Hey all, Sam here.
Welcome back to another Weekend Writer post. I’ve had my Freewrite Traveler for just over three weeks, and I figured it was time for a quick little post about it. Also, Freewrite is hosting a 50K May writing challenge, and yes, I already know that I’m trying to build up my writing habit in the Writer’s Atelier Write Brave Challenge (April 15-May 15), but I’d like to keep giving myself challenges so I can keep trying to focus on writing.
Well…I was going to join the Freewrite 50K May, but my whole plan and schedule got thrown off track when we rearranged everything to get to David’s grandpa’s funeral (which is a very valid reason for a schedule to get thrown out of whack). Instead, I’m just going to stick with my goal from the Write Brave Challenge, and write at least 500 words a day.
Anyway, I’ve written nearly 15K since getting my Freewrite Traveler, and it has been such an overall good time that I’m now beating myself up for not getting one sooner. I had been looking at them for like a year and a half or two years now, but kept telling myself no because they are a little bit pricey. Well, obviously depending on which Freewrite you get. I specifically wanted the Traveler, and that runs like $500.
The above photo is from the Hocking Hills State Park Visitor’s Center. We went for a little hike and nature grounding moment before the funeral. What this shows is how nice and travel friendly the Freewrite Traveler is. And since this has its own internal memory, I had no need to be connected to Wi-Fi while writing (although it is a good idea to connect and sync up your writing to the cloud frequently to avoid potentially losing some of it).
I’ve talked in several writing posts the past few years about how difficult it has been for me to truly focus and get words down. It felt like they were all trapped in my head. The sentences and paragraphs were forming in my mind but I couldn’t write them down or type them out. There was a disconnect going on, one that only seemed to be getting worse with all the chaos in my life personally as well as on a wider scale thanks to the chaos in the US/world.
I know part of the problem is the overabundance of content being shared through social media. It has become all too easy to doomscroll….which is an absolutely awful habit and I’m trying to work on disconnecting from at least my phone a little more regularly. To make sure that I stay off of my phone, I’ve been utilizing an app called Focus Friend, and it is wonderful. You have a little friend who is a bean (I’ve very creatively named mine Bean), and you can set a timer for Bean to work on their own work, which is knitting. If you stay off your phone during the length of that timer then Bean is able to focus and knit a lot of socks (or scarves if you do Focus Friend Pro, which is a paid option). Any picking up your phone distracts Bean from their task.
And you know what? This is highly effective for me. I feel so bad interrupting Bean that I just leave my phone alone for the 30, 60, 120 minutes that I set the timer for. It has kept a lot of the doomscrolling at bay.
Of course, on top of that, I now have my Freewrite, which can really only use Internet access to sync up your writing to the cloud. So when I have my Freewrite Traveler out then it is time to focus and write.
Oh, and it is pretty darn portable too. It only weighs a couple of pounds and is only a few inches longer than a standard hardcover book. So, you know, in size and weight, it’s basically something I’m already used to carrying because I don’t really go anywhere without access to books. The one thing I still really need is to get or make a proper storage/carrying case for it, because I’d rather it have a little protection like my books have their book sleeves.
Okay, yes, this photo is slightly staged…but only because we could only sit there for like 5 minutes before we had to hike back up to the Visitor’s Center and head out for the funeral. But, if we had had enough time then I totally would have had a writing session there at the Lower Falls in Hocking Hills State Park. It was so lovely. The weather wasn’t too bad and I could hear the waterfall behind me. It was so peaceful and I’ve always been inspired by how fantastical hiking in parks like this looks and feels. I have taken so many photos while hiking. It keeps me inspired even when I can’t be out enjoying the natural world.
I’ve also taken my Freewrite Traveler to coffee shops and even to work. I try as much as I can to have this awesome new writing device with me as often as possible, because I want to make sure that I make more time for writing. And so far, it does seem to be helping me.
I don’t know if it’s helping or not, but I also don’t allow myself to go back and read over or edit anything I’ve written. I can maybe read a couple paragraphs to sort of get back into the vibe of the scene I’m drafting, but other than that, I have not read over any of the roughly 15,000 words I’ve written. And honestly, I’ve never written this way before. Usually I read through the previous segment or the previous chapter, and I continue that every time I sit down to write, so there’s lots of reading over things and then deleting things or tweaking them or adding to them.
I’m not doing any of that right now. I am only writing, trying to word vomit onto the page, so to speak. I want to get the bones of the story on the page, and then I can work on cleaning it all up later. Since I’m a bit out of practice with writing regularly, I’m sure a lot of what I’m writing is rambling or awkward or not clean enough or descriptive enough at times. There’s been several scenes that are mostly dialogue because I want to get the conversation down, but there’s no descriptions of character movement or action at the same time. So there’s plenty of room for tightening some areas and elaborating on others.
But that’s a future Sam problem, and future Sam may get frustrated with me for the mess I’m leaving her. I also hope that future Sam is just glad that there’s a story to clean up, because I know present me is really darn happy to be writing again.
Anyway, there are several different options of Freewrite, with more on the way. If you are interested at all, you can get more information from their Web site. And no, this is not a sponsored post or anything. I just really wanted to gush about how I’m finally writing again, and part of getting past that writing block was getting myself devices and items that help me just sit down and write.
All right, that is all from me for today. Thank you so much for stopping by, and I’ll be back soon with more geeky content.
Free State of Geek 