By KeesvL at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Koman90., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9587860
I’ve been struggling lately, as I often am, to focus on writing when at the computer. The lure of Facebook and my email and just wasting time on the internet often derails me, especially when I’m sick or depressed.
Recently, several of the authors I follow have talked about using Alphasmarts to write because they don’t connect to the internet or a computer. They’re just keyloggers – you type it in, they remember what you typed. Then, you open a file on your computer and download the log to that file. It’s pretty simple. I had one forever ago in high school, but it was gifted to a friend’s daughter for school, plus the plug in process was for a Mac, which was a real pain on the PC.
Now, several people have run with the idea and created wonderful keyloggers such as Freewrite (which I SO DESPERATELY WISH I had) that you can use away from the computer, but they’re super expensive, in the $500 range. And I’m a bit poor, so I looked at getting a newer version of the Alphasmart, the Alphasmart Neo 2 instead. It was only about $40, and it arrived yesterday.
I love it. The keyboard is comfortable, it’s just as easy to use as the one I used to have, and the screen is crisper. Very nice.
Best of all, I was able to walk away from my computer to a room without distractions and sit on my bed and type up a large part of my outline for the book I’m working on.
Success!
Now I just have to test to make sure the transfer process is as easy as I remember.
How do you avoid distractions when you want to write? I do have the program Freedom on my computer to block off the Internet, but having to make myself turn it on is hard. Kind of pathetic, I know, but when I’m sick focusing and self control and self motivation are SO HARD. Have you tried an Alphasmart or Freewrite? Inquiring minds want to know! *smile*
Wow I’ve never heard of that keyboard! If I have to be concentrated, I either sit on the bed or go to a park – depending on the weather. Not too comfortable for my back but quite good for my peace of mind. Good luck with your writing!
Thank you! It’s a bit too chilly here to head to a park, unfortunately, but I do often sit on my bed. I just needed a way to type – writing by hand is difficult with EDS. This works very well! : )