October 3. I’m still so dependent on paper that I’ve now bought a writing tablet. I don’t want to steal paper out of printers anymore, or pick from a stack of paper that I keep in my closet for that. And then not be able to find a pen. If, in critical moments, I don’t have paper and pen, I simply can’t work at all. The ideas stay pupated, I can’t make any progress. I then need those sheets of paper with my notes for a few hours to days, I never know exactly, but after that they can be trashed. Except that it often takes weeks before they bother me so much that I actually throw them away.

So now a writing tablet. I immediately wrote J a letter on it, just the way I last wrote to someone twenty-five years ago, in a slowness that seemed unexpectedly familiar. During the time with the client today, I needlessly scribbled away on the tablet, but lingered to see if an idea would be required for which I would actually need the tablet. And indeed! And the idea came, and I was able to develop it on two pages and figure it out. I am happy like a child at how fundamentally my life might have changed once again. 

The tablet – a reMarkable 2 – is considered the one that feels closest to pen and paper. I can also erase, circle things and move them around on the page, and draw live in a video conference. I don’t have to throw anything away, it all stays there, but doesn’t bother anyone.