✏️ TREE 275: Beware the tyranny of tools

One.

Having the right tools makes a big difference. You don’t want to be owned by the tools though. If you can only write when you have the correct coffee, the perfect pen and the sun slanting through the window at a certain angle, you are not a professional writer, you are a cosplayer. That’s absolutely fine, unless you need to make money from your writing.

Turning pro means you do the work even if the ideal tools and conditions are not available.

I wrote yesterday about disliking Adobe Illustrator. I hate Powerpoint. Nevertheless I use it regularly in my day job. I do not say to my boss, ‘I’m sorry but the best thing I can build is this lame slide deck using Calibri because I think Powerpoint sucks.’ What I do is build a slide deck that looks exactly like it was built using a beautiful tool.

It’s important to know your tools. It’s more important to know the principles that make your work work. Then you can get the results you need whether you’ve got your good tools or not.

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PS You can improve your Powerpointing. I’ve explained how in detail. If you don’t want to read the whole thing, skip to 14. It’s the most important.

Two.

If you like dark, beautiful pop, you probably love MXMS. This isn’t their greatest track but it’s called Ghost Blood, so it’s pretty much the required choice for today. Once you’ve listened, try Funeral Pop I.

Three.

‘It’s less a costume and more I got my head stuck while chasing a mouse through a body farm.’

From the Finally! department: Monday through Wednesday next week we’ll be enjoying posts from guest author, Peter Moore. Peter is the former editor of Men’s Health magazine, and – no fooling – once worked as articles editor for Playboy. Now he is a writer and ghostwriter living in Fort Collins, Colorado, and publishing his travel/transformation newsletter ‘The Road 2 Elsewhere’ at petermoore.substack.com. His latest post ‘58 New Things to Binge on’ is a fun introduction.

Something spooky for the weekend

Turns out, owls are idiots.

Down at the body farm, ‘crime solvers… are excited about the microbes in the necrobiome’. Necrobiome, you guys! It’s not just gruesome. There’s some fascinating microbial science to learn about.

Happy weekend
Jeff