mastodon 4.7.3🇦🇺 Aussie designer, writer, and plain text advocate. Educational publisher for 35+ years. I enjoy planning and note-making without using shiny gatekeeper apps. Using less paper, sustainably. Spell/say my name as in the word “miscellaneous” ·𐑧𐑤𐑱𐑯. Swearing and politics blocked. #Christian #productivity #technology #pkm #obsidian #plainText #beancount #writing #analog #français #𐑖𐑱𐑝𐑾𐑯 #lds #accessibility #barefootShoes #nvc #kindness
This time last year I took my first break from publishing a weekly newsletter for 3 years straight due to a traumatic family event. One year on and lightning has struck our family twice. Plain text productivity isn’t too important right now. We are pulling through, together, once again.
Our family had the news we were hoping and praying for this week: my son and his wife, who lost their firstborn 11 days after his birth, safely delivered their second little son. So grateful! He is beyond precious.
No matter what past-you instructed your task manager to put in front of you today, only today's you knows what is going to work for them.
I'm talking about giving yourself permission to view your task lists as a menu rather than a mandate. Because task management is ultimately about making sense of what's in front of you so that you can do more of what matters.
Medium (includes blog post link) @miscellaneplans@medium.com
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/06/01/ptpl-213-task-lists-are-menus-not-mandates
You know that advice that if you enjoyed someone’s work, you should take a moment to tell them? Well someone just sent me this and I am smiling so wide that now I want to send happy stuff to everyone :
“ HELLO!
I like your stuff.
Keep doing your stuff.
I do similar stuff to your stuff. But this email isn’t about about my stuff. It's about me taking 45 seconds out of my day to hopefully make your day a little better.
With admiration,
- fellow plain-text enthusiast from across the world.”
They say that when you have a project idea you’re excited about, you shouldn’t share it in public because the dopamine from getting people’s oh-wow-that-sounds-great reaction is what can deflate your interest and stop you getting to the end of it.
Well, I have this personal design project I’m really excited about. I started it this week, have to have it finished by next week, and delivered the week after. It’s fun! And it’s going well.
The end.
What if your calendar was just a text file?
This week I show you how to build a todo.txt-format calendar — which is of practical use all on its own — and optionally view today's events in your Obsidian daily note.
It is inspired by calendar.txt, but it's not that. Yes, I know Emacs can do it all. It's not that, either, by design.
Medium (includes blog post link) https://miscellaneplans.medium.com/how-to-create-a-plain-text-calendar-with-the-todo-txt-format-41f0ce6f093d
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/11/plain-text-calendar-todo-txt
Bone conducting headphones are the bomb!! I've tried Apple Airpods Pro and various other in and over ear head/earphones, and these are better than them all. Not because of sound quality; because of feel. I can't bear things covering my ears (or inserted into them) for long.
FYI they are the Shokz OpenRun, first version.
Looked at Brain.fm briefly and liked it, but not at that price. Currently giving Lo-fi Girl a go.
Boy did I feel petty when visiting the graveyard with fellow mourners and had to explain why I involuntarily said "that's embarrassing" out loud on seeing "it's" where there should have been "its" on a neighbouring headstone…
Friends in the UK and Europe, I am so very sorry you are going through this horrible heatwave!
And I’m sorry I ever thought you were even a little bit wimpy just because we regularly get weather like that and manage ok. Forgive my ignorance.
I didn’t realise just how unprepared you are to survive this kind of weather due to things you can’t instantly control, like buildings designed for cold weather, no air conditioners.
Wishing you all the best getting through this xx
These are my shortcuts to the Obsidian files that organise my daily life. Projects, to do list, calendar, OBTF (now called 1-N, or one note), plain text planner. Labels are in Shavian.
This folder sits in my dock.
And that is why we have the internet! The chances of meeting anyone in my neighbourhood who thinks this is anything other than strange nerdish behaviour is practically nil.
EDIT: I went with Herbin’s Bleu Myosotis, which I will mix with Poussière de Lune when I want it a little darker. Thanks, all!
- - -
I'm looking for an everyday #fountainpen ink colour for my Hobonichi. It needs to be dark enough to be easily legible, and light enough to not ghost on Tomoe River paper as much as black and deep navy do.
No yellows, oranges, or dull greys, please. Subtle shades only. I'm thinking something in the blues or dusky purples would be nice. I'll be using an EF nib.
This week I share three cool tech finds, no affiliates: plain text capture, a Bauhaus obsession, and the keyboard that finally fits my EDC:
- Capture for Obsidian @hiro@social.lol
- Bauhaus Clock for iOS
- Nillkin foldable keyboard with trackpad.
Medium members @miscellaneplans@medium.com
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/18/ptpl-208-capture-obsidian-bauhaus-clock-nillkin-keyboard
Next week: All about my new templates for planning your week in a 1-P (One Page Notebook) https://miscellaneplans.gumroad.com/l/1p-weekly-planner
Envelope budgeting: planning ahead for known expenses by regularly putting money into pre-determined categories, or envelopes. This week I show how I’m doing that in plain text accounting, specifically, Beancount.
Medium (includes blog link) @miscellaneplans@medium.com
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/04/ptpl-206-beancount-envelope-budgeting
#plainTextAccounting #budgeting #plainText
Today I learned that while English speakers call those super toxic sea dwellers “jellyfish”, the French have chosen the poetically deadly name of “Medusa box”!
#TIL #EnglishLanguage #french
Two love languages close to my heart:
- Providing good food with no expectation someone eat it in front of you (a thank you text is appreciated and enough)
- Listening to someone with the unquestioning assumption that they have interesting and worthwhile things to say (no judgement, asking thoughtful follow-up questions related to what they’ve just said, not thinking of what you want to say next while they’re still speaking)
I am late to the party that announced Gumroad now has a payout minimum of $100 for my country. What were they thinking?? My Gumroad store is extremely modest. I've never reached $100 in a single month.
Time to look elsewhere. Payhip only takes 5%, half what Gumroad takes. Any other suggestions for small-time indie creator downloads, please do let me know.
This week: How to reclaim focus for your distractible brain with a one-page weekly planner.
I love that it is light enough to always carry, flexible enough for both planning and freeform notes, and simple enough that I am consistently using it, week after week. Best of all, it's screen-free!
Medium (includes blog post link) @miscellaneplans@medium.com
Blog https://ellanew.com/2026/05/25/ptpl-209-screen-free-weekly-planner
RE: @Dykecyclette@eldritch.cafe
When people insist on helping after politely being told you don't want them to 🤣
Sometimes the kindest thing you can do is let people do things their own way, and not assume your way is better.
Do you know the Nutbush dance? It’s true—it really is an Australian icon! Everyone under the age of 65 or so did this at school as a kid and knows it still.
#Australia #music #dance
Complete this sentence:
"Nothing would surprise me more than to look into the future and see that in 5 years I am…"
My turn:
- a dedicated Emacs user
Your turn:
@saxicola@toot.community Do you replace the battery yourself? And the waterproofing gasket?