Shawn Blanc did a great series on the stuff he uses to work and to write, so I figured I’d do the same, not that anyone really cares. My work process is very, very unusual and I don’t really recommend it to anyone, but here’s what it is:

WRITING:

Google Docs - I write all my stuff in Google Docs. It’s got the word processing features I need and none of the bloat. When I was working in Word, I would get too bogged down in the things I wasn’t using and even spellcheck began to be annoying. The fact that all my stuff is stored, with versions, in the “cloud” has always been a big plus to me. The killer feature for me is the share. While I don’t use it much - I wish more editors would get into the idea that they could monitor my progress while I write - it’s invaluable during Team Health Report Season.

Scrivener - I use Scrivener for the really long form stuff. I don’t know how to use most of the features and I feel like I should take a couple weeks and just learn. It’s intuitive enough that I can work on my novel and get things done though.

Yojimbo - Yojimbo is my everything box. All my notes, call notes, links, and other assorted stuff goes into Yojimbo. The ability to search through all that crap is invaluable. The fact that I have about five years of crap that’s easily searchable is a huge advantage to me. I just used it this morning to get notes from a conversation I had with Matt Garza almost five years ago that suddenly became relevant. An iOS version would be amazing.

iA Writer - I don’t write on the iPad much, but when I do, Writer’s what I use. It’s solid enough to do work at the park, but I find myself using it for taking notes while watching TV mostly.

Chrome - I go back and forth on browsers, mostly with Safari, but the need for Flash (ugh) on MLB.com is what keeps me mostly on Chrome. I like the speed and the way it works with GDocs and GMail too, but mostly it just gets out of the way. 

Spider7 - This one’s the purpose-built search tool I’ve used since starting UTK. It’s basically a primitive version of Google Alerts that pulls in news on injuries using a loooong series of keywords and rankings. It’s on version 7, but hasn’t been updated since 2008. A programmer friend of mine created it and then shifted it over to Mac. 

Jigsaw - I switched to Salesforce’s CRM back in 2007 and love it. It manages my contacts and deals with my encrypted contact database without any problem. 

TextExpander - Snippets save me. My wrist often threatens to put me on the DL, so anything that saves keystrokes is huge. I use it for answering emails and tweets, but it also allows me to put regularly used phrases into columns quickly and easily. It’s new ability to use scripts is turning out to be a huge help as well.

Twitteriffic - I tweet a lot and while I’m still mixed on the platform, I’m not mixed on Twitteriffic, which I use on Mac, iPhone, and iPad. It’s still, to me, the best integrated solution across my various platforms. Supporting a company like Iconfactory makes me feel good as well.

PODCAST:

Skype - I’ll admit that the sale to Microsoft worries me, but there’s no great alternative. Skype just works and works well. Quality is significantly better than on Google Talk, though I’m told that could be changing soon as Google works to catch up.

WireTap Studio - Simple way of recording the Skype conversations. Again, it just works.

Levelator - Because there’s always some sound engineer that listens to a podcast and complains, this tool is a godsend. 

GarageBand - I mix and edit the podcasts in GarageBand because again, it’s simple and just works. I keep debating a step up to Logic, but can’t commit to spending $500 on software that might not significantly improve the process. Then again, I’d love to do some stutter edits.

Blue Snowball - I love this USB mic. My voice is higher than I think it is and nothing’s ever made me sound as good as Blue.

Logitech headphones - I often use the boom mic for quick recordings, but tend to just use the headphones. Logitechs are cheap given what they are and while they’re not perfect or indestructible, I’m on about my third set of them. 

HARDWARE:

I work on four Apple platforms. I have an iPhone 4 and an original iPad. I use an iMac (Late 2009, 3.0GHz processor) for sound editing and hardcore tasks. I have a MacBook Air 11” that is my primary for writing and browsing. I don’t find it underpowered at all for my tasks. The only thing that ever makes it work is Adobe Flash, which I avoid at all costs.

I also rely on a Steelcase Leap chair, a Capresso Team coffee maker, and Rocstor hard drives for backups and storage.