapter. I will take that chapter with me to a coffee shop, pull out obnoxiously garish pens, and write all over it. This is how I know I am very nearly there. I will scribble that print out to death. I take a break again here, and then come back and input the edits on my computer. Sometimes the process has to be repeated, but more often than not, the chapter is now in rough draft format.

9. Betas Are a Writer’s Best Friend - At this point I upload the chapter/story to a google doc to share with a beta. For Armistice, I am spoiled enough to have four (!!) people looking at chapters for me right now. One is a literal Squee Beta. She reads it and squees at me and helps me believe that it is not complete garbage. Another is a beta who is very willing to completely disagree with all my life choices, which I find hugely helpful because I have to justify my choices and admit when I’m being lazy–this often leads to disgruntled rewrites that make the story better. My two original betas are great at not just grammar (which boy do I need) and catching mistakes here and there, but discussing character beats and plot points, and asking me questions, and being endlessly willing to just talk about the story with me. (How are there people this awesome that exist?)

10. Final Edits - Sometimes the final edits are painless, but often there is some melodramatic whinging on my part at this point and some rewrites, as I battle the need to just be done with it and getting it done right. Though I am also known for sitting on a final draft far too long. Like, maybe not making a single change for a week, but still not just POSTING it. Again replying to asks and getting caught up on comment replies is my best stall tactic. (hmmmm…)

11. Posting - I usually do this when I am completely sick of the chapter/story. That lets me know I am done. I am no longer daydreaming about that part of the story. I don’t want to talk about it anymore. It becomes this immutable canon-like thing in my head that can’t be changed anymore. So, I post it. And then spend the next day a total and complete wreck as I wait for validation of some sort. If I’m lucky, I get some, ride a high for a few days, and then back to Step 5 for the next chapter, because, boy, if they liked that, I can’t wait to share this next bit with them.

The End

#writing process #i'm a mess #and not stalling out in my process right now #what about this ridiculously long answer would make you think that?#i don't hate chapter five at all #nope #aaaaaaaaaaaaggggghghhhh

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hackersandslackers · 6 years

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Dealing with Dirty Data

Adventures in Excel

In my last post, we discussed how what separates a true analyst (read: technical) from a project manager wearing the mask of an analyst like some Scott Snyder era Joker (I figure that there's a solid overlap between fans of comic books and fans of the real world application of data. Note that this is a study with an N = 1 so it bares no statistical significance, but I have a funny feeling...call it spidey sense). Full disclosure, this post comes mostly out of my inability to sleep in my hotel room in Chicago following a grueling day of doing the very things I discuss in this blog, and preceding a day where I'll have to literally explain my last post to the suits, but perhaps this is the best mindset to begin discussing the myriad ways in which you may encounter dirty data in the wild, and how a savvy analyst may pivot and match their way around it. However, if my prose isn't as on point as you have grown accustomed...blame it on the 4AM haze. Alas, let's begin by discussing the organizational structure of the majority of corporate entities that leverage data to some degree (note, this isn't all corporations...and what does that say about the state of business?) and how, at each step of abstraction in this process that you are from the data, the data gets dirtier and dirtier. Essentially, there's always going to be a group of about 5-10 fewer-than-necessary legitimately skilled data scientists and/or computer programmers/DBAs who are really solid at building and maintaining a database as well as and some sort of compiling language (nowadays, that's probably python, but not exclusively, nor does this matter). However, depending on your industry (unless of course your industry IS data), it's nearly impossible to recruit people who have these skills to the level necessary AND have some familiarity with why this data is needed, and/or the ability to explain how the internal products that they build can be used by an end user. As such, this team has their own project manager(s) who's sole job is to keep these guys from developing a sentient AI that's sole goal is the annihilation of unfolded laundry...when your industry is healthcare. This team should also have at least one analyst who will take the raw code base and do the first step of translation to a more user friendly form. This generally takes shape as either dashboards in a system like Tableau, or if your company has a group of particularly strong data/business analysts (or particularly weak programmers) an interface written in plain(enough) English on a Business Intelligence platform such as Microsoft BI/SAP Business Objects or whatever other system your company utilizes. As a fun little note, this team ALMOST ALWAYS is referred to by some sort of acronym such as QDAR! (Quality data and reporting!) or KMnR! (Knowledge management and reporting!) or Those Fucking Guys (who have something to do with data) (TFG(whstdwd)). On a less fun little note...neither you, nor seemingly ANYONE ELSE will have contact with this team. In light of this information, how do the reports that they build get chosen or who decides how these databases are built? The world may never know. So let's assume the first type of reporting: the Dataratti (which is how I will refer to the acronym defined team described above moving forward) produces dashboards utilizing a tool such as Tableau or Crystal Reports. You may be thinking to yourself: "hey, isn't my job taking the data and putting it in a form where people who are scared by more than two nested groups of parenthesis, and thus this renders my job unnecessary?" The answer to the question is twofold: Yes, and of course not! As mentioned previously, the decision to create these dashboards, the data contained therein, and how you want them to look is decided upon by a mythical creature who has full access and understanding of the data warehouse, AND has full access to and understanding of the stakeholders (AKA, Those Who Sit Above in Shadow ; that's a reference from a famous run of Thor comics that refers to to a mysterious cabal of gods who perpetuate the cycle of Ragnarok in order to subsist upon the energies created by this strife...which as I write this, is an almost disgustingly on-the-nose metaphor for upper management). Now, if you believe that you may be this mythical creature (as I do), I DARE you to apply for a job with this job description, and once you clinch it with the advice from this blog, rapidly realize that your job will involve either one of these job duties or the other. With that digression, even if somehow a useful dashboard for YOU is created, the limitations inherent in these dashboarding tools make one CRUCIAL issue omnipresent: one can only effectively illustrate up to 16 different variables at a time before the system breaks down (for example, Tableau's documentation specifically warns against this). So even if you have the nicest, most illustrative dashboards on the planet from the Dataratti, there is a nearly 100% chance that the information that you actually need will be scattered across 2-3 different dashboards...rendering the nice looking dashboards essentially useless for your purposes, and as previously stated, you have no contact with the Dataratti, nor do you have access to the underlying data from which these dashboards are created. So pop quiz hot shot, what DO you do? Well, mercifully, all of these dashboard tools allow an end user to download a "data dump" (our parlance for "a buncha numbers with headings"). Using Tableau as an example, one can download either a "crosstab" or a text file of the data represented by the dashboard (in both "summary" and "full data" format). Now, just to get the truly gifted in Tableau off my back, yes, the functionality does exist to build in the ability to download the data in the exact format necessary for your needs through a specific combination of custom web server views and Javascript, but... If the users of the dash are exclusively using this function, why do the dashboard at all? And... This forces the developers in the Dataratti to have decent web design skills on top of really high level Tableau skills, and it requires someone to anticipate exactly how the data will be used by the end user by the Dataratti (which is incredibly hard as it's impossible to speak to this department directly, and as previously stated, the lack of this knowledge on their end is the entire reason why my department exists). A few things to note before downloading data from Tableau: You must highlight at least one element of the dashboard before downloading a crosstab. Depending on what kind of dashboard you're working with, you may need to highlight the entirety of one column in order to capture the entirety of your data (click the first element in any column and then scroll down to the bottom of the report...which may be enormously long, hit shift and click the last element in the report) before downloading either the data or the crosstab. If you are downloading a crosstab, be wary, Tableau web server caps how many rows you can download in this method at a time, this can be avoided by downloading the text version of the data (by clicking data as opposed to crosstab). HOWEVER... If you are going the data route, it defaults to summary view. Look over all the headings, and ensure that this covers everything you need, otherwise click "full data" . Interestingly, this still isn't actually the entirety of your data, and continue to check to make sure all of your headings are covered, otherwise, click the display all columns box, and then download all the rows as a text file. Now, repeat these steps until all of the data that you need in your report is contained across these text files (.csv, AKA the Comma Separated Value file type). With all that lunacy completed, you now have several sheets with some common columns, but all with different information; only some of which you need, so what do you think you do? Simple, you use the tools given to you in the previous posts: you lookup on the common factors across the sheets and return the data that you want until you have all the data you need, in the correct order, on one sheet, and then depending on the ask, you may want to pivot that data out in order to summarize the whole mess of data. THIS IS YOUR FINAL PRODUCT well done. Another protip: if you want to reposition data that you've obtained via a lookup, highlight the whole column, hit control+C to copy the data and then hit control+V pause a second (press NOTHING else) and then press control FOLLOWED by V . This takes the values generated by a formula and replaces them with the values obtained. Functionally, this looks exactly the same, but now you can move the data around without affecting or being affected by other data. As explaining only one possible dirty data scenario took over 1500 words, next time, we'll discuss the other most common form of taking the dirty data from the Dataratti and making it useful to you: using business intelligence portals as opposed to dashboards in order to grab the data that you need. Also, if I don't get roasted on a spit for being half asleep for tomorrow's (today's?) meeting, I'll try and write up a companion post with an example of how this works out in practice. In summary, in this post we've learned: How data is generally siloed and sequestered within the corporate environment, leading to a bevy of unnecessary steps on behalf of the analyst in order to distill a functional report for the powers-that-be Two major methods in which data comes from the data team (henceforth known as the Dataratti) to your team: Dashboards and Business Intelligence interfaces, and... Assuming you get data in the form of dashboards, how to take these dashboards, download the underlying data, recombine and manipulate the data, and package it in a way acceptable for your needs. Congrats, you've just learned the crucial skill of the Slice n' Dice ! Quite sleepily, -Snacks

- Max Mileaf

#HackersAndSlackers #Hackers #Ghost #Excel #Data

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123designsrq · 5 years

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I nonetheless stay with a 16gb cellphone. It isn’t not possible, however it’s hard. The international isn’t moving closer to adapting to low storage, it’s increasing it. So what do you do while you run low on storage? Delete pics and apps? NO! Back the whole thing to the cloud? You ought to, but you’d want steady get right of entry to to it to retrieve records. What else can you do? Transfer it for your laptop thru cable? Sure, but who’s got the time for that. You could maybe use an OTG pen-drive… but no longer many people have those. With Type-C USB ports becoming more and more famous, there’s one greater solution. The Hyperdrive Type-C connection kit. It without difficulty suits on your pocket, and expands your cellphone’s opportunities. Plug it in, and also you’ve got a normal USB port, and two card-readers for SD and MicroSD cards. You can now literally plug any USB drive into your smartphone and either transfer information to it, or retrieve information from it. Or you could use the SD card reader to pull photographs off your DSLR. What’s higher is that the Hyperdrive’s Type-C works with laptops too. With most new laptops having a Type-C port for fast transfers and faster charging, the Hyperdrive plugs into your pc too, no longer simply increasing the wide variety of ports on it, but even allowing you to easily switch statistics between your computer and phone. Without a cable! best external hard drive for android phones, external hard disk for mobile phone, how to connect 2tb hard drive to android, how to connect internal hard disk to mobile, external hard drive for android tablet, how to transfer files from android to external hard drive without computer, format external hard drive for android, smartphone external storage

So what's the best portable drive you can buy?

Taking an entire garage with you may be less vital than it as soon as was, but there's nevertheless masses of use instances where it is wished. There are numerous options available which include traditional tough disk in addition to strong-state drives (SSDs). Here we assessment and rank the first-rate ones. Most portable USB drives are powered by means of the connected laptop, so you can use them on the move without the want to plug into the mains or use batteries. Some may even connect your telephone or tablet and will let you extend garage that way, or will let you switch or open files. Capacity Even within the smallest portable drives you’ll in all likelihood find are 128GB in length, that's enough to area hundreds of CD albums in lossless FLAC layout, or maybe extra in decrease exceptional MP3 or AAC formats. Off-loading your song series alone from a pc to a transportable power can be a godsend in freeing treasured space if your computer has restricted garage. Another popular utility of transportable storage is for preserving important backups of your data hung on a PC or laptop. You may be capable of keep a really perfect a twin of your whole laptop’s inner power, on standby and equipped within the occasion that the laptop is lost or its force should malfunction. Alternatively, you may pick out simply to returned up the maximum critical files and documents out of your consumer libraries, consisting of text documents, snap shots, movies, music and saved e-mail. Some portable drives include software which can assist automate this technique, retaining your preferred directories in sync each time you plug within the power or by using a every day time table. Performance Now that USB 2.Zero has been banished from all self-respecting storage, we discover USB three as the standard for connection, letting those portable drives carry out as quickly because the little disks inside will permit. This means that after transferring your music or video collection to or out of your PC, you can anticipate round 100MB/s study velocity (and generally the same for writing, due to the fact unlike flash storage generation the examine and write speeds have a tendency to be greater symmetrical). Compare this with the older drives the use of USB 2.Zero, which would restrict speeds to around 35MB/s, or simplest one-0.33 the rate. So in actual phrases, your 100GB of media documents might take near an hour to switch with USB 2.0, or beneath 20 minutes the use of USB three.0. If you’re likely to be storing or backing up many small documents, be conscious that common performance will plummet in view that tough disks generally tend to choke on smaller documents. So while big documents may zip throughout at 100MB/s, the smallest will probably journey at much less than 1MB/s, or one hundredth that velocity. USB 3 is perplexing, as USB three.0 became retrospectively renamed to USB three.1 Gen 1. There’s additionally a newer version, USB three.1 Gen 2. This doubles the capacity throughput from Gen 1’s 5Gb/s to 10Gb/s. In megabytes according to 2nd, those equate to 625 and 1250 respectively. Pretty rapid, then. In fact, the quickest SSDs pinnacle out at round 550MB/s and this speed is highly depending on the tool you’re connecting it to. Protection A rugged outdoors could be on hand in case you want the liberty of being capable of throw around the unplugged force with less worry that it's going to harm the unit; and greater importantly lose your facts. Look out for shock-resistance rankings which includes the United States military MIL-STD-810F 516.Five (Transit Drop Test). This means that it need to face up to being dropped 26 times onto a hard ground, once directly to each face, facet and nook, from a peak of one.22m. Flash storage - more usually called SSDs - can continue to exist extra brutal remedy, and some portable drives are even waterproof. If you had been to accidentally drop a portable SSD drive in water, then so long as the port covers are firmly closed, it's going to work high-quality to use it after it's been absolutely dried. Some drives have an IP water-resistant score like phones. Reliability It’s hard to say definitively which manufacturer makes the maximum dependable tough drives. While there’s a large difference among the generation used in traditional tough drives and SSDs, each have a restrained lifespan, and that is why warranties are fantastically brief - usually or 3 years. What’s vital is which you have a well-notion-out backup process and you don’t rely on any unmarried drive to keep valuable documents. Ideally you must have 3 copies: one on a PC or cellphone / pill, one on a backup power and one in the cloud. Value For many customers, a portable storage drive can be an unavoidable commodity, and price could be the deciding element. Often an older power can be inexpensive way to a drop in rate so you might get a good deal, however ensure you are now not missing out on new tech you would gain from. Security The larger the power, the greater you could keep - and the greater you stand to lose in the occasion of dropping the power or having it stolen. This is where it pays to fasten down that force. There are two methods to make sure the information is unreadable by using other customers. You can scramble the contents thru hardware encryption. Or you can use a software utility to encrypt either components or all of the drive.

Best portable difficult drives & SSDs

1. Adata SD600Q Rating: 4.8 MSRP: From $39.99 It would possibly forego the modern-day USB-C general for connectivity however the Adata SD600Q is a fantastic force for every body searching out a portable SSD and does not have a hugely annoying set of obligations for it. The SD600Q presents a amazing mixture of things together with the robust and compact design, at the side of lower priced prices for decent capacities - if you do not need extra than 1TB. It's also quick sufficient to duplicate documents while not having to anticipate ages and you may also make use of Adata's free software program if you want. 2. Samsung Portable SSD T5 Rating: 4.8 MSRP: $129.99 (250GB), $189.99 (500GB), $379.99 (1TB), $749.99 (2TB) The T5 isn’t cheap, however it offers on the important overall performance that a portable SSDs are offered to make certain. Using one with a pc that has a tough drive is largely useless, as the total velocity benefits can handiest be done if used in aggregate with an inner SSD. 3. G-Technology G-Drive Mobile Rating: 4.6 MSRP: $179.95 It won't be the most inexpensive option but if you're seeking out a portable SSD it is long lasting then the G-Drive Mobile is the way forward with it is IP67 and casing you may pressure over. Performance is likewise very good so there is little to dislike here, simplest simply the tiny cables supplied within the field. 4. Transcend ESD400K Rating: 4.4 MSRP: $94.99 The Transcend ESD400K is a very mild, portable and blisteringly fast portable SSD power. At handiest 56g, the transportable force is easy to hold around and competes with some of the very fine transportable drives in the marketplace. Read our Transcend ESD400K evaluate. 5. SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSD SanDisk Extreme 500 Portable SSD Rating: 4.3 MSRP: $92.99 For those who need high-pace transportable storage, the Extreme 500 is a stable preference. Capacities enlarge to 480GB which have to be satisfactory for most people. If you need greater, appearance no in addition than the Samsung T3. 6. WD My Passport 4TB Rating: 4.2 MSRP: $114.99 As a excessive-potential portable power, the WD My Passport 4TB (2016) gives cloud services, hardware encryption and has first rate performance for a HDD. 7. Toshiba Canvio Connect II Rating: 4.3 MSRP: $104.99 Aside from pace, the Toshiba Canvio Connect II is a high-quality all-round bundle. It offers acres of space in your backups and media library, it’s reasonably-priced and it comes bundled with virtually beneficial software program. 8. Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB Rating: 4.5 MSRP: $89.99 The Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim isn't always a pinnacle performer, however with its 2TB garage and outstanding slim layout, the Seagate transportable power is extraordinary for backing up files. Read our Seagate Backup Plus Ultra Slim 2TB assessment. 9. Freecom mHDD Slim 1TB Rating: 4.3 MSRP: $85.99 Despite having an high priced price per GB, the Freecom mHDD Slim 1TB is a fashionable, nicely-made transportable hard pressure. Read our Freecom mHDD Slim 1TB evaluation. 10. Freecom Tablet Mini SSD Rating: 4.2 MSRP: $83.99 If you’re specifically after a portable power that may connect to your phone or tablet to offer more garage or act as a backup for its pix and motion pictures, the Freecom is a decent choice. It isn’t fashionable neither is it the cheapest, however it plays nicely and is convenient thanks to the constructed in USB cables. Read the full article

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