I Started a New YouTube Channel

On writing, creating, and the delights of analog tools

Greetings from Denmark. Our daughter Molly spent her junior year here as a Rotary exchange student. Two weeks after her high school graduation we are back as a whole family, with Molly as our tour guide. We have been able to meet her host families, eat at her favorite restaurants, visit her favorite parks and museums, and much more. This is also the start of a 24-day trip that also includes The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy, and—for just 72 hours—Iceland. I’ll be writing and sharing photos along the way.

I’m writing today because I’m excited to announce the launch of a new YouTube channel about writing, books, the creative life, and, of course, analog tools! The channel went live a few minutes ago with five videos. New videos will be published every Monday at 3:00 p.m. Pacific Time.

My favorite of the bunch is a video about the week I spent trying to follow C.S. Lewis’s very precise writing routine. It was a story that was fun to live and then challenging to craft into a compelling video. I’d never worked with so much footage before. I had many, many hours of A-roll and B-roll I needed to compress into a 30-minute narrative. I’m a writer first and foremost, but I also love the challenge of telling stories through video. I have more vlogs and story-driven videos planned.

Two of the other videos that went up today are inspired by a post I wrote here on Substack. Part 1 is about why I use pencils to write.

Part 2 is about my six favorite pencils.

I also have a review of a beautiful new pen from Baron Fig that I think may accidentally be the perfect gift for graduation or other life transition. The review includes three etymology references. Because I can’t help myself.

And then I made a video about the pre-writing rituals I do before beginning a new book project and at the start of each writing day.

I “banked” several videos so I don’t miss an upload while I’m traveling. There will be videos coming about the small-but-mighty Bullet Journal Pocket, an origami-inspired watch, the minimalist analog kit I packed for this three-week European tour, and the 50-cent ballpoint that has been the favorite pen of everybody from Jack Kerouac and Jerry Seinfeld to Ian Fleming and P.D. James.

If you like what I’m doing, will you consider sharing the videos with a friend you think might enjoy them as well?

Some of you may know I have another YouTube channel focused mostly on photography. Why not just pivot that channel to include more about writing? I know of several YouTubers who have made that transition well. There were two reasons. One is that none of my 2,700 subscribers signed up to watch a video extolling the virtues of writing by hand. The other reason—and the bigger one, actually—is that I have new videos coming for the old channel too, mostly about photography but also a little about travel.

What both channels will have in common is an emphasis on paying attention, being delighted by the world, and then making things to share that sense of wonder.

I am the world’s least likely YouTuber. Yet somehow making these videos has become one of my great joys. I hope more of that joy is able to come through for you as a viewer as I get more comfortable in front of the camera.

Here is one more link to the new channel. Check it out! https://youtube.com/@JohnPattisonWords