Protect your computer and your information

Keeping your information secure on the internet is important in the digital age.  Google Good to Know gives you five tips for making sure your information stays safe and your computer virus free.  The site reminds you to:

1.      Create safe passwords and change them twice a year.

2.      Enable 2-step verification of password accessed sites.

3.      Update software when prompted because updates often contain important security fixes.

4.      Beware of suspicious sites that resemble authentic ones.

5.      Scan your computer regularly for viruses and malware.

Watch a video on how to perform these five tasks at http://www.google.com/goodtoknow/online-safety/

Get it done---a day at a time!

Every evening at 6 pm I get an email from http://idonethistoday  asking, “What’d you get done today?” I make a mental list of anything I did over the course of the past 24 hours with regard to my current historical fiction project. Then I take a few moments to reply to the email, and the site makes the entry on a monthly calendar.  When I log into the site, I can check the calendar for a full list of accomplishments I’ve reported.

Checking the monthly calendar makes me feel productive, even though on some days I didn’t accomplish much (or anything at all). Over the course of the week or the month, though, I can see that I did actually make progress in my research/writing/ marketing of my historical fiction. It’s all psychological, but it works to keep me motivated.  I believe in the tool’s pitch. The website claims that, “Inch by inch, anything’s a cinch. We’ll keep a calendar for you of what you got done. Look to your streak from yesterday to motivate you today.”

Stop Wasting Time!

If you are like me, you probably waste a lot of time checking email and social media sites before (or instead of) getting down to the nitty gritty of research and writing your historical novel.  Stay Focusd in a new Google Chrome extension that will help you stay focused on your work.

According to the website, the product works “by restricting the amount of time you can spend on time-wasting websites. Once your allotted time has been used up, the sites you have blocked will be inaccessible for the rest of the day.”

I need to take all the help I can get to avoid unwanted distractions! Like all the web tools I write about in this blog, Stay Focusd is free.