Redux: Tricks of the trade

What's an eee pc?
Sometimes I write on my alphasmart I bought in college, before I had a laptop. My the sound is pretty loud, and I worry people at coffeeshops are annoyed by me.
But it's better than a laptop for NaNo, I think, as I can't be distracted by anything else on my computer except writing.

an eee pc (says the owner of just such a thing) is an awesomely small pc built for surfing the web and not much else. their web site is here: http://eeepc.asus.com/global/ and they have several varieties, both w/ and w/out regular hard drives, some built for perhaps a little more than just surfing the web. i have a 1000H, which has an actual (80GB) hard drive, and a ~10 inch screen, so it is sooo perfect for writing. needless to say, i will be carting mine to write-ins all over town. (^_^)

http://www.notuboc.com/

I use a laptop at home, and a notebook at school. But everything ends up on my laptop eventually....

Mostly laptop for write-ins and times at home that I don't feel like sitting at the computer desk. Although I find in a pinch that the backs of envelopes or various fast-food-restaurant napkins are fantastic for jotting down notes, snatches of character conversations, or that eye-opening plot breakthrough you've been waiting for. ;)

"Here I am, out in the woods, talking to a Moose. Life's a funny road to walk, ain't it?"

I'm planning on writing mostly on my computer except for at write-ins (where I'll have to use a notebook). But since I've never tried to write anything like this, I may decide that using the notebook and writing longhand is easier for me. We'll see.

I'll likely write mostly on my Macbook. However, I enjoy the theraputic feel of pen to paper so I'll probably do some scene sketching and such in longhand just to break things up. My boyfriend is a big fan of the classic typewriter and hates longhand, so its always funny when we break from the computer to write because I am sitting with a notebook and he is click click click DING ing away.

2005: Conkle's Hallowed
2007: Brierspell
2008: ???

who here is also writing longhand? ( I longhand all day then write it all out on the computer).

Who has one of those alphasmart/neosmart? how do those work? We hear about them on the nano site.

So many words, so precious little time.
ML Columbus, Ohio

I'm writing longhand with pencil and paper, as always. Some day, I will prevail!

I still have the Alphasmart Pro (basically a first-generation device) that I used for my first and second NaNoWriMo. Still works fine. I love how portable and light they are. Rugged - you don't have to worry about dropping it. It works forever on two AA batteries (*forever* here can be interpreted as *at least as long as it takes you to write your novel*).

The only downside is it's not a typewriter. And for me, once you go manual, there's no going back.

I usually write longhand during most of the year, then type up everything on the computer. During NaNo I tend to stay on the computer just b/c it's faster.

I have an alphasmart that I rarely use but don't want to part with. I took off the keys and put them in the dvorak layout. I can bring it to the kick-off party if anyone wants to see it. (oooh) I guess for me it's nice compared to a laptop b/c I can't get online with it.

I never quite got the hang of typing with Dvorak. I've used a typing program on Linux that does finger drills for Dvorak, but I never quite was able to make the switch. I'm sure it's faster once I learning, it's just convincing my fingers and getting over the loss of Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V.

Laptop here. Running Vista or Ubuntu Linux depending on my mood and current frustration with my OS of choice. OpenOffice is a must either way.

I use pen and paper for mind mapping and other throw aways. Everything's gotta end up electronic for me otherwise it becomes a tourist of the twilight zone.

-----

Mike

eeePC, still new to me. I'm trying to adjust to the keyboard differences. This thing has a very small keyboard. The shift key on the right side is making me more than a little crazy, but I'm hoping that it will all be second nature by 11/1.

that's awesome.

I'm currently saving my money to get a laptop pc. when I do... oh boy!

So many words, so precious little time.
ML Columbus, Ohio

I use a laptop most of the time with a little longhand on a yellow pad. My teenage son did his first on notebook paper with felt tip pens, the second with his grandmother's 1960s Smith Corona and this year he'll use a fountain pen with copy paper.
Poor kid fell through a time warp and landed in 1990 Ohio.
Wendy