My new favorite text editing iPhone app? Drafts. I heard about it last month via Ben Brooks, and after an initial hesitation (the design didn’t really appeal to me at first), I bought it. And now I love it.

It’s a simple idea, really — when you open the app, it creates a new note with the keyboard open. Which means you can start typing immediately. Which is awesome.

In fact, in the last few days I’ve started using it almost entirely to the exclusion of my other iPhone text editors (Simplenote and iA Writer). It’s really, really good for getting thoughts down quickly. I recommend it.

The Instapaper 4.2 update dropped last night, and mmm, it’s tasty.

First, there’s a new fast pagination mode. It’s fast. Really fast. And smooth. I love it. (There’s also a new iBooks-style mode where you get a page turn animation. It’s okay, but I’m hooked on fast pagination mode.)

If you’re using pagination instead of scrolling (and I recommend that you do), the scrollbar has been moved from the thin line on the right down to a series of dots on the bottom. Since with pagination you’re moving left and right instead of up and down, it makes more sense this way. And it feels more right.

There’s a new auto fullscreen feature that switches to fullscreen after a few seconds. I hadn’t been using fullscreen mode before this update, but it’s nice and I’m liking it.

Finally, the release fixes a couple bugs (like opening into an archived article instead of into the main inbox).

All in all, a great update to an awesome app.

Today’s ebook release: George MacDonald’s fairy tale The Light Princess, available as always in EPUB, Kindle, and web editions.

I was pleasantly surprised to see how well the book (or story, rather, since it’s actually very short) held up to a rereading. Mmm, I love George MacDonald’s work.

Apparently I’m in a language-chart-making mood. This time, though, the nerdiness quotient jumps dramatically, with an Ogham alphabet chart. Ogham is a medieval alphabet used for Primitive Irish and Old Irish and a few other languages. Very obscure, but also very cool, as you can see:

It can be written both vertically and horizontally. The red letters are the transliteration (according to manuscript tradition), the grey letters in brackets are the pronunciation, and the italicized words are the names of the letters. Some of the forfeda (the last group) changed meanings over the course of time, so I’ve included both. (I haven’t included pronunciations for the forfeda, though, mostly because none of my source materials did and I didn’t want to assign incorrect values.)

Continuing with the language chart nerdiness, here’s a chart of Welsh mutations (in Welsh, the initial consonant of a word can change based on what comes before it):

Thanks to Kjerste Christensen for feedback on the chart.

Per Dan Hanks’ request, here’s a Greek alphabet chart (in PDF):

(Classical Greek, that is, not modern Greek.)

From Mystery and Manners (via Katherine Paterson’s The Spying Heart):

Fiction is about everything human and we are made out of dust, and if you scorn getting yourself dusty, then you shouldn’t try to write fiction. It’s not a grand enough job for you.

In my ebook publishing endeavors, I’ve been focusing pretty much only on EPUB and Kindle for the last year or so, but the other day I was looking at the download stats on my site and, to my surprise, the PDFs of my reader’s editions of the scriptures are more popular than the EPUB/Kindle editions. This got me wondering what actual user preferences are when it comes to ebook formats, specifically as far as my own ebooks go. So, gentle readers, here’s another poll:

1. Of the formats listed below, which can you use? (I.e., you have a reader that can handle it and you know how to load ebooks in that format onto that reader.)

2. Of those formats, which do you prefer? (This is in context of the ebooks on this site — Mormon Texts Project, reader’s editions, fairy tales, original language editions, etc.)

Multiple answers per question are fine, of course. And the list:

• EPUB
• Kindle
• Web (HTML)
• PDF
• Plain text
• Print on demand (hard copy)
• Other (write-in)

Thanks!

When I’m feeling discouraged and imperfect, worlds apart from the holy, unswerving disciple I want to be, I like to remember this quote from Joseph Smith:

Our Heavenly Father is more liberal in his views, and boundless in his mercies and blessings, than we are ready to believe or receive. (In Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, ed. Joseph Fielding Smith)

That’s not a license to sin, of course. But when we’re honestly striving to be good followers of Christ, man, it feels good to know that God is more merciful than I expect him to be.

In roughly chronological order, here are the books I’ve read since my last recent reads post:

Prospero’s Children, by Jan Siegel. I found this via an Orson Scott Card review. At first I really liked it — evocative mood, lovely prose, interesting story — but then the prose started purpling on me and it wasn’t long before my interest level sagged and then deadlined. I ended up skimming the second half of the book in six or seven minutes. Yeah.

Wild Robert, by Diana Wynne Jones. Fun, short read. I read it in a single sitting. I also can’t remember anything about it.

Great Tales from English History 2, by Robert Lacey. Quite enjoyable. Really liked it. I’m looking forward to the first book (which I haven’t read yet).

The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson. A fun, light read. I liked it, though not as much as the original Mistborn trilogy. (But I’m looking forward to the other two upcoming Mistborn trilogies.)

Divergent, by Veronica Roth. It was okay, I guess. The fundamental premise of the society — splitting it up based on a handful of different personality traits — didn’t feel plausible to me, and I didn’t really care for the romance at all. But the story was entertaining.

Stonefather, by Orson Scott Card. I loved this a lot. Man, I want more. It’s in the same Mithermages universe as The Lost Gate (which I need to reread since it’s been long enough that I’ve forgotten almost everything). I really, really like the magic system, and this novella is just wonderful all over. Mmm.

Generative Art, by Matt Pearson. So-so. Some cool stuff, but a bit too much digression.

Shadow of the Hegemon, by Orson Scott Card. Reread in preparation for the release of Shadows in Flight. I still like it a lot — overall, I prefer the Shadow sequels to the original Ender sequels (Speaker for the Dead, Xenocide, and Children of the Mind), but they’re all good, really.

Shadow Puppets, by Orson Scott Card. Reread. Ditto.

Shadow of the Giant, by Orson Scott Card. Reread. Ditto.

Shadows in Flight, by Orson Scott Card. Decently good. I didn’t like it as much as the rest of the series, though. I’ll have to read it again to figure out why (I can’t put my finger on it).

Seventh Son, by Orson Scott Card. Reread. Liked it even more this time round. I don’t know why I’ve waited so long to read the rest of this series, because it’s totally my thing — the worldbuilding, the magic system, the Mormon elements, all of it. (This is Card’s American fantasy retelling of the Joseph Smith story, but “retelling” isn’t quite right — it just borrows bits and pieces from Joseph’s life and the Book of Mormon.)

Red Prophet, by Orson Scott Card. Liked it a lot.

Prentice Alvin, by Orson Scott Card. Liked it a lot. People have told me that the series goes downhill after this one, but I’m almost halfway through Alvin Journeyman and I’m still liking it. We’ll see how it goes. Also, I didn’t realize the series isn’t finished — I thought The Crystal City was the last book, but apparently there’s a Master Alvin still to come. Sweet.

Partials, by Dan Wells. A fun read, but I liked I Am Not a Serial Killer a lot more. Sidenote: most of the sci-fi/fantasy YA I’m reading these days doesn’t feel very plausible anymore, or something like that. I don’t know if I’ve changed or if it’s the books or what, but it’s making it harder to enjoy things. Great, I’m becoming a snob. ;) But really, I’m finding my tastes moving more towards either non-YA sci-fi/fantasy or realistic YA (Gary Schmidt, Jordan Sonnenblick, etc.). I didn’t see this coming. Maybe it’s just a phase.

The Idea Factory, by Jon Gertner. I loved this history of Bell Labs. Tons of cool stuff that I didn’t know much about, like the invention of the transistor (and like a bazillion other things). A great read on science and creativity. I didn’t want it to end.

Whew, that’s a lot of Orson Scott Card.

B. H. Roberts’ discourse Joseph Smith the Prophet-Teacher is now available in EPUB, Kindle, and web editions.

Which leaves just six MTP books in our EPUB/Kindle backlog. We’re getting there… (At some point, by the way, I’m planning to also do EPUB/Kindle editions of Jesus the Christ, The Articles of Faith, and The Story of the Mormonism, using the existing Project Gutenberg texts as a base.)