One thing I’ve discovered in the past eight months of nonstop crazy is the joy of writing longhand on paper. Not “journaling” per se, although I do that as well. By “writing,” I mean I write notes to myself, grocery lists, today’s tasks, ideas, random bits of conversation. There is something about the act of writing by hand that records information into my scattered brain better than typing ever could.
And yet I’ve found that the tools I use for hand writing are critical to the process. I can jot down a note on the back of an envelope, but it doesn’t really stick — it doesn’t really matter — until I’ve written it carefully on one of the stack of notepads I keep at hand.
The notepads. Ah, special notepads, I love you. Ampad Gold Fibre, 20 pound paper, wide-ruled legal pads. Beautiful smooth, heavy paper. Perfect surface. The feel of my hand gliding across it as I write is pure pleasure.
The pens: Dr. Grip Center of Gravity with an orange barrel. Not pink, not silver, not charcoal: orange barrel, please. No, I don’t know why and it doesn’t have to make sense, does it, really? The pen comfortably fits my damaged hand and the orange makes me happy. That’s reason enough.
The system: A stack of the perfect notepads.
Each subject has its own notepad. There is one for a list of work tasks. One for marketing and business to-dos. One for project ideas. One for fun things. One for things I want to remember that don’t fit into any of the other subjects. And lately there is the newest one, the Book of Me, the place where I write notes and observations and things I want to remember about Me. I’ve lived in this body for more than half a century and there are so many things I’ve never before paid attention to — things like “high-protein breakfast prior to 9 am = better day,” and “Naps are almost as good as a night’s sleep for boosting creativity. Take more naps.”
Tonight the importance of the proper writing tools came back into my awareness. A month or two ago, seeing that my stock of fresh notepads was getting low, I ordered some new ones. They came in; I put them away and never thought about them until tonight, when I pulled out a blank one and realized that I had ordered the wrong thing.
Sixteen-pound paper, not 20-pound. Ack. It feels flimsy and just not right under my hand.
So despite the fact that I have two dozen fresh notepads of 16-pound paper sitting in the cupboard downstairs, I just ordered a dozen of the good heavyweight ones. They’ll be here next Thursday.
And all will be right in my elitist writing world again.
Let’s begin at the very beginning. There are several free options that make it really easy to start a blog. Blogspot (Blogger) is the most popular, with TypePad, LiveJournal, and WordPress’s own hosted blogs right behind. These are easy to set up and they don’t require you to buy a domain name or a hosting plan.
So why would you choose to spend roughly $75 a year and have your own separate WordPress blog if the freebies are, well, free, and easy to set up?
Because you are serious about your business as an artist, a quilter, a teacher, a restaurant owner, or whatever.
