What's Your Primary Writing Tool?

[Rumple Foreskin]

When you write, what do you use most often: a laptop computer, a desktop computer, pen/pencil/quill and paper, dictation, chisel and stone tablet, other?

I came across this question / poll on Absolute Write and wondered how the AH would respond. At AW, over half said they used laptops.

It goes without saying, but won't, that all comments, suggestions, insults, and explanations of why "other" was picked will be, if not exactly welcomed, at least tolerated, probably.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[cloudy]

If I use my laptop in another room, I end up being distracted by something...either the tv, or my child, or sirens, or whatever (ADD is damn difficult to overcome). I write most things on the desktop, simply because it's in the tiny "extra" bedroom that only contains the computer, my books and cds, and other non-distracting things.

That said, though, I can usually overcome a block by resorting to the old standbys: pen and paper.

 

[_Lynn_]

I use my desktop computer most of the time.
I have everything set up here in my office and find it's much more comfortable than using my laptop.
For my NaNo notes I use pencil, paper and a clipboard.

 

[Varian P]

I like to think my primary writing tool is my brain, though I would have to admit, if pressed, there are one or two of my stories that originated a little lower.

But to the substance of your question...

I love writing with pen and paper, love the scent of paper, the kinesthetic experience of putting inky letters that curve in my particular penmanship onto the page.

But it's too laborious. I do carry a journal with me everywhere, when I leave the laptop behind, and often end up churning out a few pages, but I do the bulk of my writing on the computer, simply because I type about ten times faster than I write, it saves hand cramps, and it's all there where I need it to be to edit, format, and ultimately submit it.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

It's soooo nice to be in the same boat with Cloudy and Lynn. I've always used a desktop, and on rare occassions pen and paper, for all the reasons they mentioned.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Anna_Malia75]

I am getting so tired of chasing after those damned geese, so I think I'm going to try that laptop thing you mentioned.

 

[Tricialen]

Pen and paper. The words flow and seem more personal than the computer.....

 

[rgraham666]

I use my desktop.

I have to. My cursive longhand is slow and nearly unreadable. My typing is just as bad but a computer makes it easy to correct my typos.

I'd use a laptop occasionally, go write down at the beach or at a bar, if I could afford one.

 

[Varian P]

I do almost all of my writing while hanging out in coffee shops. I consider the six or seven indie coffee shops around town to be the several thousand additional square feet of office space on which I pay no rent. And cute boys bring me coffee!

At home, I'm constantly fretting about chores and odd tasks I could be doing. At the coffee shop, the only distraction is people-watching (thanks to a good pair of isolating headphones). I haven't owned a desktop in years.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Desktop. Laptop keyboard is too small for my fat fingers.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

I only use the laptop when Mama needs to do something on the desktop. I find the blamed thing annoying and given to doing things I don't want for no obvious reason. Back in the day I loved a fountain pen . . . calligraphic, to be pricise. Otherwise my handwriting's so bad even I can't read it sometimes.

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I use my desktop.

I have to. My cursive longhand is slow and nearly unreadable. My typing is just as bad but a computer makes it easy to correct my typos.

Ditto. My freehand is illegible. my typing is terrible too, but it's fast and correctable.

I'm going to start taking the laptop down to the cigar emporium where they have a huge walk-in humidor and strong coffee and a bunch of good-for-nothings who sit around in easy chairs puffing away and the air is thick with smoke...

 

[tickledkitty]

My primary writing tool is my brain, Rev.

 

[Varian P]

Ditto. My freehand is illegible. my typing is terrible too, but it's fast and correctable.

I'm going to start taking the laptop down to the cigar emporium where they have a huge walk-in humidor and strong coffee and a bunch of good-for-nothings who sit around in easy chairs puffing away and the air is thick with smoke...

You know, I have this idealized, Hemingway/Miller-inspired notion of sitting in cafes, chain-smoking and drinking gallons of coffee and whiskey (first a cup of coffee, then a few shots of whisky--or maybe grappa--then another cup of coffee...).

But I can't smoke, and once I start drinking, I forget what I was writing about and just start posting a bunch of nonsense in the AH instead of working on my story...

 

[rgraham666]

Ditto. My freehand is illegible. my typing is terrible too, but it's fast and correctable.

I'm going to start taking the laptop down to the cigar emporium where they have a huge walk-in humidor and strong coffee and a bunch of good-for-nothings who sit around in easy chairs puffing away and the air is thick with smoke...

Oh God. That sounds like heaven.

 

[deathlynx]

Desktop comp at work...

 

[TE999]

It varies between two desktops and one laptop, depending on my location or my mood. I love the keyboard on my new desktiop, but my old desktop has an earlier version of M$ Worst on it that I prefer to compose on. The laptop is my lounging and traveling computer.

I drop everything on flashstix, so whatever I'm working on is portable.

 

[voluptuary_manque]

Ditto. My freehand is illegible. my typing is terrible too, but it's fast and correctable.

I'm going to start taking the laptop down to the cigar emporium where they have a huge walk-in humidor and strong coffee and a bunch of good-for-nothings who sit around in easy chairs puffing away and the air is thick with smoke...

I'm with Rob. You don't suppose there might be a place like that for pipe-smokers, do you? I could be tempted to go back to one . . .

 

[JagFarlane]

You know, I have this idealized, Hemingway/Miller-inspired notion of sitting in cafes, chain-smoking and drinking gallons of coffee and whiskey (first a cup of coffee, then a few shots of whisky--or maybe grappa--then another cup of coffee...).

But I can't smoke, and once I start drinking, I forget what I was writing about and just start posting a bunch of nonsense in the AH instead of working on my story...

Ahhhh Hemingway, brings back memories of Antigua. There's a little restaurant there, open air, and named for Hemingway. The service is very slow, but the drinks flow easily, and the fresh caught grilled mahi mahi was just delicious.

 

[starrkers]

At the moment all my writing is done on a laptop, with an extension keyboard (I HATE the laptop keyboard, it feels wrong and I keep hitting the damned touchpad while I type).

That's mainly beause the lappie fits in the caravan and the caravan has a heater. My poor neglected desktop is down in the unheated, drafty, spider infested shack.

I dream of a day when I will have a small alcove for my desktop where I can work unmolested by kids, weather or arachnids...

 

[shereads]

My laptop makes my neck hurt. I wish I'd never gotten hooked on it. It seems impossible to find a working posture that doesn't twist the shoulders out of whack.

 

[Elianna]

I only own a laptop. I love it. At first it was an adjustment, but now... I just sit and lounge and type anywhere I like. Of course, it's just me so the only distractions are the pets.

 

[graceanne]

Do you have ANY idea how hard it was not to vote chisel and stone tablet?

 

[dr_mabeuse]

I'm with Rob. You don't suppose there might be a place like that for pipe-smokers, do you? I could be tempted to go back to one . . .

They sell pipe tobacco too (that's where I get my Balkan Sobranie), and there's a free pool table in the front. The public library's right around the corner, and they even have female tobacco groupies that hang around and just soak up the smells. It IS heaven.

The only problem is they have a huge TV with the ball game on all day, but I'll take ear phones to tune it out. You've never seen so many happy men in your life as the guys who walk around this place with cigars and pipes in their mouths, smoking. I might never come back.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Do you have ANY idea how hard it was not to vote chisel and stone tablet?

Unless the smoke cleared around Zoot long enough for him to pull off a Chicago election night ballot stuffing, two folks did vote chisel and stone but didn't 'fess up. I meant to make the votes public but came up short on the follow-through.

Rumple Foreskin