Sorry to suggest another possibly useless device to you but you may want to check out the Pomera digital typewriter. It has the same form factor as the Freewrite Traveller but it uses an LCD screen instead of e-ink, so there's no lag at all.
In my experience it has plenty of battery life, though granted I haven't used it for any marathon writing sessions so far.
Also, if the feel of the keyboard is important to you, be warned that the Pomera only has a stock-standard laptop style keyboard rather than the mechanical keyboards Freewrite uses.
Thanks for this newsletter! I'm reading The Slow Professor for the first time, and I just finished the section where they talk about the need for "timelessness" as it relates to flow states. Their work jumped to mind when I read this:
"The goal, the need, is to find something more fascinating than those distractions."
I think much of the work of teaching these days is cultivating that fascination in order for student to experience that "optimal state of inner experience," as Csikszentmihalyi says.
I also really liked how you talked about the friction between that fascinating experience. I'm thinking a lot about "friction" as it relates to AI usage in writing, how AI's goal is to remove that friction but how such friction is an essential step toward critical reading, writing, and thinking.
As I get more serious about writing, I find this sort of shop talk fascinating. It strikes me that despite all the anxiety about reading as a cultural practice and writing as a vocation, writers have at the disposal an astonishing array of tools to work with. I, too, write in the Substack app, which makes it easy to be distracted. I'm developing a practice around writing a book that (I hope!) helps me eliminate distractions, but I've not landed on any one. Now I'm tempted to try out a few of these instruments, which remind me of a brand new (at the time) Brother typewriter I used to write short stories in high school. Like the old joke about sharpening pencils instead of writing, looking at pictures of writing technology is a distraction...but also fun!
I can relate to this. My grade school years were full of nuns scolding me for my atrocious handwriting. A few years ago, I was struggling to write song lyrics, so I started a creative journal in which I'd write and draw for 5-10 minutes every night. It worked, as the practice led to a few sets of lyrics I am really happy with.
Last night, I spent a few hours speaking the rest of the creative journal entries into an app on my phone, and then editing and copying the transcribed entries into my writing files in Upnote. While it adds another layer to my work, I've come to like writing offline some of the time. My handwriting still sucks, though. ;-)
I would love to see Keith Morris's plaque in a future post if you have a picture. I'm absolutely delighted by the idea of it. Makes me want to go to SC to sit there and see if he left any good words in the booth.
"One of the things I hoped for students in my first-year writing courses was for them to become mindful about this aspect of their practices, the manner in which they go about their work."
I'm over here eating a late breakfast, having slept in because I spent two days working on a 1200-word article--two days meaning: two five-hour chunks, both interrupted any number of times by small household chores and, more importantly, snacks. All of the great teachers in my life have taught this ^^^. So I'm adding you to the list.
The first one said this: Ask your parents to describe the way you learned to walk. That's how you will go about everything else." I couldn't ask mine about me, but I could describe to my two children how they did it. My daughter sat and sat and sat. Then one day, she stood up in the middle of the living room and walked off on her toes. Now? A dancer and philosophy major (obviously?), she plateaus, and plateaus and plateaus, and then she makes an astronomical leap of genius. My son-- the opposite. Slow, incremental steps. Steady, steady gets the job done. So reliable. A computer genius, he cooks up everything from scratch-- literally made butternut squash ravioli last time he was here. Delicious.
Thank you for giving this to your students-- that they hold the key.
Percival Everett on never having to say "I can't because I have to work" reminds me of Henry Miller's Commandments, a framed copy of which sits on my desk. Commandment 7 is "Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it." But this must be read in conjunction with Commandment 11, "Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these things come afterwards." For me, the lesson is to write in the morning. I find that if I don't write first, I won't fully enjoy a trip to the movies or coffee with a friend, because a part of me is still with my book.
Well, John, it's another outstanding and insightful article. A few pedantic notes 🎶 which I can't avoid adding. Sorry, not sorry. Charlotte Bronte wrote on tiny slips of paper held on a board close to her face, due to her weak eyesight. And SHE did ok. Anthony Trollope said there was no way of writing easily and writing well. Hmmm. He was prolific by any standard. Your personal struggles are enlightening and inspiring. I'm kind of a hybrid long hand notebook scribbler and computer user, but not even productive enough either way, so what do I know? I do know this: pomodoro sounds like tomato 🍅 to me, and I respect that. I also like your fancy typewriters, and the theory behind them. And I was just enjoying the story and then you said Zamboni, and, John, that is the sort of quality content that keeps me coming back. 🕊️ Peace.
As someone else who took to typing immediately, I'm glad to find I'm not alone. I think best with my fingers sitting on a keyboard. They know where the letters are so I don't have to pay attention to that part. I go back to the days of manual typewriters and like you I want to see what I've done and go back and tinker. People are different and all methods are useful for someone.
Years ago I tried a few devices like this (AlphaSmart Dana, etc) but they all felt like toys. Finally I just bought a used laptop and disabled the internet connection, and I do nothing on that machine but write. I use a different computer when I need to go on the web. I still waste a lot of time on the web, but it's nice to have a laptop just for writing.
Trying to get a fully quiet classroom for my young students to write is quite a challenge. I find that they are so overstimulated that any quiet makes them uncomfortable, let alone willing to tackle something they are thinking about in writing.
Re: The capacity for stillness/quiet, you've reminded me of an old experience that was instructive.
A gazillion years ago (okay, the early 90's) when I was working as a day camp counselor, I had a more experienced counselor clue me in to a game he called "dead," where the campers had to be as still as possible for as long as possible. The competition aspect got most campers into it and once I identified the one kid who could not muster this at all, I made them the judge and I was one of the competitors. Once you were eliminated you became one of the judges.
A game wouldn't go longer than 15 minutes and usually less than that. I was the winner almost every time except once when I fell asleep almost immediately and had a hypnic jerk. But...I found that a lot of the kids sort of enjoyed it because for the most part we were constantly on the go (it was a sports-oriented camp). Being still is a skill in and of itself I think.
lol I love that you bought THREE similar versions of the e-ink device; I did purchase a Freewrite but sold it to another writer. I totally understand the Hope Springs Eternal experience with tech things, though, especially with Kickstarter—I’ve bought three dysfunctional versions of the same-ish tri-screen laptop monitor and yet none of them work well. at the same time, I can’t write anything seriously with dictation or handwriting. it has to pass through the keyboard.
I have all of these devices =] And enjoyed writing in them too! But one time my AlphaSmart lost my story--didn't save it or back it up--and afterwards I never trusted any of these devices again
That’s tragic! Back in the early computer days I lost some work by not saving and the systems not having the same kind of safeguards as today. I also have a short story where I mistakenly overrode a newer version with an old one from a backup. I couldn’t even bear to try to recreate what I’d done.
Sorry to suggest another possibly useless device to you but you may want to check out the Pomera digital typewriter. It has the same form factor as the Freewrite Traveller but it uses an LCD screen instead of e-ink, so there's no lag at all.
That looks pretty cool, for sure. I wonder how its battery life is compared to the e-ink. For some reason I saw that as important.
In my experience it has plenty of battery life, though granted I haven't used it for any marathon writing sessions so far.
Also, if the feel of the keyboard is important to you, be warned that the Pomera only has a stock-standard laptop style keyboard rather than the mechanical keyboards Freewrite uses.
“Write drunk. Edit sober”? I prefer to write on the keyboard and edit with pencil and paper. It provides distance without the alcoholism.
Thanks for this newsletter! I'm reading The Slow Professor for the first time, and I just finished the section where they talk about the need for "timelessness" as it relates to flow states. Their work jumped to mind when I read this:
"The goal, the need, is to find something more fascinating than those distractions."
I think much of the work of teaching these days is cultivating that fascination in order for student to experience that "optimal state of inner experience," as Csikszentmihalyi says.
I also really liked how you talked about the friction between that fascinating experience. I'm thinking a lot about "friction" as it relates to AI usage in writing, how AI's goal is to remove that friction but how such friction is an essential step toward critical reading, writing, and thinking.
As I get more serious about writing, I find this sort of shop talk fascinating. It strikes me that despite all the anxiety about reading as a cultural practice and writing as a vocation, writers have at the disposal an astonishing array of tools to work with. I, too, write in the Substack app, which makes it easy to be distracted. I'm developing a practice around writing a book that (I hope!) helps me eliminate distractions, but I've not landed on any one. Now I'm tempted to try out a few of these instruments, which remind me of a brand new (at the time) Brother typewriter I used to write short stories in high school. Like the old joke about sharpening pencils instead of writing, looking at pictures of writing technology is a distraction...but also fun!
I can relate to this. My grade school years were full of nuns scolding me for my atrocious handwriting. A few years ago, I was struggling to write song lyrics, so I started a creative journal in which I'd write and draw for 5-10 minutes every night. It worked, as the practice led to a few sets of lyrics I am really happy with.
Last night, I spent a few hours speaking the rest of the creative journal entries into an app on my phone, and then editing and copying the transcribed entries into my writing files in Upnote. While it adds another layer to my work, I've come to like writing offline some of the time. My handwriting still sucks, though. ;-)
I would love to see Keith Morris's plaque in a future post if you have a picture. I'm absolutely delighted by the idea of it. Makes me want to go to SC to sit there and see if he left any good words in the booth.
I don't have a picture, but I might be able to track one down. This has a shot of Keith in booth itself. http://glimpse.clemson.edu/somebody-had-to-go/
Thank you!
"One of the things I hoped for students in my first-year writing courses was for them to become mindful about this aspect of their practices, the manner in which they go about their work."
I'm over here eating a late breakfast, having slept in because I spent two days working on a 1200-word article--two days meaning: two five-hour chunks, both interrupted any number of times by small household chores and, more importantly, snacks. All of the great teachers in my life have taught this ^^^. So I'm adding you to the list.
The first one said this: Ask your parents to describe the way you learned to walk. That's how you will go about everything else." I couldn't ask mine about me, but I could describe to my two children how they did it. My daughter sat and sat and sat. Then one day, she stood up in the middle of the living room and walked off on her toes. Now? A dancer and philosophy major (obviously?), she plateaus, and plateaus and plateaus, and then she makes an astronomical leap of genius. My son-- the opposite. Slow, incremental steps. Steady, steady gets the job done. So reliable. A computer genius, he cooks up everything from scratch-- literally made butternut squash ravioli last time he was here. Delicious.
Thank you for giving this to your students-- that they hold the key.
Percival Everett on never having to say "I can't because I have to work" reminds me of Henry Miller's Commandments, a framed copy of which sits on my desk. Commandment 7 is "Keep human! See people, go places, drink if you feel like it." But this must be read in conjunction with Commandment 11, "Write first and always. Painting, music, friends, cinema, all these things come afterwards." For me, the lesson is to write in the morning. I find that if I don't write first, I won't fully enjoy a trip to the movies or coffee with a friend, because a part of me is still with my book.
Well, John, it's another outstanding and insightful article. A few pedantic notes 🎶 which I can't avoid adding. Sorry, not sorry. Charlotte Bronte wrote on tiny slips of paper held on a board close to her face, due to her weak eyesight. And SHE did ok. Anthony Trollope said there was no way of writing easily and writing well. Hmmm. He was prolific by any standard. Your personal struggles are enlightening and inspiring. I'm kind of a hybrid long hand notebook scribbler and computer user, but not even productive enough either way, so what do I know? I do know this: pomodoro sounds like tomato 🍅 to me, and I respect that. I also like your fancy typewriters, and the theory behind them. And I was just enjoying the story and then you said Zamboni, and, John, that is the sort of quality content that keeps me coming back. 🕊️ Peace.
As someone else who took to typing immediately, I'm glad to find I'm not alone. I think best with my fingers sitting on a keyboard. They know where the letters are so I don't have to pay attention to that part. I go back to the days of manual typewriters and like you I want to see what I've done and go back and tinker. People are different and all methods are useful for someone.
Years ago I tried a few devices like this (AlphaSmart Dana, etc) but they all felt like toys. Finally I just bought a used laptop and disabled the internet connection, and I do nothing on that machine but write. I use a different computer when I need to go on the web. I still waste a lot of time on the web, but it's nice to have a laptop just for writing.
Trying to get a fully quiet classroom for my young students to write is quite a challenge. I find that they are so overstimulated that any quiet makes them uncomfortable, let alone willing to tackle something they are thinking about in writing.
Re: The capacity for stillness/quiet, you've reminded me of an old experience that was instructive.
A gazillion years ago (okay, the early 90's) when I was working as a day camp counselor, I had a more experienced counselor clue me in to a game he called "dead," where the campers had to be as still as possible for as long as possible. The competition aspect got most campers into it and once I identified the one kid who could not muster this at all, I made them the judge and I was one of the competitors. Once you were eliminated you became one of the judges.
A game wouldn't go longer than 15 minutes and usually less than that. I was the winner almost every time except once when I fell asleep almost immediately and had a hypnic jerk. But...I found that a lot of the kids sort of enjoyed it because for the most part we were constantly on the go (it was a sports-oriented camp). Being still is a skill in and of itself I think.
lol I love that you bought THREE similar versions of the e-ink device; I did purchase a Freewrite but sold it to another writer. I totally understand the Hope Springs Eternal experience with tech things, though, especially with Kickstarter—I’ve bought three dysfunctional versions of the same-ish tri-screen laptop monitor and yet none of them work well. at the same time, I can’t write anything seriously with dictation or handwriting. it has to pass through the keyboard.
I have all of these devices =] And enjoyed writing in them too! But one time my AlphaSmart lost my story--didn't save it or back it up--and afterwards I never trusted any of these devices again
That’s tragic! Back in the early computer days I lost some work by not saving and the systems not having the same kind of safeguards as today. I also have a short story where I mistakenly overrode a newer version with an old one from a backup. I couldn’t even bear to try to recreate what I’d done.