Damn familial responsibilities and adulting. They tend to show up at the most inconvenient time.
So after waxing poetic to myself about the difference between failing and falling, I decided to cut myself some slack and start fresh. No worrying about the past, because there's no changing it.
I wasn't going to let the day get away from me. Sure...it was already 3pm, but let's ignore that fact. I set my timer and got my daily blog post knocked out. Then it was time to do all the things I'd been stressing about all day.
Between a blast of dry shampoo and putting on real pants, I was scrambling to figure out how the writing was going to happen. I was heading to a place that wasn't very computer friendly. There's always the old "grab a notebook and go" method, but then I'd still have to type it out when I eventually got home. And as a lefty, I didn't want smears all over my hand.
I ran through my office to stare at my computer and think real hard about taking my baby out where there would be tons of kids, and having to hide the middle finger stickers on it. That's when I saw this bad boy propped in the magazine rack I keep him on in my office.
It's low tech writing at it's finest, because it only shows four short lines of text, and there's no notifications, or shiny internet to tempt you away. This bad boy also has the wonderful auto-save feature. So as soon as a keyboard click leaves your fingers, it's captured by the device's onboard memory.
I can only save files by number, not name, and while there is a spell check and a few other features, I only use it to draft, and send the words onto whatever I'm working on.
It takes three double A batteries that seem to last damn near forever, but of course, since I hadn't picked it up in a long time, I had to change them.
Last night, with only a few minutes to spare, I tucked it under my arm, sent my latest update of my draft to my drive, and took off.
I had the tightest schedule ever to keep, but I knew I'd arrive at the second stop of four fifteen minutes before the event started. I knew I had time.
I got 504 words down in those fifteen minutes, and that is even with people getting up and walking past me in a movie-theater-style seating arrangement. Seriously, folks. Get your shit done before you sit down.
I got home, hours later, and still had to get my words onto my document, but seriously, all that meant was plugging in an old-school USB port and hitting send.
I haven't set up a NaNoWriMo "survival kit" per se, but I do have some of my favorite tools coming into play for the current draft I'm working on, and I'm happy to dig this bad boy out of retirement.
There's something to be said about typing on a mechanical keyboard, and sitting with your words with no formatting and no italics. I find when I'm just thinking about the next sentence, and that's it, that I can write faster than I do on my computer. Because if I don't go fast on my AlphaSmart, I'll forget where I just was and trust me when I say, you don't want to attempt a read-thru on this thing. Using an arrow key to maneuver through a document on a teeny tiny screen is torture.
So I decided to write this blog on it today too. I'm getting ready for Halloween. And there are tons of things to wrap up before the trick-or-treaters start knocking on our door.
It's time to grab my coffee and start my day. I'm starting it with my blog and morning routine out of the way first.
And my little AlphaSmart is doing its part in keeping me productive. I love this thing.
Do you have any old-school gadgets you love? Maybe it's not even a writing tool. I'd love to hear about it.
~Roxy