My Favorite Writing Gadget

This entry was originally written in June of 2004, but a) it’s still relevant and b) I still love it, having written the entire first draft of Everlasting Life on it. I hope you enjoy it.

At least once a week, when I’m in the throes of working on a book, I think to myself, “Damn, I love my AlphaSmart.”

Our love affair began, as so many love affairs do - with an ad. It was tucked in the back of an issue of Creative Screenwriting magazine. I scribbled down the url and when I got home from Borders, I decided to check it out.

Okay, a dedicated, portable word processor for less than $200?!
One that runs on 3 AA batteries?
For over 700 hours?
That holds about 100 single spaced pages?
That has a full size keyboard?
That you can download into any word processing program for formatting, or print directly from the unit itself?
That looks cool as hell and only weighs a pound or two?

Count me in!

But not so fast, says my frugal self. That’s $200 that could be better used else where. Like paying off your credit cards.

So, to shut up my frugal self, and to rationalize it a bit further, I did a google on it, and found a site called epinions, where people told about their experiences with the AlphaSmart.

One lady wrote that she backed over hers with her car.
And it still worked.

Now, at first I was trying to figure out, logistically, just how her AlphaSmart got behind her car and on the driveway to begin with, but that just made my brain hurt. So I gave up.

And bought one in 2001.
And I love the hell out of it, three years later.
I wrote the entire first draft of “Everlasting Life” (the second book in the Denton and Monty series) and am currently working on the first draft of “Spear of Destiny” (the third book) right now, using this wonderful little tool.

There are disadvantages to using the AlphaSmart, though.
First, it does not have a back lit screen, so you will need a light source to see your screen with. Second, the screen only shows 4 lines of text, so if you need to see the entire page, you would need to transfer your draft work to your home computer word processing program.
These, literally are the only issues I have with the equipment.
I actually find the fact that it only shows 4 wee little lines comforting, because I only have to focus on the here and the now, and don’t have to deal with the sometimes psychologically crippling image of a large, white, blank piece of paper.

This word processor is as vanilla as it gets. You sit down, hit the On/Off button, open a file and start typing. You don’t have to worry about saving, because as soon as you type, it’s saved. The file isn’t deleted after you download it, either. It’s there in memory, permanently, until you hit the Clear File button.

It’s just so damn cool.
I realize that many folks here are into bells and whistles and color and Oohs and Aaahs, but I think that for the pure fiction or non-fiction writer who needs something portable, light, durable, and easy-greasy to use, you can’t go wrong with an AlphaSmart 3000.

And no, I am not being compensated in any way, shape or form for this little journal entry. I just want the company to sell more of them.
Because they rock my writing world.

End Note: While the AlphaSmart 3000 has been discontinued in favor of the Dana and the Neo, you can still find the 3000 model and earlier versions on eBay for a fraction of the cost of a laptop.