A ramble-post about writing

This is a test to see if I can write from the comfort of my bed using a wireless keyboard with my Onyx BOOX Note Air 2 e-ink tablet. The answer, with a bit of tweaking in the 'e-ink centre' of the Android settings pane — which I think is custom to the Onyx devices — is 'yes'.

I'm not likely to turn into Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr Ripley, who famously wrote almost exclusively propped-up in bed, but it does give me another option when migraines strike and I can't bear to look at a regular screen.

I always wanted to be a writer of some form or fashion, and I guess I do get to write a lot each week. I'm glad that I didn't train as a journalist, which was my plan aged 14, but the idea of having a newsletter that pays the bills is appealing. I guess it's just another form of content creation.

I'll never forget working in HMV as a 19 year-old student, helping the manager of the store re-stock the CD racks, when he said, apropos of nothing, "at the end of the day, Doug, it's all just product". I'd hate to feel that way about my words.

That being said, there is something to documenting the current state of affairs through your own lens. One of my favourite sports writers is Barney Ronay, who writes for The Guardian. His recent piece about Liverpool footballer Trent Alexander-Arnold only makes sense right now, this month. But that's important stuff, both for making sense of the world right now, and putting future actions in some kind of context.

Perhaps there's niche there for me: making sense of a corner of the (digital) world in a way that is helpful to others. It's an appealing thought, but at this time of year, perhaps I don't need any speculative new ventures.