Writing

Paper notebooks, still neat in the 2020s

In my travails of trying to get a dual boot system going on my new PC with Windows 11/Some Linux Distro, one of the things I need to prepare for is the possibility that a particular Linux distro will overwrite the Windows MBR (Master Boot Record), which can prevent Windows from loading.

I have a few command line instructions available on my older PC to fix this if it happens, but to get to the commands I need to switch input on my monitor, swap keyboard cables (no KVM) and it’s a general nuisance.

The easier solution was to write the commands down in a paper notebook, all old-timey style, and keep it nearby on the desk, ready to be consulted. Fortunately, my handwriting (or printing, rather) is still quite tidy and readable. All good and I have followed the instructions several times (cursed Linux distros).

And now that I’ve done this, I realize I have the notebook itch again. It’s that feeling I get when I walk down the stationery aisle of a store or walk into an actual dedicated stationery store, like The Letterbox back in my hometown of Duncan (interestingly, The Letterbox is, not surprisingly, long gone, but just a few stores over from where it used to be is an office supply store, so its spirit lives on nearby). Stationery, but also pens, paper, typewriter ribbons (kids, ask your parents), notepads, fountain pens (kids, ask your parents–again!– also, fountain pens and lefties don’t go together well, but I didn’t care) all of this stuff has delighted me since I started writing back as a wee one and still does today, even as nearly all of my writing is done via keyboard.

But now that the notebook itch is back, I’m on the hunt for a new notebook to keep on my desk. The one I have (for free, from the UBC Sauder School of Business) is nice, but it doesn’t lay flat, and it looks like Muji has some that do. I am on the hunt. I’m going analog, baby.

(For some things. I’m not ready to abandon all of civilization quite yet.)

Running from a Ghost

A Ghost host, to be precise.

Last year, I began my search for a WordPress replacement in earnest, and signed up for a yearly plan using Ghost via https://www.magicpages.co/.

I have no complaints about the service or support, but 20 years of using WordPress proved a bigger hurdle to overcome than I thought. I really like some aspects of Ghost, but just as often I run into limits. It’s possible some of the limits might be theme-related, or could be overcome with CSS or something else, but I find I have little patience anymore to go down these rabbit holes to get things to work the way I want. WP is far from perfect (I could write a book–probably just from my posts highlighting WP’s issues) but I know it and have adapted to its flaws and weird bits.

I feel Ghost is close, but not quite it. Or maybe it is and I’m not willing to put in the effort.

Either way, I’m sticking with WP for at least a little bit longer. I’ll continue to ponder a move, but the urgency is no longer there.

Here is a cat:

How about this November?

I mean, at least it didn’t snow.

Speaking of snow, while I still generally dislike the accursed white stuff (yes, I hate fun1Fine, when it first starts falling, it’s pretty and all that, but then comes the slipping and sliding and the slush and why is that patch of snow yellow?), this animated GIF always instills a wonderful sense of calm and quiet:

Going forward, I am pondering a few things for December, writing-wise. I kind of want to do a more focused blog, but I’m still unsure if I have enough to focus on to make it worthwhile (and what of the bazillion platforms I would use for it, though I’m leaning toward Pika). I am organizing some of the fiction I’ve posted here previously, making it easier to read and, hopefully, enjoy!

Post 31 for July 2025

I don’t know why I posted so little this month. If I hadn’t been running and birding regularly, I’d have barely posted at all!

As often, I did crank out a bunch of posts right at the end of the month to at least get an average of one-per-day. I will reflect on my lack of gumption or whatever it is, and see if things change in August. If not, then I’ll just post lots of AI slop1!

  1. OK, I probably won’t. I won’t. I promise. Not even AI dogs playing poker. ↩︎

National Novel Writing Month is closing down

Futurism has the story here: NaNoWriMo Goes Bankrupt After Embracing AI

It’s sad but not surprising that this is how NaNoWriMo ends. After dealing with moderator issues on their forums, the non-profit bafflingly chose to not just embrace AI, but accuse people opposed to it of ableism, showing a serious lack of insight into both accessibility concerns and creative writing. I wrote about it here.

The letter from the interim director suggested people were too cheap to donate, while gliding over the fact that over two-thirds of their expenses were for employee benefits, which is unusually high for a non-profit.

I stopped participating in NaNoWriMo years ago, but would periodically log into the site, check my profile, and ponder fiction writing in general. It’s a shame that it all fell apart like this.

We still have Writing Month, among other sites, still around. Onward with the making of words and the telling of stories!

Also, glib but accurate meme (not made by me):

I re-read the prologue of an unfinished novel and want to read more

The unfinished novel is my own, Road Closed (the title will almost certainly be changed to something else, should the novel ever be finished). The prologue outlines the tragic summer and drink-to-forget beginnings of young Christian Warren, setting the stage for the five-year jump ahead as the story begins proper.

But the rest of the book–which is currently sitting at around 70,000+ words, is a bit of a mess. And it’s not the mess where you can just keep writing, then go back and fix the messy bits later. It needs serious surgery. But I kind of want to try, because that prologue still delights me today.

In order to do this, I’ve pondered ways to make it happen:

  • As much of a distraction-free environment as possible. I could write it in Linux, where I am far less likely to suddenly decide I need to play Diablo 3 again RIGHT NOW.
  • Choosing software. I am probably going to avoid Ulysses going forward. It’s good, but Mac-only and I’m culling pretty much anything that has a subscription attached. Other alternatives:
    • Microsoft Word. Ew, no.
    • Scrivener. Maybe, but I would save files locally and only work in either Linux or Windows, not both.
    • novelWriter. This is new, and is kind of a Scrivener-lite, but open source, free and a bit clunky, as one often expects of FOSS1Free Open Source Software software.
    • The unnamed app the Scrivener team is releasing in 2025. It sounds like a pared-down Scrivener, which would delight me.
    • Obsidian. I’m not super-keen on this, though I did write the original draft of Road Closed with WriteMonkey, which uses the same minimalist Markdown aesthetic as Obsidian.
    • Something else I haven’t discovered yet.
  • Writing out a revised version of the story before diving back in, so I have an actual path to follow. I can always veer from it later, but it’s still better than going into a dark room and bumping my knees on every piece of furniture.

I am in my Mulling and Pondering stage, also known as M&P. I will update if I move beyond this to Typing Actual Words.

My nigh-hopeless search for a WordPress replacement continues

I didn’t realize Blogstatic has an 8-day free trial, but it does! I have two days left on mine, and while I was initially enthused about it, because it seemed to tick so many boxes, I find it has some issues:

  • I don’t particularly like any of the few themes it offers
  • Customization is rather limited
  • I don’t want to go deep into the plumbing to modify a theme more to my liking
  • Limited image support (no lightbox or click-to-enlarge support that I can see, though it’s possible I’m just a big dummy and am not seeing these things)
  • Some of the editing interface is a bit confusing (which is something of a burn, when you consider how cluttered and messy WordPress’s editor is)

This means none of the following sites I’ve tried have really hit everything I want:

  • Pika
  • Bear
  • Scribbles
  • Posthaven
  • Blogstatic
  • Write As
  • Possibly others I’m forgetting

All of the above are perfectly fine (or even great) for posting text, but I also want to post photos and drawings, so image management is important, and they all fall short in some way when it comes to that. I am sad.

I still have a Ghost trial to experiment with (kinda pricey), and there are other sites I’ve probably overlooked. Doing searches for WordPress replacements yields a lot of stuff designed for SEO/commercial interests, not just little sites for hipster bloggers not looking to be a content farm.

I will report back with more on this hopeless quest soon™.

In the meantime, here is a cat blogging furiously.

Posthaven: Initial thoughts

I decided to give Posthaven a shot. You can view my extensive archive of (as of this writing) one post here: https://stanwjames.posthaven.com/

As a WordPress alternative, it strips blogging down to its basics. Is this good? Is this bad? Let’s make a list (or two)!

The Good

  • It’s very easy to use. I was able to jump in and have things set up in a few minutes.
  • It’s affordable! At $5 U.S. per month, it gives you up to 10 blogs (!) and as far as I can tell, you can only pay $5 per month, which means no year-long commitments. Want out after the first $5? Easy-peasy!
  • It has a few nice themes to get you started.
  • Editing posts is simple.
  • Adding images is easy, and it automatically lets you click to expand on them. Other embeds (YouTube, etc.) are also straightforward.
  • It has tags. I like tags. Maybe too much.
  • People can easily upvote, comment or subscribe to your blogs.
  • An RSS feed is available.

The Not So Good

  • A large part of the ease of use is found through its limited options. You get some basic formatting options, and that’s about it.
  • It only has five themes. If you want to create new ones, you can, but have to dive into HTML and CSS.
  • It has no spelling checker, and LanguageTool does not seem to work in its text editor. This led me to editing my one post about seven times as I kept finding typos. I make a lot of typos.
  • Images are not displayed in any kind of WYSIWYG way and they are sized based on the theme.
  • Its feature request page only has two features as “planned”: more themes and markdown support.

The site describes itself as a work in progress, so I don’t ding it too much for being a bit barebones. The UI is simple, but very easy to use, and it’s one of the few blogging platforms I’ve been able to jump into and get posts out of that both look good and are easy to write/edit.

Still, I’m not ready to go all-in. I must continue to experiment before leaving WordPress behind.