Curious_Canid

Fall is probably my favorite season, followed closely by winter. I do use full-spectrum lights to compensate for the shorter days, but overall I think my mood is better during that time. Winter in a forest is one of the most beautiful things in the world.

A small marlin spike. It’s surprising how often I want to untie knots in all kinds of things. A marlin spike makes that easy.

Earplugs. They can obviously be used for protection from overly loud environments. They’re also great for shutting out voices, music, or other noise when you’re trying to read or focus on a task. I like the Loop Switch 2 plugs because they’re small, versatile, and effective.

Ultralight folding bag. I carry a 19 liter bag (Nanobag Sling) with shoulder-length handles that folds down to about the size of my thumb. Any time I need to carry more things than will easily fit in my hands, I pull out the bag. It also lets me support awkward or heavy items using my shoulders and back instead of my hands and arms.

DRM is always a moving target. For a long time I used the free DeDRM tools in combination with Calibre to remove it from Kindle books, but that software is no longer supported. There are several commercial options. The only one I’ve found that has really kept up with the changes is EPubor Ultimate.

When the big change hit, almost nothing worked for a while. EPubor got their DRM-removal working again in a month or so. Since then, I don’t think they’ve ever been more than a week behind in updating their software to deal with the changes.

I hate DRM. I pay for everything I use and feel that I should be treated as a valued customer and not as a probable thief.

I do almost all of my reading on my phone and have for more than a decade. There are many excellent book reading apps, but your source for material will probably limit those options. I prefer books in the ePub format when possible. PDF files also work fairly well, although they are not as convenient to read because they have built-in page breaks that don’t correspond match up with phone screens. Standard ePub and PDF files do not include any DRM (copy protection), although there are variants which do.

If you buy books from Amazon you have to use their Kindle app (unless you use tools to strip the DRM). Borrowing books from your library is a great option, but that will also limit your reader options. Many use OverDrive, which has its own reader. Fortunately Kindle and OverDrive both work pretty well.

Personally, I use various tools to remove the DRM from the eBooks that I buy, then I convert them to ePub. I do believe in authors getting paid for their work, so I don’t share them.

We are screwed.

I came here hoping to see this comment. Thank you for reinforcing my faith.

That approach makes up a large part of the world in which we now live. It is also one reason why things are as messed up as they are. On the other hand, whether or not to read the news has become a major mental health issue, so I’m not going to blame anyone who avoids it.

I realize this is an odd suggestion, but think about getting yourself a nice fountain pen and try writing with that. Using a pen that is different from what you’re used to can help you focus on the actual process of writing.