Losing our words is a writer’s worst nightmare. Don’t forget to backup your work. #WriteSky #WritingCommunity #5amWritersClub

I haven’t been updating Bluesky lately. Mastodon is currently the best place to see my posts and interact with me on social media. You can also email me at hello at ellanew dot com.

This week: Finding my old plain text files reminded me that visual simplicity isn't boring—it's relief for a highly distractible brain trying to stay on task. (thread…) #PTPL #PlainTextPlanner #PlainText #productivity #minimalism

Churches are rubbish at hide & seek 🙄

This week: Reflections and resources to help you focus on the work that matters instead of overcomplicating your systems. (quotes in the comments) #ptpl #productivity #mindfulness #MentalHealth (Blog post link included ↓)

The character count is tiny on #Bluesky, so here's a canny trick to fit in just a little more into a single post, when sharing a link. 1. Write your post, add the link 2. Delete the link That's it! A clickable preview will still be there, even when the text of the link has been deleted.

This week: one idea and one link to reveal what "good enough" can look like when your mind and your schedule are too full to get everything done. Plain text related, but both can apply to any well-balanced life. Be kind to your elephant! Click through for blog link: #ptpl #productivity #PlainText

I’ve used ⌘-hover to preview internal links in #Obsidian for years, but this week I discovered that it also works on tabs. Holding down ⌘ while hovering over the name of a tab gives a 3rd-party-plugin-free, scrollable preview of that page — with clickable links (!) #ptpl #plainText

Two years ago I embarked on a challenge: to only access my digital notes with TextEdit and iA Writer on my #Mac. It was an enlightening and a frustrating experience! Two days ago I decided to revisit the #plainTextExperiment by temporarily putting #Obsidian away again. What happened next…

Connecting one stubborn task to my core values changed everything. Sometimes you need to feel the why before you can do the work. (thread…) #PTPL #productivity #procrastination Medium miscellaneplans.medium.com/how-to-climb... Blog ellanew.com/2025/11/10/p...

Helping someone assemble Instagram posts as a booklet.

Creative task avoidance can look like productivity. This week I look at how to spot it, and give a sneak peek of my new Obsidian plain text task dashboard — the crafting of which was *totally not* an avoidance mechanism! I hope!! #productivity #obsidian #plainText

Simplify your planning with easy, fun #iPhone shortcuts to four #Obsidian files. Stay on top of notes, tasks, calendar, and daily goals without complex apps. (thread…) Medium medium.com/@miscellanep... Blog ellanew.com/2025/10/06/p...

Whelp, it's #Inktober already here in #Australia ! This year I'm sketching and inking each drawing with my non-dominant hand. Always wanted to be ambidextrous; this is helping. Here's my index page ellanew.com/2025/10/01/i... …and here's a shortcut to day 1, Mustache ellanew.com/2025/10/01/i...

Learn calendar.txt, a simple plain text system for time management. Just add dates and events, no complex apps needed. The perfect companion to todo.txt. (h/t to @[email protected] for putting me onto it) (thread…) #productivity #plainText #ptpl #calendar

My yearly ritual of setting up wall, paper, and digital calendars to shape the future and keep life on track. These calendars live on my wall, in a paper notebook, and on my Apple devices. They let me time travel to next year, making it feel like a place I've already been. (thread…)

Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Mary Oliver

This week: the plain text enthusiasts and simple tool users who inspired my productivity journey, plus thoughts on what makes a tool stack work. #productivity #Mac #design #app #obsidian #plainText #ptpl

I need you to know that your contribution, your voice, your perspective, your way of explaining something, YOUR whatever, is valuable. Just because "it's been done before" doesn't mean you shouldn't do it. Nothing is new, everything's been done! But not by you. Yet. #databs #rststs #python

I took this pic through an office window at the end of a wonderful, demanding week being the full time carer of an elderly family member on holiday. Can’t tell you how much it resonates! Made me smile big and wide. It’s okay to both have a nice time and to want to scream afterwards. #introvert

After nearly 30 years of email chaos and 8,000+ messages, I, a chronically messy person, finally achieved Inbox Zero. Here's the simple 3-folder system that made it happen. #ptpl #productivity Medium miscellaneplans.medium.com/three-decade... Blog ellanew.com/2025/09/08/p...

Piano, clarinet, and flute piece. Absolutely gorgeous, in my opinion. I’d really love you to check out my sheet music for this at www.sheetmusicdirect.com/en-US/se/ID_... I did all the engraving and layout myself, note by note. I hate to beg but, a look, a like, & a share would make me very happy.

Introducing what I have affectionately dubbed my One-Page Notebook (1PN). The One-Page Notebook is simply a regular sheet of paper, folded in half two to three times. It's big enough to write on without needing… (cont'd…)

A simple time scheduling idea from Merlin Mann, a fight with Apple Calendar (guys! stop micromanaging!), and the double dashes I use today. Blog ellanew.com/2025/08/25/p... Medium medium.com/@miscellanep... #productivity #macOS #ptpl

I have discovered that I can speak (often incorrect) French, quite well! Proud of myself for having the courage to talk with native speakers. Big respect for migrants who get out there and practice the language of their new home. #languageLearning #language #courage #migrants #francais #french

Get productive with plain text with a simple 2-tool system, Beorg file editing on Mac, VS Code tag fixes, and EasyOrg agenda access for beginners. #productivity #org #ptpl Blog ellanew.com/2025/08/18/p... Medium ellanew.com/2025/08/18/p...

Family around me Good food to eat A cosy rug to keep me warm #3goodThings

My precious baby grandson lived for 11 short days. We are devastated, but so very thankful we got to stroke his tiny head and say au revoir — till we meet again! I made some digital posters with words that have brought peace and comfort as I grieve. (thread…)

I find the Shavian alphabet beautiful and full of possibility. I hope art like this helps make others curious too. Please share it if you like it! 𐑛𐑵 𐑿 𐑓𐑰𐑤 𐑤𐑲𐑒 𐑞 𐑢𐑫𐑥𐑩𐑯? 𐑲 𐑛𐑵. — Visit shavian.info for an explanation. #comic #comics #comicstrip #comicstrips #illustration #wordpuzzles #Shaw #script

I’m thankful for: The Non-Violent Communication approach to not judging emotions as good or bad. In welcoming them and gently exploring the needs behind them. The support and kindness of family and friends. (Hold them close, if you can.) Good memories. 💜

Abby Covert's information architecture resources are on sale. I've just bought "Stuck - Diagrams Help" and "How to Make Sense of Any Mess". Looking forward to diving in! 30% off with the code stuckturns3 #IA #design abbycovert.com/shop/

Here’s a throwback to an article I wrote in 2022, just in case anyone is still under the mistaken idea that being normal is something to aim for medium.com/the-orange-j... #barefeet #crunchy #mobility #health

Dedicated Read-It-Later apps are nice, not necessary. The links you save today might be a mystery tomorrow. 30 seconds can mean the difference between one more link being lost to the black hole of ambiguity, and having useful resources at your fingertips. (thread…) #productivity #obsidian #ptpl

Yesterday I started the journey towards inbox zero. Carl Pullein’s “Inbox zero 2.0” finally made it click. I can do this! Fastmail makes it easy with their 4-pronged swipe gestures. For each email, ask— 1. What is it? 2. What do I need to do with it? (thread…) #productibity #email

Do you know how old you are without working it out? Most of the time I don’t. Anyway, the older I get the more impressive it is that I can do a full flat footed squat, easily get on and off the floor, and… #health #mobility #aging

Once upon a time, not so very long ago, fountain pen friendly paper was all there was. Moleskine Cahier, my recent ink pen renaissance is sorely testing our relationship. Smarten up, please! What were you thinking, making a classic book with newsprint quality paper?? #stationery #fountainPen

One idea per page beats cramped notes. @joanwestenberg.com's Object Pages system gives thoughts room to breathe with simple categories, clean structure, and space to grow. Check out my 1500-word Object Pages review: Blog ellanew.com/ptpl/164-202... #pkm #analog #bulletJournal #productivity

Life is so much more fun now that I've learned to welcome change for the sake of change. No more self-recrimination over abandoning notebooks, apps, systems, or methods. Or furniture arrangements. (thread…) #pkm #apps #stationery #adhd

Today I learned that proofing an interactive document in Skim is far, far easier than in PDF Expert. Imagine that—a free, open source app! Killer feature: internal links can be checked via hover preview, or shift click to open the link in split screen. #TIL #pdf #foss #mac #apps

Grateful for our hand cranked lamps and wood fire! The storm continues and we don’t know when power will be restored, but we’re safe and warm. #australia #nsw

Well, yeah. The other day I asked Claude to help me calculate a day in the future based on certain criteria, and its answer included my general location. After asking how it knew where I was, it told me it didn't know how it knew and definitely shouldn't be able to know that. Reported. #ai

The quiet power of just enough Imagine a world without apps or fancy planners… and remember that between you and the (paper/digital) blank page lies enough to be both organised and creative. #ptpl #stationery #apps #productivity Blog ellanew.com/ptpl/163-202... Medium medium.com/@miscellanep...

You need to know the answers to 4 key questions before going ahead with any new tool, or you risk the newcomer distracting or detracting from the job it is supposed to help with. Q1: Why this tool, and why now? #productivity #mindfulness #Mac #apps 2-minute blog post ellanew.com/ptpl/162-202...

Markdown, Emacs, and Vim walked into a bar… …And thanks to some rather pleasant people, we have some punchlines in this week's #ptpl. (Luckily, the one you choose matters less than how much fun it is) #emacs #vim #markdown Blog ellanew.com/ptpl/161-202... Medium medium.com/@miscellanep...

Your brain needs texture that pixels can’t provide. Simple, profound, true. That’s why I’m paper, less; not paperless. #analog #ptpl

Over or under rated: Moleskine, Obsidian Sync, Markdown, Vim, Pizza? @[email protected] 's Over Under series has another episode to check out. Read it on my blog ellanew.com/2025-06-13-m... or Hyde's lazybea.rs/ovr-022/ #moleskine #markdown #obsidian #vim #pizza #analog #plainText

I love this article on the topic of grace, as it applies to daily life, from a teenager whose life goals included burning and smashing things to a man who understands that grace is everywhere. We can't earn it, but we can find ourselves in its path. byustudies.byu.edu/article/burn... #spirituality

My son the electrician often has to navigate small roof and floor spaces with tiny entrance points. The other day he found a 3–4 metre long snake skin in the crawl space. Pythons don’t have a poisonous bite, but you wouldn’t want a hug from one in those confines! #australia #tradieLife

Once, when I was right and the other person was wrong, I shut my mouth and asked them to tell me more about how they came to their conclusion. They did, and I learned that I had been operating on a false assumption. They were right after all, and I was wrong! #mindfulness #family

𐑞 𐑔𐑦𐑙 𐑢 𐑯𐑱𐑥𐑟 𐑦𐑯 #𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯 𐑦𐑟 𐑗𐑨𐑑 𐑿 𐑤𐑵𐑟 𐑞 𐑒𐑩𐑤𐑑𐑿𐑮𐑩𐑤 𐑯 𐑡𐑧𐑯𐑾𐑤𐑪𐑡𐑦𐑒𐑩𐑤 𐑒𐑤𐑵𐑟 𐑞𐑨𐑑 𐑒𐑳𐑥 𐑢 𐑛𐑦𐑓𐑼𐑩𐑯𐑑 𐑦𐑙𐑜𐑤𐑦𐑖 𐑕𐑐𐑧𐑤𐑦𐑙𐑟. 𐑤𐑲𐑒 Michael 𐑯 Mikhail, David 𐑯 Dafydd. 𐑲 𐑤𐑳𐑝 𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯, 𐑚𐑳𐑑 𐑲𐑛 𐑮𐑰𐑤𐑦 𐑥𐑦𐑕 𐑔𐑧 𐑮𐑦𐑗𐑯𐑩𐑕 𐑝 𐑣𐑬 𐑯𐑱𐑥𐑟 𐑮 𐑕𐑐𐑧𐑤𐑑.