I know I had a big plan about what to write here for the April update, but currently as I’m writing the post (on the day it’s due out) I can’t fully remember what I wanted to write about. There was some rant I wanted to go on, but it wasn’t about the state of the world or politics or anything like that…

Ah, yes, eReaders! As a writer and poet one of the biggest things I need to do is READ. At my old job it was easy because I was able to listen to audiobooks as I worked or on my commute. After moving I haven’t had the same time or schedule and this job isn’t one where I can listen to things during my work day. Between lack of use and finances I cancelled my Audible subscription.

On top of that it’s been getting harder over the years for me to read a physical book for prolonged time periods depending on the font. Ages ago I got a Nook eReader and started using that, but I’ve also had Kindles and used other various devices for one reason or another, but usually I find myself landing back on Kindle.

Last year the husband and I were talking about Kindles because I was debating upgrading to the newest one at that time. Where he works sells them and they had one on hand. Long story short he talked me into getting it. It’s a paperwhite. I love the paperwhite line because of the backlighting. I have a habit of reading in the dark and my kindle lives in dark mode. Be it on my phone in the Kindle app or my actual Kindle device. There is ONE exception to this.

My Boox Palma device.

While my day job doesn’t let me listen to things it DOES let me play on my phone so in the beginning I was reading on my phone a lot, but that was causing some eye strain and draining my battery a LOT. Among other issues my phone at the time was acting screwy… I ended up getting a new phone a little earlier than we planned because I still wasn’t super familiar with some of the areas I was driving in and it would just randomly lose all signal despite no one else losing signal. Before all that was an issue I ended up getting the Boox Palma device which is a phone sized eInk device.

Boox has a handful of different devices, so you can find which one works best for you if you’re thinking of making that jump away from things, but I strictly use my Palma for reading and it stays on standard, NOT in dark mode. It is backlit, runs on android operating system (so I can have all my reading apps) and it fits in my hand. I don’t have issues reading on it without dark mode and I don’t get eye strain on it (unless what I’m reading has something in the book that I can’t adjust the size of and I’m getting really close and trying my best to read the thing).

Between my Palma and Kindle Paperwhite I don’t really read on my phone anymore unless it’s something I need the color for (like a graphic novel or comic). I can customize my Palma lock screen and background and my Kindle is easy to hold with both hands which I like to do more than holding things with one hand. I just can’t easily hide my Kindle in the pocket of my work pants so Palma is mostly for work.

Sunday we had a big storm system come through that resulted in a lot of people losing power, including us. It went out around 4:30 P.M. Sunday and wasn’t back on until 11 A.M. the next day. Thankfully we sustained no damage (though one of the neighbors did end up with a tree falling on their vehicle. I talked with her and while it sucks we’re all just glad no one in their family got hurt).

Perk of the devices I use? I wouldn’t have been able to read a physical book in the dark at night, but I was still able to read on my Kindle. Husband was having issues because he was trying to play games on his Switch, but because he had got a new one there were some issues and it wasn’t cooperating so he was very limited to what games he could play.

There’s supposed to be another storm coming through today, so wish us luck. I’ll have images on my Instagram and author facebook page. Stay safe everyone.

~H