Mikes Thoughts

writing without

I was sitting with coffee along our street this morning. Remembering how I tried apple journal and everlog for the meandering of mind and soul. Both of the apps are nice. I could just do them. I could write in an app and feel the journal is complete but the journey is not. Probably same holds true with apps like obsidian. They are too much. Too many things by default. So I came up with writing without. That’s what this wants to be. So some reasons for no journaling app. Your mileage will definitely vary.

  1. No app gives me all I want or as little. Each one has precious screen real estate on my iPhone 13 clogged up with options. With things. Do these things make my writing better? Easier. Faster. I don’t think so. Is there a way to turn it all off and just have what IA Writer gives? No. So too much and too little.
  2. Features I do want are not done and I am left to the mercy of kindly developers to implement. They know what their app does. So they ensure it does it well. A simple thing like inline photos or better markdown or linking to files. I don’t expect these folks to develop for me. Their community is much larger and with worldwide reach
  3. When I want to write don’t bother me with permissions and notifications. I just want the words. The clear text warriors that let me do as I please with them.

without it all

Assuredly there are others. So many I could try forever. What’s the point for an ever aspiring itinerant journal writer though. What is gained? Some folks claim years of their journals. They get an “on this day” thing. What if everyday is on this day though and none of it matters. The real vector is the writing now. Are you writing now? Short or long. Effusive or bullets. Linked in your mind and soul or using wonderful wikilinks. I can do either. But the mental links happen so much faster. I’ll never get to them. If I used an app it would not matter because each little thing almost lives in isolation. So on this day and streaks are only important if you say they are. The writing itself cares less.

So what to do

We have a plethora of apps on Android and iOS and the Mac. I don’t know about windows. I don’t do that thing. Each app gives us and takes from us and limits and empowers us. That’s life folks. Your walled garden is my tour de force. So instead I write without. And I watch the cute Khmer girls here smile and ask if I’m ok in Khmer. It’s a nice world to be within and without. I need both. Any surprise that my writing reflects that?

So here’s what to do. Ring your own bell. Make your bell be your marker. Putting words down is important but I do think the “how” of it matters too. I pick clear text formatted in markdown. Not because someone will be able to read it in 50 years. I don’t care. I’ll be long gone. The meanings and reflections maybe will bring a smile to some archeologists lips and they will ask their token ethnographer what a thing may have meant. I can hear that person now. She will say.

Oh that. That’s same same but different

And life will be good. Because it certainly is true. I’ll see you down my road. Where I stop and write. There’s no right way. Or wrong. I choose without. You do yours. It is worthwhile to see the differences. Not to make you change. Just to let me find my things and find a peek inside another world I admire but don’t want.