How do you guys write? Desk top? Laptop? Voice recognition? Standard keyboard? Ergonomic? Pen/cil and paper? (And does anybody else's laptop or anything have a name?
I prefer to use my desk top, with its ergonomic keyboard but have been known (when camping, for instance) to write long hand (with a pen). This is bothersome because it can be windy outside, lonely inside, and then I have to retype it all anyway.
Now I've got a used AlphaSmart 2000, for which I believe I'm about to score the PS2 cable for $7 (as distinct from the $70 that AlphaSmart would charge me, + s&h). Once I know I can transfer what I write to my computer, I can take my AS2K to the woods and open myself to inspiration.
Conditionally, therefore, yay! If the PS2 cable at SWS Electronics out on Speedway isn't what I need, I still have time to order the expensive cable and get it before our next scheduled camping trip, but I'm really hoping the $7 one works. Either way, it'll cost considerably less than a new Neo, and be just as serviceable.
(My desktop is "the computer" or "my real computer," or "the stupid computer." My laptop's name is Lucy, and I've named my AS2000 Luddie, short for Ludd/ite.)
----------
meet me at www.AshleenOGaea.com
21,062 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 06 57
I'll be using my laptop probably, for write-ins, but it's not very portable because it's wide. I may use my desktop when I'm at home. I was really hoping to get something new when Windows 7 came out, but at this point my main goal in life is to get the money the NYTimes is supposed to put back into my bank account so I can pay my electric bill.
----------50,000 / 50,000
Oct 17, 2009 - 07 00
I write by typing, but I have to brainstorm and plot by hand.
My laptop's name is Zuko, after the Avatar character, since the series was in full-swing when I picked it up. He is sultry because he is pink and covered in Sailormoon and NaNoWriMo stickers, and thus is requiring an ever-increasing number of peripherals to work, such as a USB fan since the internal one doesn't work, and a USB keyboard since my 3, E, D, and C keys broke--pretty much the MOST NECESSARY COLUMN. He is generally accompanied by my flash drive, named Uncle Iroh. I tend to name my new hardware after characters I was into at the time. Makes for an interesting history!
I can take my lappy different places for inspiration, but I do need to be able to plug it in.
I don't particularly enjoy writing longhand when I'm writing as opposed to plotting, but I will if I'm stuck in class and bored. Yesterday I bought a new notebook for all of these purposes; it is around 9" x 6", so it's book-sized. That's important for inspiration. It has a pretty leaf pattern on the cover which I think fits thematically with this year's NaNo nicely. I also got a set of rainbow-colored pens so I can change color whenever I want. Fate, however, is cruel, because the pink one doesn't work. (And no, I don't like pink because of physical plumbing or because someone told me I'm supposed to due to aforementioned physical plumbing. I like it because it reminds me of things like cherry blossoms and strawberries.)
Beyond that, I have a desktop computer at home and will be utilizing the computers at my school library quite a bit, since that is my home-away-from-home four days out of the week.
----------2003 - The Long Road | 2004 - The Circle of Many Faces | 2006 - Searching for Sunset | 2007 - Souls in the City | 2008 - The Murmuring Mirrors | 2009 - Across
0 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 19 27
I use a combo.
Mostly on my laptop, but my first few NaNo's were mostly written long-hand, in a notebook when I worked nights at an airline. Unless there's exciting weather, things get slow around 10 pm. Then I feverishly typed them all up on my days off. Then we got the laptop. So I wrote on my desktop at home and the lappy when we were gone. A few years ago, my hubster and I were working together on the same merchandising team so that NaNo was typed mostly in a hotel room in Butte Montana. This year, hubster's laptop is having "issues" so he's using the lappy at home. The two of us are Luddite-ish in that we both prefer a desktop for serious computing. He's hoping to get it into the Geek Squad this weekend, but if we don't then it's back to the notebook/desktop combo.
----------@~,'~~
7,085 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 21 54
Mostly I write on my sister's desktop computer which she has named Dragon. We're into dragons. :)
Sometimes I write on my Dell, it was given to me used by a friend a few years ago, and it keeps on going... His name is Ripper - for Giles on Buffy.
You know, I have an Alphasmart but I don't think I ever named it. How sad!
In Nanos past, when away from technology, I have used what I call the "original laptop" - pen and blank book. Kept me busy in the airport in SF that one year.
Margaret
----------~not all who wander are lost~
2009: Gathering Wind
61,000 / 50,000
Oct 19, 2009 - 22 18
I've always handwritten my notes and typed out my stories. It's quicker that way! 2003 I used my desktop because I couldn't afford a new laptop. So I didn't get to go to any write-ins... plus I didn't have internet, so I didn't even know they existed. 04, a friend lent me a brick laptop that still used floppy disks! It worked until after I finished my nano... then it died. 05-08, I've used my Toshiba laptop, Toshio, named after the creepy white kid in The Grudge. But Toshio likes to die in October every year (he didn't last year, so he's due.). And it's sad because his screen can no longer stay up on its own. He needs velcro and two L brackets to stay up... the viagra of hardware! I'm hoping to get an PC EEE with my first paycheck on the 30th. Here's hoping that works out!
----------___________________________________
*ML for Tucson, AZ*
You see these? You see these words? These are REVLON words!
32,671 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 16 06
My modus operandi for writing has changed so much in the past few years...but, I've almost always been a computer user. Between the S.O. and I, we have quite the selection of computers. I like to write outside a lot, since there's so many distractions in the house, so I finally broke down and bought an inexpensive netbook (lovingly called "the Necronomicon"). When at home, I generally use my desktop, named "the Monolith."
I have been printing out my outlines and most my notes, or handwriting them, although lately I've been converting them to notes I can easily access on my flash drive using HTML and PHP. My goal has been to reduce the amount of stuff I have to lug around, especially since the netbook is so nice and light, it feels silly to have a big honking binder!
----------Lovin' the insanity since 2004:
Into the Wild (2004), Morgan (2005), Shadows and Whispers (2006), Morgan Part Deux (2007), False Promises (2008), Tayce (2009).
3,267 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 17 17
I bought an ASUS 1000HE (a netbook) last year, and love it. It has 9 hours of battery life, I upgraded the RAM, and I put Windows 7 on it. I love it.
My laptop's power cord died, and I haven't yet replaced it, but I don't miss my laptop. And the netbook is so small, I can take it to bed with me, or take it anywhere. So handy and light. It's like a 93% keyboard or something, so it feels about the same to me.
Good luck, all!
Natasha :-)
0 / 50,000
Oct 21, 2009 - 18 37
I guess I am old school. I don't have a laptop, so when I am away from home I have a pad and pencil. It can be annoying but I usually have bursts of imagination at the weirdest moments, usually in class.
Plus I don't even know about these gadgets that are out there.
----------http://www.facebook.com/dezyray
http://www.myspace.com/dezyray_85
0 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 07 20
i might sound stupid but i'm one of those people who perfer's the desktop because it's easier for me to see what i'm doing and the keyboard isn't so scrunched together. i have a laptop for write ins and such but it's very heavy so i don't use it too much. i'm heavily into using pima's computers when i'm at the different campuses because then i know i can just save it on flash. if i could i would just go and get a netbook to carry with me and sell my laptop. pen and paper work when i get a sudden spurt of ideas and such when i'm away from a computer. hope to make it to more write in's this year then i did last year.
----------i don't suffer from insanity i enjoy every moment of it.
psychopath i am not, for if i were i would have killed someone by now.
Agent of insanity at your service
0 / 50,000
Oct 22, 2009 - 20 31
Not stupid. I prefer desktops to laptops, too, since I tend to spread out. <^^>; I do most of my brainstorming and first drafts by hand, then type them up.
-----------Allison Fraclose
-------------------------------------------------
http://afraclose.livejournal.com/
http://www.myspace.com/afraclose
http://afraclose.blogspot.com/
31,253 / 50,000
Oct 23, 2009 - 09 35
I guess I'm a combo type of person. I am almost constantly writing in some way or form. I always have a small notebook with me so when I am sitting at the park watching the kids play or just sitting in one of the various waiting rooms ect I have something to do. I will both plot out and actually write with pen and paper, and thus my notebook looks like an English teachers worst nightmare.
I prefer to write on my mini laptop, named Denna, as her keyboard fits my small hands better. She is also convenient to carry around with the exception of her extremely short battery life. Minion, my iMac, is also employed at home although the clicky keyboard does slow me down I kind of like the sound made by the big bulky thing. :P
29,144 / 50,000
Nov 7, 2009 - 14 18
Ashleen! We met about a year ago 'way up high at a friend's palacial home in the Catalinas for a little ceremony and some fun--glad to see someone I know here! I'm new to the Tucson group but not to writing, so I thought I'd weigh in on this one.
I write on The Mothership, my big PC in my room or on my little laptop when I don't feel like writing in complete isolation. I find writing at home is my best way to write. I haven't written "communally" since my days as a reporter at the Chicago Sun Times!
I'm a very well disciplined writer, though, and I write daily no matter what. I always have at least two projects on the burners, so that I don't get bored by any one piece. It's worked for my entire career, so I'll continue that way, I guess. When it's not broke...don't fix it, right?
----------Cyn