Euan Semple's Blog, page 20

The best writing tool for on the road

Ihave been digging away at finding the best writing setup for when I am traveling in our campervan.

I started using my phone with a small external keyboard but this was too fiddly and although none of it took up much space I ended up not using it.

I then used my iPad, which is my favourite writing tool especially for all the great apps that run on it, but the challenge of having a separate keyboard and needing a tray to rest things on on my knees, all proved too enervating and I just wasn’t doing it.

I then tried to get hold of a dedicated iPad keyboard that would make it sit on my lap like a laptop. The Brydge keyboard looked like the right one but it still hasn’t arrived yet despite being ordered nearly a month ago!

I thought about buying a new laptop. I’d love a new MacBook Air but can’t really justify the cost. But then my daughter Mollie pointed out that I could go back to using my original MacBook Air which she had been using (she’s now moved over to iPad). This machine is 12 years old but still runs really well. The only issue is that it doesn’t run current versions of a lot of the apps that I use and I had to find a way of charging it up in the van which has a liesure battery that drives DC sockets. I found an inverter on Amazon for only £27 that will convert 12V DV to 240V AC and allow me to charge my laptop on the road.

So, in the absence of my new iPad keyboard I have been able to work out a combination of my iPhone, my iPad, and my ageing MacBook, Drafts, Ulysses, and Notes, in a way that will allow me to write on any device, anywhere, and at any time, and have the writing sync across all of them.

Now I have no excuse not to write!

The End Of Summer?

So is this it? Is this the end of summer?

In some ways I am not sad. I love seasons and I love the way we move from one to the other here in the UK. I couldn’t cope with Southern California for instance where is there is minimal weather change with the seasons.

I love laying around in the heat near water but I also love walking in the hills so I guess I am good at making the most of whichever season we are in.

I look forward to Autumn and Winter. I love the changes of colours and the misty mornings such as we had here this morning.

But I will also miss the heat, the indulgence of baking in the sun, the (almost) justified delight of doing nothing all day.

Getting back into writing

I would like to write more. How many times have I said this? All it takes is to sit down with one of my many devices and start writing. But I will do anything but…

However. The idea of making an income from writing appeals to me. I should be able to do it. I’ve had a book published and been blogging for 20 years after all! To be able to travel around in our campervan, earning enough to fund our travels, would be my ideal.

But somehow sending out pitches as a freelance writer feels daunting.

I need to get on with it…

Food

My thoughts on eating aren’t neutral. They are still very charged. I am either denying myself pleasure or indulging myself because I feel that I deserve a treat.

It is as if I use food the way I used to use alocohol or riding my motorbikes too fast. “Getting blootered” with food. It is the same desire to numb myself.

But numb myself to what? To life? Why?

It’s alive

Writers fear the blank page more than anything else. But just sitting here at four am, looking at the cursor flashing on the blank page, it’s as if the page has a heartbeat. It is alive. It is just waiting patiently for me to write something on it…

Reality

Having spent a long time peering into eastern understanding of consciousness and reality in the form of the likes of Dogen, Ramana Maharshi and many others it was interesting to spend more than three hours recently in the company of Lex Fridman and Donald Hoffman exploring the same topics from a scientific perspective.

Worth investing the time if you have it.

Grievances

We all have them. Lots of them. Big ones, small ones. Just take a glance at Twitter.

What would would happen if we all gave them all up?

Would the world fall apart? Would we fall apart?

Or would it all come together?

A creative life

Our lives are our greatest creative acts. Each day we get to choose how we respond to the world around us.

No matter what circumstances we find ourselves in, our experience is shaped by our perceptions and these are in our control.

Why not create the best day you’ve ever had?

That’s one very happy garden

After all these weeks of warm weather and sunshine you can just hear the grass gulping down the water.

What’s in a name?

What a shame that my pleasure at watching the intense activity of small birds wheeling and swooping above me catching flies was hampered by my frustration at not knowing whether they were swifts, swallows, or house martens.