I figured I'd let this post serve as more of an introduction to the tools I've implemented in my writing journey, as they all will make appearances at different times in my weekly discussions, but I'd rather highlight them all in one fell swoop and then reference them as necessary in the posts that follow.
Before embarking on this project one thing I never really considered is what, if anything, I felt was essential to my writing besides a medium to write on/with. As I sat down for the first time to write for this semester, outside of a classroom setting, I found myself in the library at Marist University. I pulled out my laptop. I took out my headphones. I put them in, scrolled my phone for some music that I hoped would be helpful in getting me to focus. Turns out, that was Beethoven. Why? Because I remember hearing about a study once, probably when I was in middle school, that people who studied and wrote while listening to classical music performed better than those who didn't. Considering I had been out of the game for a while, I figured I could use all the help I could get. I put my water bottle on the desk and I started writing.
Pictured here we have my laptop, which I acquired from Best Buy just before the semester in August of 2025. My previous laptop, a Dell that I had purchased back in 2010, wasn't going to make the cut for this adventure. I went on the Marist University website and they recommended a few different laptops, all of them with a fairly hefty price tag. I figured I'd be better served going somewhere in person and talking to a professional. "Am I a Mac guy? I've got an iPhone." The sales associate at Best Buy, who just so happened to be a Computer Science major, when informed what I needed the laptop for, asked if I was prepared to jump through a variety of hoops to get a Mac to integrate with the things I would need according to Marist's guidelines. "I cut hair for a living, the answer to that is a pretty solid 'no.'" So, he pointed me in the direction of this fair little Lenovo. It had, according to him, a "larger screen than the other ones you're looking at." "Are you telling me this because I'm almost 40?" Was my response. My fiancé laughed. He did not. But, honestly, the larger screen has been helpful (as loathe as I am to admit that). Me and the Lenovo have got a nice little rapport going.
Next to my trusty laptop, we've got my 'Beats Studio Buds,' at least that's what my phone calls them, in that oval shaped grey case. They're in-ear headphones that have a noise cancellation option that is mostly effective, which I employ regularly. I started out being convinced that I simply could not write or think intensely if any other noise besides the one I chose entered my ears during my academic pursuits. Turns out, that wasn't really true, I can just be neurotic for the sake of being neurotic sometimes. We'll touch on this subject a few times in my analyses of my process journal that will come in the posts to follow.
Below that, in the oblong, opaque, I'm going to call it 'teal,' case, we have my blue-light glasses. I don't know if its actual science or not, but, when I first started back at school I had a headache every single day. I had never stared at a screen so much in my life. Everything, from reading to writing, had to be performed while staring at a screen, so my sister, a professional screen starer herself, recommended I buy some. I haven't had a headache since (related to screen staring, anyway). Maybe it's a placebo affect, maybe it's science, I don't really have time to figure that out currently, but the glasses are now an essential part of my process.
On the other side we have my emotional-support-water-bottle. It fits nicely into the side pocket of my backpack and has become a staple in my every day life, in everything that I am doing, of which writing is now a huge part. I often take sips out of it when I'm trying to compose my thoughts or give myself a second to stare off into space because I've thought myself into a corner.
Beneath that is an iced black coffee. This one is not as much of a staple as the others. While I employ everything else every single time, the coffee only really comes in when I know I'm in it for the long haul, or it's very early.
While I hit the ground running with some of the tools shown here, there has been some developments in all of them in some capacity, which we will be able to admire throughout my following posts.
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