Dear Santa, I want a typewriter for Christmas. Thanks! Love, Annie
I was 6 years old when I got my first typewriter. It was small, red and plastic. I discovered it in our home’s entryway at 3AM Christmas morning and began typing away. I didn’t even put paper in the machine I was so excited Santa had given me my very wish! It was the best Christmas ever! –until I woke my mom up and she came downstairs and yanked me back upstairs and put me back in bed with a kindly threat or two. My mom is Irish and good at making threats that sound dire but have too much love and heart in them to mean much when delivered in a whisper to my ear on Christmas morning. She knew her child was too full of Christmas joy and the prospect of future writing projects.
Present Day, 2009:
Dear Santa, I want a laptop for Christmas. Thanks! Love, Annie
Long gone is my darling little-kid typewriter that captured in black ribbon ink my limericks, jokes, short stories and letters to my brother’s telling them to give me my stuff back. Nowadays, I have different “tools of the trade” for writing. I use a text editor like MS Word for all my efforts before publishing so that I have basic writing tools available such as a spell checker, thesaurus, grammar editorand more. I have a super fast machine that myhusband built for me from scratch for all myfilm, music, photo and graphic editing needs but it isnot road warrior material. I need a laptop since the world has become a mobile place and I am a global writer.
I decided I don’t need anything too fancy since I don’t want the temptation of being able to create anything more than a blog entry while on the road or check email. This means I can get something lightweight, on the smaller side, with less horsepower under the hood. I don’t want to weigh down Santa’s sleigh with an 17″ laptop with DVD player and burner. I think myneeds will make Santa happy this year.
The idea of being able to blog from the road is rather attractive. For example, I can put a laptop in the bottom of my baby’s stroller and walk over to the local cafe and work on post or two and when my “cafe Americano” is done, I can pack up and head home.
If you are going to blog and be consistent, you really ought to consider having the tools of the writing trade. This could be a laptop, proper software, ergonomic chair and desk or even a headset for taking calls so you don’t hurt your neck. (I am sure you don’t need reminding that writers must take care of their hands, wrists, arms, shoulders and neck to stay in the business of writing). Once upon a time the typewriter was the essential tool for professional writers. Before that, it was a scribe. Before that a chisel. Before that a good memory for telling a long tall tale.
How professional do you plan tobe this coming year? Will you miss a blog or two because you’ll be on the road? Can you remember to set up blogs in advance?
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