{"id":36130,"date":"2020-05-20T09:00:29","date_gmt":"2020-05-20T16:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/?p=36130"},"modified":"2020-05-11T14:09:52","modified_gmt":"2020-05-11T21:09:52","slug":"whats-in-my-bag-andrew-liptak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/whats-in-my-bag-andrew-liptak\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s in my bag? \u2014 Andrew Liptak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sign up here<\/i><\/a>\u00a0to get\u00a0What\u2019s in my bag?\u00a0a week early in your inbox.<\/i><\/p>\n

Andrew Liptak<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0is an author and freelance writer who specializes in covering science fiction and fantasy entertainment. He\u2019s the co-editor of a military science fiction anthology,\u00a0War Stories: New Military Science Fiction<\/em>, and a forthcoming history of cosplay (coming from Saga Press sometime next year). He\u2019s written for places like Gizmodo, io9, Polyon, The Verge, and Tor.com. You can find him on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>, or\u00a0subscribe to his newsletter<\/a>\u00a0about science fiction and storytelling.<\/p>\n

About the bag<\/strong>
\nFor the last year or so, I\u2019ve been carrying around an\u00a0EDC-1 from Savage Industries<\/strong><\/a>. It\u2019s designed after an Apollo surface bag and a toolbox, which makes it really useful to find things in it: open it up, and you can easily find whatever it is you\u2019re looking for. It\u2019s the perfect size for notebooks and my iPad.<\/p>\n

I can pretty much write from anywhere there\u2019s an internet connection (Before the pandemic, I liked to write in libraries), the entire thing essentially becomes a mobile office. The exterior has a velcro strip for patches, and I\u2019ve been alternating between a Green Mountain Squad patch (my local 501st Legion unit), and one from the Tachi, a spaceship from the Expanse series, depending on my mood.<\/p>\n

What’s inside the bag<\/strong><\/p>\n

I carry a wide range of things, depending on what I\u2019m doing. Usually, I carry a couple of notebooks \u2014 currently a moleskin that I use to jot down story ideas, as well as a heavy-duty, spiral-bound blank notebook I use for notes and sketches \u2014 as well as an iPad Pro with a keyboard folio. The bag itself doesn\u2019t have any pockets \u2014 part of Adam Savage\u2019s design philosophy \u2014 so I have a couple of pouches that I carry stuff around in.
\n<\/em><\/p>\n

Equipment Pouch<\/strong><\/a>: I use this for some of the larger items that I need to keep with me at any given time: chargers and cables, headphones, a spare battery, as well as a couple of bags of tea and a spoon. Right now, I\u2019m drinking Steven Smith Teamaker\u2019s No. 1851 Portland Breakfast blend<\/a>. The spoon is a relic from my childhood that turned up when I moved a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

Pen Pouch<\/strong>: The pen pouch is something I got as a work gift a couple of years ago. It\u2019s the perfect size for pens and pencils, so I have a variety that I carry with me. I\u2019ve got some of the usual suspects \u2014 a couple Sharpies, Bic mechanical pencils, and pens. But what I like using the most for notes is a brand called\u00a0Tru Red<\/strong><\/a>, which I picked up from Staples. They\u2019re nice and thick, have a nice, reliable line, and they\u2019re grippy. I\u2019ve also got a\u00a0Parker Jotter fountain pen<\/a>, as well as a small, 6-inch General ruler.<\/p>\n

Lochby Field Journal<\/strong><\/a>: I picked up this field notebook recently, and I\u2019ve really fallen in love with it for notes and for writing. It\u2019s a durable object with a nice, solid closure hook, with a bunch of pockets on the inside. It\u2019s small, but not overly so, and I\u2019ve equipped it with a couple of smaller booklets from the same company, which are great for writing on.<\/p>\n

Books<\/strong>: I read a lot, and I always carry a couple of books with me. Right now, I\u2019m reading Hao Jingfang\u2019s (translated by Ken Liu)\u00a0Vagabonds<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, a science fiction novel about a group of young adults from Mars who took part in a cultural exchange program on Earth after a massive war. It\u2019s an engrossing read about two very different cultures, and how they connect with one another. I\u2019m also reading Eddie Robson\u2019s\u00a0Hearts of Oak<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, an intriguing novel about the inhabitants of a mysterious city with some deeply-held secrets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What’s in my bag? issue #50<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13684,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[2303],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36130"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13684"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=36130"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36130\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":36133,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36130\/revisions\/36133"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36130"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36130"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kk.org\/cooltools\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36130"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}