Joseph Dickson – Page 6 – Joseph Dickson

Vim for Distraction Free Writing

When I’m not using a journal to collect my thoughts I dig up my aging Toshiba NB505, a fifteen year old netbook that I saved from e-waste when my dad upgraded. It’s currently running Debain + i3wm and it’s last practical use if for drafting and editing text.

The keyboard, surprisingly is where this machine excelled, It offers tapered keys with a deep key activation. I rarely find myself hitting the wrong key. I’ve replaced the battery, twice for maybe $40 in total and it provides about four hours of screen time.

i3wm and Vim

Vim and i3wm provides a ultra minimalist user configurable desktop. In my case I use a top bar featuring up to ten desktop locations, estimated remaining battery time, CPU usage which is almost always below 3%, followed by the date and time. I tap meta-key + Enter and launch lxterm a lightweight configurable terminal window that takes up 100% of the remaining limited screen space.

I navigate to my Documents folder, create a sub-folder with today’s date and open Vim which I’ve also customized to enable line breaks and syntax highlighting, I prefer to edit in markdown.

Why I choose Vim

As a WordPress developer I spend a lot of time in a terminal windows running bash. Nano is often installed by default but lacks advanced features, or perhaps I didn’t bother to check. Vim is highly configurable and relies on keyboard navigation instead of menus. A massive advantage once I memorized the routines I use most frequently.

Vim allows me to enable and disable spellcheck and Debian provides flexibility to move the resulting file to the cloud or my thumb-drive for direct device to device transfer. Using free and open source workflows allow me to customize, add, remove, disable features that proprietary software have been increasingly used to interrupt users with notifications advertising features I don’t give a shit about or advertising some new scheme to drain recurring revenue from their clients.

I Might Change My Process

This Toshiba netbook is a teenager, it shows its age through the decomposing soft lid plastics. Beyond writing this netbook provides no utility.

A year ago I changed career paths, WordPress no longer generates the majority of my income. I spend forty hours a week project planning, writing, researching, and editing on a Windows 11 laptop provided by my employer, unsurprisingly with feet planted deeply in Office 365, head in the Adobe Cloud. Muting notifications and hitting F11 to full screen notepad, windows or a terminal isn’t enough, interruptions make their way through.

Many Options

Migrate writing to my personal laptop which needs a battery replacement. Complicated because it requires special tools to disassemble. This is probably the most practical option since I’ll need to do it anyway.

Buy a Freewrite device, gain access to a highly desirable e-ink or RLCD display, but accept that I don’t own my software. I know I’ll enjoy using a Freewrite but my free-software mindset could get in the way. What if I hate the keyboard?

Use my iPad and keyboard folio with notifications disabled, this is not a comfortable as the Toshiba netbook because the Logitech keyboard feels like two thin sheets of plastic.

I could get a low powered computer like the Raspberry Pi and pair it with a keyboard and small screen. These are all things I want to consider before shoveling $350 to $700 towards a vendor locked in device.

As I accept my career adjustment and the undeniable reality that I’m a now writer I feel like I need to allow myself space to experiment with new techniques and devices that will improve my drafting experience. Perhaps, even with its flaws a Freewrite Traveler or Alpha might be a worth the expense even if it it is a failure. Am I willing to spend that much money on a single purpose proprietary device?

The Sterling Pooch by Second Chance Beer Co

Another quiet evening at home, I wandered to the fridge to find a beverage. A bold high contrast can caught my eye, it features a silhouette of a terrier with a red cape around the collar. The typography, bold newspaper style cutout letters. The kind you’d see on a ransom note from the 80s. How’d I forget about this one?

This malty caramel brew sticks to my tongue long after a sip. It reminds me of an English style Brown Ale from Obec Brewing of Seattle, Washington, that I tried last December. The Steerling Pooch from Second Chance Beer Co. is a Scottish-style ale but a wee bit heavy at seven percent alcohol by volume.

Journals

In 2013, I began using the Bullet Journal method, frequently either paired with a Moleskine or Leuchtturm1917 A5 hard-cover notebook and a Dixon Ticonderoga pencil. An A5 journal still serves as my filtered inbox. A trick I learned after Reading David Crensaw’s book The Myth of Multitasking, where he suggested using one inbox for everything, or was that in David Allen’s Getting Things Done? Either way, I picked up the practice of using a journal as my inbox.

However, I craved a better long-form writing experience; pencils were okay, but ballpoint and gel pens didn’t suit me. I eventually picked up my first fountain pen, a TWSBI Eco with a fine nib, during the pandemic around 2020. Since then, I have explored the idea of finding the perfect combination of pen, notebook, and ink. Along the way, I realized my preferences changed.

My Daily Journal

Ideally, cream paper, unlined, blank page, A5 notebook, or warm paper is suitable for pencil sketches or inky, messy notes and incomplete thoughts. I have a preference for darker inks, particularly reds. However, different shades of black and blue-black are a close second. Hard or soft cover will do as long as the cover and binding hold up to a year of daily use and tossing about.

I usually pair this daily journal with a fine or medium nib Pilot Prera, particularly for its slip cap, my perfect multi-purpose combination for all but prolonged writing sessions.

Long-Form Writing

Another A5, but with ruled cream paper, and I didn’t expect to enjoy it. Restricting myself to lined pages guides my hand and helps keep my thoughts grounded. I don’t get distracted by drifting rows of text, which keeps me in a mind-like water focus as I write. I always pair this activity with a Pilot Custom 823 and Pilot blue-black to reduce my cognitive load by avoiding a decision. I grab the book and pre-filled pen and find a comfortable place for a long writing session.

Using a separate journal for long-form writing is distraction-free and forward-thinking. I don’t flip pages to notes or projects in my daily journal and often keep my smartphone with its pointless notifications in another room or on mute. If a stray idea pops up, I’ll reach for my pocket notebook instead.

The Pocket Notebook

My leather passport wallet holds a Muji or Field Notes pocket notebook. The intention is to resist grabbing my phone. The wallet is always on me and an alternative to unlocking my device, opening an app, and swiping over the glass with my thumb. I pair the notebook wallet with a Kaweco Sport using an extra-fine nib and Noodler’s Black ink.

The Kaweco is rugged and holds up to bouncing in my front pants pocket, gets scuffed up against my keys, and Noodler’s black is thick enough not to drip into the cap.

Travel Companion

A Traveler’s Company Notebook is perfect for occasions where I want to bring just one notebook, larger than my passport wallet, and if I’m comfortable carrying it around. The modular design allows for different inserts and combinations of paper, and I could use it as an oversized wallet. However, its flexibility makes it thick; all these individual notebooks, inserts, and accessories take up space, and the notebooks rarely lay flat when open.

Hobonichi Techo

This year, I’m experimenting with using this cutesy A6 planner to recap my day. I may have more on that in the future post.