Writing again?
I’m writing on a new device. Any time I see some kind of new doo-dad or notepad, I partake in a flurry of activity to fill the first few sections and then leave it to age on a shelf.
We were trying to sell our old desk, and appropriately so, had to clean it out in order to put it on Craigslist. We had purchased a minimal, replacement desk from our favorite new home store, IKEA. So my wife cleaned it and threw down an armful of journals. Some completed, most less than a page full. I was most proud of the one that was completely filled to the brim with tiny scrawl detailing every awful moment covering a short time in my life post-college and pre-marriage. I don’t know that I want anyone to read that thing, come to think of it.
I’ve often wondered what my grandchildren will say when they look at those journals after I’m long in the grave. I don’t think that it’s something that I want to hide. Will they think me some kind of deviant creep, or will they think what I think I would think: Hey, he wasn’t just a grandpa, he was a person like us too.
Maudlin, isn’t it? And I guess it’s a long way to say that I’ve gone and done it again. I’ve gotten a new mode of writing and another way to waste my time filling up something with bits of writing.
Off Ebay I grabbed an AlphaSmart 3000. It’s a word processor meant for school children, but like the moleskine (which I still use, surprisingly enough) has something of a geek-chic resurgence among the writing set. People call it “distraction free” writing. And I get that. It’s a keyboard (full sized and nice and snappy by the way) with a four line LED. And that’s it. It stores the text, and then puts it in your text file when you connect it via USB.
So much easier than trying to write on a Blackberry. And I can’t get over how easy it is to fire up and get going without having to check your email, surf the web and answer incoming IM messages. Of course, best of all is that it runs on three AA batteries. Always available, light, and friendly. And here I am going on and on and on about this thing, blogging on a long forgotten site long hijacked by spam commenters and jackasses saying jackass things.
Wow. No one said that having a stream of consciousness note-taking device would always be a good thing.
That’s enough for now. I think I should go off and finally do some real writing. Is this the way for me to do that? Or is this just another brief detour only to distract myself from the actual task of sitting down to write?
My mental cheerleader is urging me on.
Alex,
I was recently looking for a ‘distraction free’ alternative to my laptop. While that speaks ill of my resolve, or at least my self-control, the fact is that I think there always be a market for goofy little devices such as the Alphasmart.
Anyway, it was your post that sold me on this unit. I’ve been running it for about a week and I can’t get enough of it. I’m also pleasantly surprised at how five or six pages fired on the Alphasmart need surprisingly little editing, aside from technicals. It’s as though the device is a crutch for those with short attention spans, read: we force ourselves to write on it, and our writing reflects our intent, rather than what percentage of the brain we’re devoting to it while performing other tasks.
There are so many tools available to a writer, but this one is like being in the woods with two sticks and some pine needles. A typewriter is the same, of course, but the Alpha is tiny and light – but workable as compared to a Qwerty smartphone or what have you.
Anyway, you turned me on to this! Thanks!
Alex,
I was recently looking for a ‘distraction free’ alternative to my laptop. While that speaks ill of my resolve, or at least my self-control, the fact is that I think there always be a market for goofy little devices such as the Alphasmart.
Anyway, it was your post that sold me on this unit. I’ve been running it for about a week and I can’t get enough of it. I’m also pleasantly surprised at how five or six pages fired on the Alphasmart need surprisingly little editing, aside from technicals. It’s as though the device is a crutch for those with short attention spans, read: we force ourselves to write on it, and our writing reflects our intent, rather than what percentage of the brain we’re devoting to it while performing other tasks.
There are so many tools available to a writer, but this one is like being in the woods with two sticks and some pine needles. A typewriter is the same, of course, but the Alpha is tiny and light – but workable as compared to a Qwerty smartphone or what have you.
Anyway, you turned me on to this! Thanks!