Blog

Never Miss a Beat

Tools of the Trade: Evernote

By Valarie Budayr

Audrey Press is a very cutting edge company in the sense that the creative teams of people who put our multimedia products together all work virtually. We do get together from time to time, but usually in more of a \”play\” than \”work\” capacity. To make sure that the creative work flow continues to function, we\’ve had to incorporate some nifty online tools to pull it all together. The first tool of the trade I\’d love to share with you is Evernote.

Evernote\

You may not know this about me, but I\’m an Evernote junkie. For those of you who haven\’t heard of Evernote, brace yourself because you\’re in for a real treat.

\”Evernote was created to help the world remember everything, communicate effectively, and get things done.\”

For Audrey Press and Jump into a Book, Evernote has become an integral part to our project production and research as well as our distribution. I can type a note, take stored documents and clip them into Evernote to use or share with others on the team, record audio for our distribution department, capture a photo for a project I\’m researching or creating, clip a webpage into the research file and anything else I might need to save. All of these items go into themed notebooks that I\’ve created. The real gem of this little app is that I can access all of my saved \”stuff\” from anywhere on any device. From my phone, laptop, iPad, and desk-top, everything is synced to perfection.

\

Evernote allows me to put my fingers on things instantly.

Here\’s how I used Evernote to help create The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

I used Evernote for Research.

While creating The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, I made several topic notebooks for the research I\’d be doing. Everything from chocolate, gum, gobstoppers, and more got their own notebook. Each time I\’d find a bit of research, I\’d just clip it into my Evernote Notebook.

I used Evernote to create the book outline.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is a book my family has jumped into several times. There were activities we would always do, such as the Golden Ticket Scavenger Hunt and then there were those things that we would add new to the adventure each time we took it. Needless to say I had years with of activity and game notes. I scanned or clipped these notes into Evernote by topic. After everything was in, I could easily see what would work well in the book and what would be omitted.

I used Evernote to organize each chapter.

Once the outline was approved and the chapters decided upon, I made specific chapter notebooks and organized the book from the outline in Evernote.

I used Evernote to collect my photos.

The Ultimate Guide to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory not only holds beautiful illustrations but incorporated into them are several of my photos. As we were putting the book together I had to actually make all of the recipes and crafts and play a few games too. All of these photos could easily get disorganized but not with Evernote. As I took each series of photos, I would load them into the selected chapter notebook and then send them off to graphic designer and illustrator Roscoe Welply for him to have a look at and see which photos would work with his designs the best.

Simply put, I use Evernote every single day for a myriad of uses. I\’ll be back again with more wonderful functions of Evernote. Until then, here\’s a close up look to see how Evernote might help you in your life. Enjoy.

 

\Valarie Budayr is the founder of Audrey Press and author of the books The Fox Diaries: The Year the Foxes Came to our Garden and The Ultimate Guide To Charlie and The Chocolate Factory. She is passionate about making kid’s books come alive and when she isn’t jumping into a book and creating wildly inventive adventures, she is \”mom\” to three uber creative children, married to a wonderfully patient man who has come to love yarn, proud owner of one adored cat, and the Fox Whisperer to lots and lots of Foxes (that come and go as they please). You can also find Valarie on Facebook at (facebook link for JIAB) or on Twitter at @Bookjumper.

3 thoughts on “Tools of the Trade: Evernote”

  1. Hi Valarie –

    Nice post! I love hearing how other people are leveraging Evernote in multiple areas (and ways) of their life. Thank you for sharing. I might be able to integrate something that you’re doing into my 101 Evernote Strategies to share with others! http://Busyness.com/evernote-101

    Blessings,
    Dr. Brad Semp
    The Busyness Doctor

    1. Hello Dr Brad,
      So glad to have a fellow Evernote friend. I’m heading over to your site to check out these 101 strategies.
      Thanks so much for stopping by and I’m really looking forward to sitting down and gleaning some new ideas.
      Every time I meet and evernote fan I learn something new. Take care./Valarie

  2. I just downloaded Evernote recently onto my new machine and phone, though I’m not sure yet how to properly incorporate it into my life and get the best use out of it…

Comments are closed.