I wonder if anyone's got secret tips that work.
I've gone to printing my stuff out and editing, and I write freehand instead of typing. That saves the need to bust out a computer, carry it around, be near power, and so on. That's been a good change. Plus, anyone who's flown Frontier lately knows their tray tables are about the size of a Lunchable.
I tried printing stuff off on cardstock once, just to see if the stiffer paper was easier to work with on my lap. It was, but it was fucking heavy, and I got a bunch of paper cuts. Mixed bag, that one.
Anybody got anything they've worked out? Anything that didn't work out?
Dictating into your cell phone is a Godsend.
Ideas for plot, whole sentences, sometimes even whole paragraphs. And if you're in an airport not wanting to look insane you can type the ideas using the Notes feature.
Also, reading your stories into your cell, then playing them back through your rental car speakers to see what sounds good/bad, right/wrong. I haven't actually done this yet, because my drives are usually short. But for a long drive this could be a good thing.
Kezie
That's a good idea. I've been toying with doing something like that. It's a different muscle, but maybe it'd work.
i'm all about the laptop, but travel to me doesn't mean what it does to you. or maybe anyone.
anyway, they make windows tablets and little keyboards to go with them in stuff. it's like a mini laptop, so maybe that's an option?
Two words: Alphasmart Neo. It;s a word processor and I’ve used mine on an airplane. Its about the size of a keyboard with a small screen on which you can read about a paragraph. The battery lasts forever and when you get to where you get back home you just plug it into your computer and open word and it imports your writing into the document. I should also mention that there are 8 separate files (accessible by keys) so you can work on multiple stories or whatever.
A lot of newspaper reporters use them. It’s distraction free at its finest. This is what it looks like with why this guy likes his ( http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/portable-word-processor/ ) There are a lot of pages out there on the internet with people talking about why they use them. This was merely the first one I found.
I think I bought mine on Amazon for around 36.00 or something like that. To be fair the main reason I bought mine was becasue I just can’t be trusted around an internet connection when I write. I’ll start “researching” and not come up for air for a couple hours. it’s also the reason that I do the vast majority of my writing on typewriters. Anyway,love my Neo and it might be something that you might enjoy as well.
Insofar as the rest of it goes, I too carry a legal pad in my laptop bag (the one I use for the Neo) as well as pens and i do a lot of my initial outline ideas on it. Storyarcs and character arcs and what not but when it’s time to write if I’m traveling (which for me is everyday since I drive a truck for living) I use my Neo.
— Hetch
Hetch,
Thanks for this post.
Never heard of it.
Now I gotta have it.
I just got one of those earlier this year! You're right, super cheap, easy to use, no fuss. I'm the same, if there's wifi, I'm doomed.
