Old Friends With New
I am revisiting a couple of old friends this month. Not in the sense of foisting oneself on to people, that would be both rude and completely alien to my desire to just be left alone. No. What I mean is the act of digging out a pair of writing tools that I all to rarely visit in an attempt to justify the price I over paid for them.
I am talking about the Freewrite Traveler and the Freewrite Smart Typewriter. They are worth the price I paid for them if I had have paid in USD. The fact that I live in Australia and paid in AUD is where I feel I got the raw end of the deal. The Aussie doesn't do well against the Greenback most of the time ( and even less now) and I generally add about 150 percent to the actual cost in order to convert the price tolocal currency.
As far as tools go, they are both good writing machine that operate as advertised and work well to help me to capture my thoughts and get words out in front of an audience.
As a writer that is all I ask of a writing tool, be it a pencil, mechanical typewriter, computer application, or in this case dedicated digital devices designed to replace a mechanical typewriter. The point of the tools we use is that they get out of the way and just allow us to create. I should not have to think about how to use the tool, all I need to do is put the tool into my hand, or under my fingertips, and let the magic happen.
It is now late October and less than a week away to the start of National Novel Writing Month. The time of year where writers form around the globe gather together in virtual spaces to cellebrate writing and to see if they can reach the goal of having written 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. It is quite the challenge. There are some well loved authors who could not meet that challenge.
One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Six (1666) words a day for 30 days straight is a lot of writing. Most will aim for a higher daily count in order to be able to take a day or two off each week. Most will not make it. I didn't last year but that was the first year I tried and I generally don't write long pieces anyway.
What NaNoWriMo does is focusses me to thinking about the craft of writing as much as I thinkk about it at all. I take stock of my style and look at what I am good at and where I need to improve and I develop strategies that may or may not assist me in achieving my writing goal of being able to write a novel. This can also be easily seen as being a very elaborate excuse to procrastinate and avoid any actual writing.
I have a plan. A techniqueI want to try and if successful a potential How To book to add to the library of writers who are making a few dollars a year selling books to writers about how to write. It is just as well I am not relying on this to put a roof over my head or food on my table.
As far as tools go, they are both good writing machine that operate as advertised and work well to help me to capture my thoughts and get words out in front of an audience.
As a writer that is all I ask of a writing tool, be it a pencil, mechanical typewriter, computer application, or in this case dedicated digital devices designed to replace a mechanical typewriter. The point of the tools we use is that they get out of the way and just allow us to create. I should not have to think about how to use the tool, all I need to do is put the tool into my hand, or under my fingertips, and let the magic happen.
It is now late October and less than a week away to the start of National Novel Writing Month. The time of year where writers form around the globe gather together in virtual spaces to cellebrate writing and to see if they can reach the goal of having written 50,000 words in the 30 days of November. It is quite the challenge. There are some well loved authors who could not meet that challenge.
One Thousand Six Hundred and Sixty Six (1666) words a day for 30 days straight is a lot of writing. Most will aim for a higher daily count in order to be able to take a day or two off each week. Most will not make it. I didn't last year but that was the first year I tried and I generally don't write long pieces anyway.
What NaNoWriMo does is focusses me to thinking about the craft of writing as much as I thinkk about it at all. I take stock of my style and look at what I am good at and where I need to improve and I develop strategies that may or may not assist me in achieving my writing goal of being able to write a novel. This can also be easily seen as being a very elaborate excuse to procrastinate and avoid any actual writing.
I have a plan. A techniqueI want to try and if successful a potential How To book to add to the library of writers who are making a few dollars a year selling books to writers about how to write. It is just as well I am not relying on this to put a roof over my head or food on my table.