A New Start

Five years ago, I left the world of freelance writing for a career in museum work. Although I still write (and often!) the nature of the work is such that I need fairly few tools to do so. 80% of my writing is done on Google Docs, with a few jobs relegated to Microsoft Word when I need features like mail merge, complex styles, or sections.

With my writing life vastly simplified, I found I no longer had much to share here in the way of tips and tricks for writers, and this site withered. I’ve kept it online only because some of the resources have still proven valuable to others.

But I’ve missed blogging, and I’ve decided to start up this site again, with a bit of a focus change. From now on, I’ll be defining “technology” much more widely, focusing primarily (though not necessarily exclusively) on the analog tools that are my starting point for almost all writing. That’s right, techy as I am, I almost always start my writing process with a pen or pencil and paper, and generally have no fewer than a half-dozen writing implements and several notebooks on me at any given time.

Why I do this is a topic I’ll revisit some other time. What’s important here is that from now on, you’ll start seeing a lot of reviews of pens, pencils, paper products, inks, and other office supplies that make my writing life work. As well, you’ll probably see the occasional “idea piece”, as I explore thoughts related to the writing life and the tools I use.

This isn’t a new field for me. As managing editor at Lifehack.org, I frequently wrote about analog tools, for instance:

• Productivity Pr0n: 5 Unusually Useful Notepads
• 10 Affordable Pens Geeks Love
• 10 Great Notebooks Productive People Love
• 13 Ways of Looking at an Index Card
• Stationery Pr0n: Japanese Pens and More from Jetpens.com
• 13 Things to Do with a Moleskine Notebook

At Lifehack.org, I had an audience and a boss to please. Here, I only have to please myself  — though it would be great if other people find my reviews and other pieces useful, too.

The first review will be up soon. Thanks for joining me as I blow out the dust and get the old blog up and running again.