Membership

I’ll never be able to say enough how just thankful I am to the members of this site. Thanks to those of you who are willing to pitch in $3 every month, I’m entering into my second year of writing this site full time.

This year I recorded 156 episodes of Shawn Today. Among my favorites were the week-long coffee-gear video series, the new “Ask Shawn Today” series, and the oodles of shows talking and musing about diligence and focus. Believe it or not, I’ve heard from many who claim they’ve listened to every single episode. Amazing. I haven’t even listened to every episode, and I was there when they were recorded.

The Boy and The Schedule

This year, Anna and I had our first kid. Noah. Having a kid is so wonderful. It’s been amazing and beautiful and oh so inconvenient.

Being a dad is the best thing in the world and I would never trade it for a second. It has also been the most disruptive thing to happen to my working life.

Anna and I share responsibilities with Noah. I watch him about 20 hours a week, mostly in the mornings. For a guy who likes to have a semi-regular work pattern and who does his best work in the pre-lunch hours, this new routine has been murder to my work life.

The changes to my working (and sleeping) routine have forced me to write when it’s time to write, not when I feel inspired. And though that’s not quite as fun, it’s shown me that when you write day-in and day-out, words start to get in you. You begin to trust your subconscious a bit more and you’re okay with not waiting for that magical moment of inspiration. You sit down, you write, and later (after a few tears and edits) you realize, hey, that’s not so bad.

A Few Faves

Some of the most fun I’ve had on this site has been with the members-only podcast. The near-daily show hit a stride this year and the feedback with listening members has been great.

And, of course, I’ve had a lot of fun writing.

• After spending an unnatural amount of time with three noisy keyboards, I wrote a super-nerdy review of some popular Clicky Keyboards. Not only does the review make a great white-noise track for typing, but it also led me on to discover the Filco Ninja Majestouch-2 tenkeyless keyboard. A most excellent typing apparatus.

• Though there were many, a few reviews I most enjoyed writing were Day One, the New Codas, Diary of an iPad (3) Owner, and my hunt for the best mirrorless camera.

• My article about finally solving the paperless puzzle stands as a hallmark for me, personally, in that I finally made the move to a paperless office and I’ve been loving ever minute of it.

• And, not everything I write here is a review of something. Some of my favorite non-review pieces: It’s Just Stuff, The Urgent Versus the Essential, Most People, and For Noah.

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All this to say, thanks for reading. I am seriously looking forward to doing awesome work in 2013 and I bet you are too.