Why am I such a slut for gadgets? I don’t know why, but I am.

Why am I such a slut for gadgets? I don’t know why, but I am.

I never met a Kitchen Aid or a Ginza I didn’t like and crave. And when it comes to the tools of my trade (that is, writing, the trade by which I earn my bread, not bake it), I’m even worse.

Which brings me to the Freewrite, an itsy-bitsy little “smart typewriter.”

The Freewrite may be an answer to a question that no one asked, but it’s a good answer. Many of my writer friends say that the temptation to read the news, answer emails, online shop, or watch a movie often drowns their will to work on their manuscript, particularly if they’re having a hard time.

This little gadget takes advantage of that dangerous tendency, removing distraction with several (very cute) models, including the one I would buy, the Traveler, which weighs only 1.5 pounds and, although cleverly ergonomically crafted for writing, measures not much bigger than a Kindle. Unlike a laptop or tablet, it has no internet connection or app ability, only third-party synching for the completed work a writer does.

Here’s the spiel from the website:

WEAPONS OF MASS DISTRACTION ARE REAL

Writers need a way to stay focused. If it feels impossible, go easy on yourself. It’s not just you.

DON’T COMPROMISE

Software apps are okay, but the temptation is still there. Old typewriters are focusing but slow and clunky. Writers shouldn’t have to choose between simple and digital.

LET THE WORDS FLOW

Freewrite is the best of both worlds. The result is writing flow. Or more like an overflow – our community reports two to three times more words per hour. In other words, hit your writing goals twice as fast.

BECOME PROLIFIC

Finish that article or novel. Win a Pulitzer. Or not, but at least you expressed yourself. Write on.

According to the creator, four hundred million words have been written on Freewrite machines since 2016.

If I had any need at all for it, or had any genuine trouble concentrating on my writing, or if I had $350 I didn’t know how to spend, If I could justify it, I would buy the Freewrite, because it is so cute. I would buy it in the same way that I bought my fifth eyeshadow palette, even though I only have two eyes that I shadow sometimes no more than once a week. Because it was so cute and alluring and I had a fantasist’s yearning for it, believing that it would make me beautiful, just as I fell into admiration for the Freewrite, believing it would make me prolific and trendy.

What I would have, if I gave in to this impulse, is several hundred fewer dollars and a cool little machine, which is nearly exactly the equivalent of the Kaypro computer with its six-inch screen on which I wrote my first non-fiction book in about 1994, or the orange shell-shaped Mac that was my first laptop. It would be throwback geek chic to the tenth power.

Still, it’s pretty darned cute, like the ReMarkable e-ink tablet (only ¾ of a pound!) I yearn to buy though I have utterly no use for it, since I haven’t handwritten anything except an autograph, my signature on a check, or “Happy Birthday” since 2001. – JM