Now and then I feel self-conscious about being so active in the community Discord because of stuff I see cross my dash periodically about “productivity porn” or about how “tools don’t matter” or whatever, and then I realize that no, actually, I’m genuinely — objectively, demonstrably — doing more things I love. For example, somebody recently asked me whether I started writing my newsletter because I found Obsidian. I didn’t, actually — but Obsidian revolutionized how I write it, and my blog, and even how I play video games (View Highlight)
Every time I consider opening up a colony simulator like Rimworld, or an ARPG like Path of Exile, or even a survival horror game like 7 Days to Die, I realize that the part of those games I really enjoy are inventory management and tweaking automations. To be honest, it’s the same part of my brain that enjoys moving information around in my notes, or fiddling with my templates to optimize them. The sense of enjoyment and satisfaction I get from clearing out the guild stash in Path of Exile or doing all the quests in Rimworld is the same part of my brain that enjoys clearing out all of my tags (View Highlight)
I’ve somehow stumbled into gamifying the act of organizing knowledge for myself (View Highlight)
I started out strong, almost 2 posts a month. Then fewer than one post a month in 2017, then one post the entire year of 2018, which was my first year of teaching. I doubled that in 2019, started posting more again during the pandemic, and now for the first time in my life I’ve actually managed to publish a longform article more than twice a month — on my blog, not counting any of the other content I’ve created (View Highlight)
it’s not a question of “having enough time,” either. I’m a public school teacher — I’ve had summers off for years, and never managed to build a regular writing habit before. I would start off strong, then my brain would insist on doing something different, because I’d burn out. So I’d spend 3 months playing a video game, get an idea for my novel, go back to that for awhile, get an idea for a blog post, write a couple of articles, go down some research rabbit holes, burn out, start writing, burn out, start playing video games… (View Highlight)
since I’ve started using Obsidian regularly, I might write microfiction every day in a row for a week, and then switch to focusing on something else, but no matter where my brain is at, I’m always working on something in the “ecosystem” of my end goal: supporting a career as a speculative fiction author. (View Highlight)
I decided to share my neat stuff I stumbled across doing research every week. I’m forever researching things, and the newsletter was useful for me too, because it let me refer back to things in an organized way (View Highlight)
Before Obsidian, my newsletter was a once-a-week offering that was only about 10 sentences long. Most of the value was in the links. But once I started connecting and synthesizing things, it got a little longer — not overwhelming, I hope, but I was able to start putting things in my own words and explain (View Highlight)
Since finding Obsidian, I have written something — a note, an article, a blog post, a newsletter, a story, something — every day. (View Highlight)
Obsidian is always open, and when it’s not, it opens fast — even on mobile, as long as I don’t install too many plugins. I can easily switch between modes of thought, and different moods, without losing the thread of doing something useful and enjoyable. It never feels like a chore to fiddle around, or add a thought to something over the course of months until it finally grows into worth sharing (View Highlight)
The fact is, Obsidian’s feature set — and community — is uniquely suited to how I have been trying to organize my notes for years. The way it subtly pushes me to write more “atomic” thoughts is one of the reasons I started prioritizing my short fiction. The way it lets easily me trace connections between research and stories, and different storylines, is one of the reasons I’ve finally started integrating old ideas into the worldbuilding. For the first time I’ve really been able to consolidate my notes into one cohesive form (View Highlight)