7 tips to help you write more often
Many of us on Medium and other platforms are passionate writers with varying degrees of commercial success, but we all have one thing in common: At times, we struggle with finding the motivation to write.
I had a simple change of mind that helped me being more productive with my writing. I summed it up in a nice little mantra that I tell myself several times each day. Maybe it does the same trick for you.
But before we get to that, let me tell you one very important thing:
It is okay to NOT want to write.
Yes, it’s…
Yes, there is a thing like that.
When it comes to mechanical keyboards, ANSI-US users have it best, hands down. They benefit from the widest available selection of prebuilt mechanical keyboards, switches, keycaps and a plethora of additional modding options.
When it comes to other layouts, especially the ISO-layouts and the DE in particular (german, as used in Austria and Germany for example), the outlook is rather bleak. Last year I urged you to at least once try a mechanical keyboard, to improve your writing speed, accuracy and overall experience typing. Nothing about that statement has changed in 2021. …
I know, I do.
I was born into the prosperity of cold-war era Austria. This sounds dramatic and to some extent it was. Tschernobyl hadn’t happened yet and Germany was still divided. We couldn’t cross over to hungary that easily and we’d still have to show our passports when crossing borders in general. Still, for us middle-class kids, life was good. Even after Tschernobyl went down and we weren’t allowed to eat mushrooms anymore, or sand, we had a great time.
My parents raised me to be curious, with very little rules except the ones that kept me safe from injuring myself through my…
You might not like most of them.
The mechanical keyboard craze of the past decade or so doesn’t seem to end. Hey, that’s all well and good, I am an avid mechanical keyboard user myself and recently recommended you should buy one in 2020, if you haven’t already. It even appears like you can’t even get rubberdome keyboards anymore, except the cheap pack-ins of major retailers and manufacturers like Dell or Lenovo.
Still, once you’re familiar with this fascinating subculture, there are some unpopular truths about mechanical keyboards revealing themselves. Here are the most unpopular ones, according to me.
Cherry MX switches are not the best, just very common.
Cherry MX switches are to be found in…
Thanks to Cherry
I love writing. I love typing. I am a keyboard enthusiast. I love ThinkPads, clicky and tactile switches and everything that feeds my passion of writing.
ThinkPad laptops have the best keyboards of any laptop I have ever tried. Still, they are not mechanical. They are just a very clever scissor-switch sitting on a membrane. Now imagine, you could have real mechanical switches on a laptop.
Soon, you can.
Crisp tactility, soft bottom-out
Coders, authors and everyone else who uses a laptop to earn their living will have encountered the comforts of ThinkPad laptop keyboards at one point or another. Many of us, myself included, fell in love with the particular feel of those keyboards. That’s one of the reasons why I can’t recommend enough to use a (used) ThinkPad for your writing as a cheap and reliable way to be productive.
If you are a ThinkPad fan and want to emulate that distinct typing sensation on a mechanical keyboard, this is for you.
Goal
The goal is getting a mechanical kayboard for a…
Is the allegedly most annoying mechanical keyboard switch actually any good?
Choosing a mechanical keyboard is difficult if you first start this hobby/addiction. The mechanical switch, that sits beneath your keycaps, is what makes a keyboard mechanical per definition.
There are three basic “flavors” of mechanical keyboard switches:
- linear
- tactile
- clicky
The best known and widely available mechanical keyboard switches are Cherry MX and the most pupular, basic mechanical keyboard switches by Cherry are:
- Cherry MX Red
- Cherry MX Brown
- Cherry MX Blue
Those are the most basic choices at the beginning of your mechanical keyboard adventure.
If you plan to use the mechanical keyboard mainly for typing, I highly recommend…
And what options there currently are
If you are like me, writing is your passion, regardless of your financial success you might or might not have. With things we’re passionate about, it’s easy to be a bit obsessive. Like me, when I try to find “the perfect” mechanical keyboard and switch combination. Which isn’t always easy, when you’re looking outside of the ANSI keyboard layout market. You can read all about my experiences in 10 Unpopular Truths About Mechanical Keyboards.
While researching and spending way too much time and money on this “hobby”, I devoured every bit of info about each and every “writing tool” I…
Yes, it’s very subjective, but here’s still some advice.
It seems like I can’t stop putting out articles about mechanical keyboards right? They don’t do super well but I keep coming back to them because I’m obsessed with the subject matter. This obsession is a big reason why mechanical keyboards actually suck, when you’re too far down into the rabbit hole.
Still, if you’re just starting out or if you’re curious about my findings, I will give you “sound” advice on what could be the best mechanical keyboard switches for typing (i.e. for coders, authors, bloggers and journalists). Naturally, this is all based on my own subjective opinion and…
… if you are too far into the rabbit-hole
Ah well. I’ve been putting out article after article about how much I love mechanical keyboards. And now this. Why?
Let me make one thing clear, for most people, using a mechanical keyboard has many benefits over (even an expensive one) a flat, chiclet-style keyboard, like you would find in a laptop. Most likely you will improve your typing speed, your accuracy and it’s more fun too. Great.
So, check out some common brands, read about why mechanical keyboards are worth buying at all, decide for Cherry MX Blue (Clicky), Brown (Tactile) or Red (Linear) and off you go to…
Scollurio
Hailing from Austria, a self-employed graphics designer and writer since 2009. Loves long walks in the forest, thoughtful solitude and silly raccoons.
