New toy

I was lucky enough to have a professor in college who heavily encouraged me to learn to compose assignments directly on the computer instead of hand-writing and transcribing. As I am one of those people whose train of thought breaks down the moment I put an awkward black scribble mark on a pristine piece of paper, I welcomed this suggestion. Thirty years later, I'm one of the few writers out there, I hear, that prefer to compose on the computer.

The problem with computers and their iPhone companions is that they're inconvenient when waking up and trying to jot down a dream. I have trouble with high tech before coffee. Big electronics are also awkward when I'm in a coffeehouse with Richard discussing sheer ideas, the ones that will flitter away by the time we get into the car.

On the other hand, I also have grown to hate transcribing handwritten notes into my computer or iPhone companion. It's one of those things that I like to put off till later, with "later" meaning "when the piece of paper is lost or thrown in the garbage".

I decided I needed to have something to take notes on so I could take story notes on the road and by my bed  -- to capture those dreams, you know.  I'd had a student recommend smart pen technology years ago, at about that time my students realized I was as forgetful as they were, but smart pen technology is expensive, although not nearly as expensive as an iPhone X.

So there I was, contemplating a smart pen. Not without qualms -- part of me quailed at the thought of having such a bougeois consumer electronic product. On the other hand, I had a boatload of store credit at Barnes and Noble as the result of a class-action lawsuit of some sort, and those points would expire soon. I can't read 20+ books in that short a time.

With my purchase justified and paid for, I bought my smartpen. (I will not tell you which brand, because this is not an advertisement.)


The smart pen technology involves two parts, a special pen and special paper.The pen reads infrared (so make sure it's charged and press heavy on the pen) and the paper allows it to:

1) Pick up what you're writing and upload it to the smartphone :

2) Edit, transcribe, replay pen strokes, and share the picture:










3) Copy and paste the transcribed version into another document -- I've gotten much better on making the pen recognize my handwriting:

















So we will see if this helps me with recording more spontaneous ideas over coffee or during naps!