If you are serious about your creative work, there are probably some tools you can’t stand because they hamper your creativity instead of enabling it.
Writing
I don’t like Scrivener. I love the idea of Scrivener but whenever I use it I do too much fiddling and not enough writing. There are too many things you can do with it other than writing. The default settings are ugly and take too much work to change. I can’t stand working in an ugly UI environment.
I’d rather sleep naked in a box of rusty knives than write in Microsoft Word.
I do most of my writing in Apple Notes and iA Writer. iA writer is beautifully minimal, uses Markdown and allows me to copy and paste perfectly-formatted, ready-to-go text from it into Substack.
Design
Adobe Illustrator is another naked in a box of rusty knives situation. It’s clunky, bloated, inefficient, ugly place to design vector graphics. I use the speedy, sleek, intuitive Affinity Designer instead.
My point
Illustrator, Word and, to a lesser extent, Scrivener are industry standard apps. I need to know how to use them so I can play nicely with others, but I’m under no obligation to use them to make stuff. I use tools that fit me and the way I work best.
The same is true for your creative work. Use what gives you the ability to do your best work without getting in your way. ‘Industry standard’ doesn’t necessarily mean ‘best’ or that it’s right for you.
Shall we carry on with performances on Jools’ show? Yes.
Grow slowly
Jeff
Circumstances are causing an upheaval, moving again. Gypsywoman untethers and relocates nearby for a smaller place. Planning ahead and organization are my skills. And I must acknowledge, my Guide, my Compass. 🦅