My iPad still keeps revealing its potential to me. For example, right now I am on a cross country speaking trip doing PD in Missouri then Georgia… then North Carolina next week. Indeed, it’s been busy busy.

And when you are gonna be on so many airplanes, in so many hotels, in so many places, it’d be nice if you had a few of the following things with you.

• email
• gps system
• internet access wherever you were
• planner/calendar
• notepad
• books, books, books,
• a few movies
• some podcasts
• an immense music library
• magazine articles of interest
• daily newspaper
• my contact list
• a coupla games

Do I need to go on?

My iPad really is incredible. To be able to take so much content with me in one so easy-to-navigate device… well, like I said, the thing still keeps revealing its potential to me.

It’s changed the way I plan and pack for travel. For kids today, this may seem like an “Of course you can do that with it” experience. But for me, who remembers what it was like to have to choose between which content I could and could not take with me on the road, well… it’s is just crazy crazy.

And it even lets me blog, too. Whouldda thunk?

I saw Jim Burke at CATE the other day and he mentioned how nicely blogging works within the scope of all the other writing he does.

And he particularly likes the groove he’s fallen into with it as of late.

Funny how I greatly enjoy blogging as well. Truth is, many people told me I should “blog” (whatever the heck that meant) as far back as 2007… but I wasn’t really into it. Wasn’t sure if I’d have anything to say or be able to stick with it or find any joy in it or what not.

Truth is, now that I have been at it for well over a year, I am a bit amazed at my ability to be prolific without really sacrificing any other meaningful part of my life.

Heck, I don’t know what I was doing before I was blogging – probably sleeping (LOL!) – but nowadays I find blogging to be a tool which keeps me sharp as a writer. After all, I must crank out almost 2,000 words a week just for blogs alone — and they can be about anything I want them to be about.

I’ve blogged about politicians, farts, assessment, writing, violence, books, dysfunction, friends, and on and on and on.

Heck, I’ve now even blogged about blogging.

If I do the math of it all, I see this: 2,000 words per week for at least 45 weeks this year is 90,000 words — that’s a 500 page novel I’ve written, easy! (A 500 page novel that I am, btw, not publishing. I mean who’s gonna want to read a book about farting politicians as they dysfunctionally craft policy for school assessment? I know, I know, I’d be surprised.)

The point is, more people should try it. Blogging keeps me sharp as a writer. Muscles that are used stay in better shape than muscles which are too well-rested.

I should know. I just finished yet another new children’s book which my agent read last night and loved… another notch coming in the belt, it looks like.

Blogging doesn’t come at the expense of other writing… blogging, ironically enough, seems to liberate writing.

Whoudda thunk-it?