Adam Haworth interviewed Jim Dalrymple of The Loop fame. Jim is one of the most prominent independent writers in the blogging world and I respect his views highly.

I enjoyed this interview more than most because Adam let Jim talk in an unrestricted and relaxed manner: the whole piece feels candid and off the record, in a good way. I feel I'm getting a secret, behind the scenes glimpse into Jim's mind.

As an independent writer myself, this interview gave me not only hope, but guidance: it's important to have your own voice. Jim explains:

“What I find really comes to the top are the people that have that voice. Like Gruber’s voice. When he says something, people will listen to him and when he makes a joke about a link, people will listen to that and laugh along with him. It’s not because he has a link blog, it’s because he’s John Gruber.”

This type of voice needs to grow over time and be carefully trained. It must be nurtured. I feel I'm still learning and understanding my own voice, but I can see how it's changed in the relatively short time I've been writing. I wonder where it'll take me next.

Great catch by Tom Klaver — use the new "Guided Access" accessibility option in iOS 6 to help you focus.

Notifications won't show up when it's activated, double clicking the home button won't open the multitasking tray and notification centre isn't accessible.

Here's how to turn it on:

Try this:

1. Turn on Guided Access in Settings > General > Accessibility.
2. Switch to your book app.
3. Triple-click the Home button to invoke Guided Access.
4. Tap ‘Done’.

Switching to your distraction apps now takes 3 clicks on the Home button, filling in a passcode, a tap on the ‘End’ button and a click on the Home button. Enough of a hassle to stay focused, I believe.

I will be using this a lot. Do Not Disturb is great — but it only stops notifications when your device is locked. This works when you're actively using it.