Updated February 25 2025
Inspired by Robb Knight and following the suggestions of Wes Bos, these are the things I use regularly, and for the most part, daily.
Most Uses pages are very hardware focused and involve a desk. My desk is in storage on the other side of the country, while I’m taking care of Mom. For now, I’m using portable tech that doesn’t require a desk or chair.
I also use a lot of analog technology.
Upgraded from 2018 13'' inch Retina MacBook Air with a failing-again butterfly keyboard in December of 2024 to a MacBook Air M3 with 24 GB RAM and a 1 terrabyte drive.
2 Seagate Backup Plus Slim 2TB External Portable HDD USB 3.0 drives
One drive for for TimeMachine, one for miscellaneous long-term file archiving. I'm planning on replacing them with portable SSDs, eventually.CanoScan LIDE 300 Mostly I use this to scan old photograps and paperwork for my Mom.
Brother HL-L2300D Monochrome Laser Printer Efficient and inexpensive, but awkward to use because it can only print PDF files or images, and only with the Brother iPrint&Scan software, but it does support duplex.
I purchased the 10.2'' iPad for writing, but without a desk, the iPad is too awkward for long term use, and as my sight decays, difficult to get close enough to see the screen for long term use. I stopped being able to use a lap desk some time ago. It's not used very often these days. It's still where I read/use digital manuscript and early printed book facsimiles, which I need to list here.
Mostly I use my iPhone for photos, messaging, podcasts, phone calls, and music. Removed Instagram, Mastodon, Threads and BlueSky in January. Deleted Twitter & Facebook several years ago.
I can no longer reliably read printed books, so I pay close attention to ereaders. I bought a Kindle Paperwhite in 2017 when I realized I’d be taking care of Mom, away from home and my books. It’s served me well, but its battery is dying and I’m usng Amazon as little as possible.
I was given a Kobo Libre 2 for Christmas, and primarily use it for reading fiction and poetry.
I use my iPad Mini, mostly, for non fiction ebooks and .pdfs, with the Apple Pencil 2.
Most of what I write involves analog tools at one or more stages of my writing process. I tend to buy scholarly books in printed codex form, and novels that are important to me in particularly well-designed hardcovers. I’ still buy physical media for a fair amount of video & music.
I re-use a lot of paper generated by TPTB where Mom and I live that has text on one side for random nots and to dos. I also use a fair amount of stationery in the form of cards and letters. But for work and purely practical writing, I look for inexpensive paper.
I usually have a couple of Composition books in use at any time. I watch for back-to-school sales at chain stores and Renys when these American standards with lined pages, a sewn binding and marbled covers are on sale for $0.50 to $1.00. Those that are made with rice or sugar cane fibers will even stand up to F or M nib fountain pens. I use Composition books for general research notes and drafts, and recycle them for compost when I’m finished.
I bought an EMSHOI A4 Spiral Notebook College Ruled, 11.2" X 8.27", 150 Sheets/300 Pages, 100gsm Lined Journal on a whim. This is a thick notebook with decent paper, great for drafts and notes, good with pens, fountain pens, or pencil, and surprisingly affordable.
Fieldnotes When I was out and about I used pocket notebooks a lot, for grocery lists, short notes to myself about things to do or remember, bird sightingsall sorts of things. They fit in even the pockets of women’s pants, and I generally had one on me all the time. Field Notes has of late produced some particularly lovely editions. I still have one stashed in various places, and generally have a pocket notebook in reach for quick notes or reminders to myself.
Write Notepads High quality hard cover A5 note books ruled with lines, blank and dot grid. I use these notebooks for things I expect to keep. Write Notepads makes my current favorite Weekly Planner Notebook in landscape form, and I use their A4 8.5'' x 11'' Memo Notepads in their Meeting ruling, and their spiral bound Meeting Notebook for translations (annotations in the narrow left column, translation in the wider right column). The often sold out Engineer’s Notebook is a spiral bound notebook ruled with a grad, like graph paper, but then there’s an additional 4 x 4 ruling, making it super for designing layouts, etc.
I use index cards, record cards, note cards, 3 x 5 cards or whatever they are called in your dialect, daily. They are useful short form notes to remind me of daily objectives, reading notes, bibliographic citations, writing prompts, portable shopping lists.
I love a good woodcased pencil, and have a number of favorites. Everyone raves about Blackwing Pencils, and I’m very fond of them, but $32.00 for twelve pencils is a bit pricey. There are lots of really good, enjoyable, more reasonably priced pencils.
I use a variety of pens, but these are the ones I use the most.
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February 25, 2025
Copyright 2024–2025 by Lisa L. Spangenberg