Originally published at Read In Bed!. Please leave any comments there.
So…I’m contemplating buying an Alphasmart Neo. This is because they don’t seem to sell the Alphasmart 3000 any longer, which is what I have. I love my Alfie. I’ve written so many books, novellas and short stories on it, I’ve lost count. It’s the perfect tool — easy to operate, heavy duty, lightweight, rechargeable, a nice size. I’ve taken it to the playground, the coffee shop, the lake, on a plane, on a train, in the car, to the beach. It goes where I go and it simply…works.
So why replace it? Well, it’s getting old and while I have replaced the keyboard once already (it was still under warranty and whaddayaknow, they replaced it for me! NIIICE) it is showing signs of wear and tear. It still works. It’s a workhorse. There’s nothing wrong with it at all. Sure, the letters on some of the keys are wearing off and there are scratches, but it works.
So why replace it?
Well, because I could give this one to my kid to use for HER stories and have a bright shiny new one for myself. Because the new one has some nice new features I *might* (or might not) like. Because I can afford to and because it could be a tax deduction? (ok, lame!) Just…because?
But you know what the bottom line is? I love my Alfie and will write a hundred more books on it or a new unit like it. It’s truly the perfect writer’s tool.
But it’s only a tool.
And a tool is worthless if you don’t use it.
I will admit to being of the “ooh, shiny!” mindset on occasion. Graphic tablets, laser pens that let you “write” and transcribe right into your computer, voice recognition, new operating systems, laptops…hell, if they could invent a chip that would take the words right out of my brain and download them directly into a document, I would TOTES be looking that up on the ‘net and pricing it out.
But you know what? While those tools might make all the difference in the world to a writer, and they might genuinely help you get the words on the page — they’re still only tools. And tools are worthless if you don’t use them. You can own every piece of shiny equipment in the world, you can spend hours setting them up, messing with discs, farting around on email, getting your office lined up the way you want it…and in the end, none of that is going to write your book for you.
The only person who can write your book is YOU. Whether you do it by hand or on an Alphasmart or on a laptop or desktop or by dictation, you’re still the one who has to do the work. You’re still responsible for turning off the internet or the Sims or the Wii and getting to business.
Oh, and blogging. Yeah. Ahem. Blogging doesn’t count as writing unless you’re getting paid for it. (And before you bloggers jump all over me, what I’m talking about is being a paid writer, it’s your job, you have a contract and instead of writing your novel you’re blogging. In that case, the blogging doesn’t count as writing. It’s not what you’re being paid for.)
So.
I don’t think I’ll be ordering the Neo right now. Because I don’t *need* it unless my current unit dies. And it won’t help me write better or faster. (Much like the lovely purple vaccuum that man I live with bought for me. Yeah, nice bells and whistles. Someone still has to run it.)
Anon, my doves, anon. It’s Saturday and I’m off to a picnic later, but now I’m going to eat and NOT buy a new toy. And maybe, just maybe, I’ll actually write.
M
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