Who are you, and what do you do? What do you like to do outside of work?

I’m a freelance writer, which means I type thousands of words every week. I primarily handle communications for nonprofits that work on biking and walking, public transit, transportation justice, affordable housing, and climate change. It’s fantastic work! I also write about personal finance for Business Insider, write blog posts and web pages for midsized enterprises, and I’m working on launching myself as a fiction author.

My work goes beyond writing, especially for my smaller clients. I build web pages, help with art direction, manage media requests, assist with data analysis, and help wherever they need me.

Outside of work, I like to swim and bike. I’m an avid knitter and reader, and I love cooking.

What hardware do you use?

I have a MacBook Pro, and my office setup includes an Omni curved gaming monitor. I love the space a bigger monitor gives me to spread out. I use a ZSA Moonlander and a Kensington trackball mouse. I also have a Jarvis sit/stand desk. I have a Brother laser printer that I still use occasionally.

The focus of my setup is ergonomics. I used to be an artist and screen printer, and I’ve used my hands a lot throughout my career. I’ve had tendonitis and shoulder problems, and a standard keyboard-and-mouse setup don’t work for me. I have some arthritis in my fingers and I got a glial cyst a couple of years ago from typing on my laptop keyboard too much. It was surprisingly painful.

I used Adesso ergonomic keyboards for years because mousing with my right hand kills me and I liked the trackpad in the center. However, the newer Adesso models weren’t working well with my Mac. I couldn’t find another ergonomic keyboard with a center trackpad, so a split keyboard with a trackball in the center was the logical option.

I’ve tried voice dictation, but I’ve been touch typing since I was a teenager, and my fingers are an extension of my brain. Protecting my ability to type and function at my computer is critical to me, which is why I put such emphasis on ergonomics.

I want to include a plug for ZSA’s customer support. The Moonlander is the most expensive keyboard I’ve purchased, and there were a lot of technical details to understand. I knew I needed a mechanical keyboard with quiet keys since I take a lot of notes on Zoom meetings or when I interview someone. I got answers to all my questions before I chose which keys I wanted. When I was struggling to reach the keys on the little wings with my thumbs, someone from ZSA suggested tilting them up to shorten the reach, and that fixed the problem.

And what software?

I use WordPress and Wix to manage client websites. I use the MS Office suite and Google Docs suite, as well as email, Slack, Asana, and Toggl. I use Salsa and EveryAction to create actions and send emails for my nonprofit clients and Whova for conference registration and promotion.

I use Scrivener for my fiction projects. I used to do some FileMaker programming; I don’t do that for clients anymore (please don’t ask me!), but I still use my own custom FileMaker apps to manage my invoices and track time and expenses.

I use focus@will when I need to block out the world and zero in on writing, and an app called Time Out that reminds me to take breaks.

What’s your keyboard setup like? Do you use a custom layout or custom keycaps?

I was excited and a little intimidated by the ability to program my Moonlander, but I’ve run with it! I’ve changed my setup many times as I figured out what worked for me. My goal is a configuration that makes the keyboard actions I take most often more accessible and faster while keeping the layout close enough to a standard keyboard that I can still type on my laptop or iPad without looking.

I prefer keyboard commands to the mouse, so I’ve programmed most of my letter keys to add Command when held. My favorite new one is paste unformatted by double tapping V, which is a godsend in Google and Salsa forms. I also shortened the time to recognize a held key. I made it too short at first, so when I put my fingers on the keyboard, all sorts of commands started firing. It was hysterical!

I’ve also programmed characters I use a lot, like (), —, and “, to be more accessible and not need a shift of multiple keys pressed at once. I love being able to experiment and refine.

One of the things I love about being able to program the Moonlander is the iterative nature of it. My computer keyboard is my main work tool, and it’s great to be able to refine how it works, to change key functions and locations if I find I’m repeatedly hitting the wrong key or having a hard time keying in a certain character.

Typing is my second language, and I was worried I’d have difficulty adapting to my customizations, but I got comfortable faster than I expected. I appreciated the training modules; those helped me create new neural pathways, especially for the characters I rarely use. A keyboard layout designed around my work is a real feeling of power.

What would be your dream setup?

I almost exclusively use my top layer. I am fast on a 10-key, but I usually have to switch back and forth between words and numbers, so toggling to the second layer to access the number pad isn’t ideal. Maybe I’ll figure out a way to program the 10-key into my top layer, but I’d love to have a dedicated number pad.

I’d also like a second monitor. My current MacBook doesn’t support that; I’ll be looking for it in my next computer.

One part of my dream setup is not having to do much typing on my laptop keyboard, even when working from home or being a digital nomad. I love how portable the Moonlander is; I plan to take it with me to Mexico in a few weeks for a working vacation.