Challenge Number One in the PEAPOD Mix: Maintaining one's gusto in the face of it all.

Okay, so be forewarned -- if you're considering embarking on a PEAPOD Mix of your own, to create and promote content in Print, Electronic an Audio formats, best eat your Wheaties and catch up on your sleep. Because there's no end to opportunies to do more and more and more... and the more you do, the more that seems like it needs to be done.

I have my work cut out for me, clearly. With a whole bunch of projects, it's easy to spread yourself very thinly... and given the amount of work it takes to formulate and express cogent ideas, I could burn myself out very easily doing EVERYTHING AT ONCE.

Don't think the temptation hasn't presented itself to me. It has. It's sitting right here on the desk beside me -- my long list of Things To Do, which is actually an abbreviated version of everything that Needs To Be Done. I desperately want to do a whole lot of stuff and have a whole lot of accomplishment under my belt. But I know full well that I really need to pace myself, and if I don't accomplish the basics -- like finishing the text edits of "Fuel" and putting together the audio pieces of my virtual book tour, I'll never have a moment's rest.

It's mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually impossible to do Everything At Once, so I've got to pick and choose. And choose my tools carefully.

Ferinstance:

I know I need to do a lot of writing for my blogs -- catch up with them, and generate fresh ideas for each. I also know that I think best when it's quiet, and the computer isn't humming. So, do I write everything by hand, then dictate it into the computer later with my speech recognition software (SRS)? That's certainly an option. I've done it before with good results. But it's also somewhat labor-intensive, as the SRS can be persnickety. And I need to move quickly, not wade through generating content twice, which is what I'd have to do , if I write in longhand first, and dictated later.

I also don't want to have to hassle with the computer keyboard, the slowness of the machine, and having to deal with software. I need a fast and quiet way to put my words into electronic text.

So, out comes the little Handspring Visor PDA I picked up for a song on eBay a year or so ago. Out comes the collapsible keyboard I got for a very low price as well. Snap them together, turn on the PDA, and create a new memo, then start typing. Not only do I not have to wait for my PC to boot up, but I don't have to deal with the whining of the box, which irritates the bejesus out of me. I can hot-synch my PDA with the computer when I'm done and capture everything I've typed, then move it all to my blogs later. At my leisure. No worries. It's even better than typing right into the blog(s), because it lets me create a quick and easy draft of the content I can look at later.

It's the best of all worlds. And I can see why international journalists use their PDAs and collapsible keyboards to write up their pieces on the plane.

I plan to do the same-- on the train -- when I find my full-time job. I had considered buying a laptop and using it, but it's far more horsepower than I need, just for capturing text. And it takes much longer to boot up.

This PDA and full-sized collapsible keyboard are the best of all worlds. With this configuration, it's actually almost possible to do everything at once.