Analog

I’ve decided to try something new. Instead of waking up, turning on my computer, and writing there at my desk, this morning I’m on the couch, sitting in front of the tree, writing this out in long hand. The coffee pot is percolating, the heat is crackling (no, we don’t have a fireplace but the radiator pipes are heating up), and I am enjoying the calm of the morning before the chaos of the day sets in.

The mornings are the best time of the day for me. It is when the world is still pregnant with possibilities. C wakes up much later than me; I’m usually up around five, give or take an hour. As a result, the mornings are mine. I don’t have to be on for anyone—no partner to wake, no issue with a direct report, no bug to track down. Just the radiators and their gentle pops and bings. Sitting in front of our sparse, little tree with white lights brings a calmness to my soul.

It’s nice not staring at a screen, although I did spend an hour scrolling Hacker News when I woke up at 04:15 this morning. It was too cold and I wasn’t ready to get out of bed so I grabbed my phone. Still that wretched habit. However, I did come across a Corey Doctorow post, which led me to glance through his archives. How can any one person be so prolific a writer? How can any one person write so much quality writing? He reminds me of Margaret Atwood’s output. I’ve never read a book of his—although the Red Team Blues looks quite good—but his blog is chockablock full of thoughtful content. I imagine writing begets writing but I am curious what his writing schedule looks like. Add it to my curiosity list…

Part of his prolific writing might be the inputs into his life: the books and articles he ingests. Last night, I took the 24 books I want to read in 2023, added up all the pages, and found that if I read 20 pages a day, I’ll get through them all. Instead of the mindless Hacker News scrolling, this self-imposed daily minimum should force me to keep a book in my hands instead of my phone. These books I’ve picked out are all in physical form. I have read that physical books are more helpful in retaining information than ebooks; something to do with spatial location (don’t quote me on this as I should probably find that info). Also, apparently taking notes by hand is better for retention than taking digital notes.

When I was younger, before laptops and mobiles and the always on world we live in became ubiquitous, I would spend a lot of time in my notebooks, a lot of time in books. I think I was labeled a nerd early on because I was always reading (that and I started wearing glasses in the first grade). Now I spend less time reading, more time scrolling. My attention span has suffered, my body has suffered. I am tied to tech, partly because I’m a coder, partly because I work virtually. I’m looking into how I can live a life not so tethered to digital products, where the tech merely supports my day rather than occupy most of it.

Writing long hand is a nice reminder of the Nikki I used to be. Plus, I actually like my handwriting. It’s been a slow, lovely morning.