I Bought An Ugly, Old Word Processor to Start Writing More
A few years ago I watched Prozac Nation, which was a movie about famed writer Elizabeth Wurtzel. In the movie, the writer, played by a moody Christina Ricci, would hammer away all day on her typewriter while smoking a cigarette. I remember thinking how romantic it all looked. There was something about that old-school writer aesthetic that really appealed to me. I mean, the current aesthetic is....what? A girl at Starbucks hunched over a laptop?
I was so inspired, I decided to buy an old fashioned mechanical typewriter off of eBay. It was a gorgeous yellow color and looked very hip on my desk. It had satisfying-sounding clicks and a very adorable bell that would chime once I reached the end of a sentence. I would smile to myself while typing. "Look at me! I'm a writer!" 🤡
Of course, the novelty didn't last long. The typewriter was large, heavy, and the ink ran out easily. You also had to practically smash the keys with all your strength if you wanted the ink to be dark and legible. I grew tired of it after a couple of months.
Fast forward a few years later, and I discovered another writing device with a "hip," writer aesthetic: the Freewrite. Freewrites are modern typewriters that come in cool colors and have e-ink displays. The Freewrite bills itself as a "distraction-free" writing device aimed at writers who struggle to hammer out that first draft (so, basically everyone).
I fell in love with this yellow one, but I just couldn't justify the price. Paying $800 for a contraption that only did one thing just felt like a rip-off, so I searched around for cheaper alternatives. And that was how I discovered the Alphasmart.
The Alphasmart is an old word processor from the early 2000s that was used to teach kids how to type. The company stopped making the devices back in 2012, but since then, the writing community has reinvigorated interest in the machines by using them as "distraction-free" writing devices. In fact, the popularity has increased so much lately (thanks to the pandemic) that these cheap little devices, which you used to be able to find on eBay for $30, now cost $200.
Although they were cheaper than the Freewrites, I was still annoyed. I loved the idea of a typewriter-like writing experience without the paper or the noise, but I didn't want to pay over $100 for it. (Already made that mistake with the mechanical typewriter, which is now a cute paperweight.)
I watched eBay like a hawk for months before I finally found an Alphasmart Neo 2 for $95 and snatched that baby up. In fact, I'm typing on it right now.
So, what makes the Alphasmart so awesome? Honestly, it's simple. It has a great keyboard, is portable, and isn't connected to the Internet to distract me. That's literally it. Plus, the lack of an LCD/back light screen keeps it easy on the eyes since I'm susceptible to eye fatigue. It's not as pretty as my typewriter or the Freewrite, but it gets the job done.
In fact, when I was pulling the device out of its box, my husband looked jealous. Now he wants one too. I told him to go on eBay and wait a few months. Or get an Alphasmart 3000 (for some reason, those are less popular and sell for only $50).
Right now I plan to do all my writing on my Alphasmart. I'm honestly obsessed with it. And it's kind of ironic that my obsession with the perfect "writer aesthetic" lead me to honestly one of the ugliest devices I've used in a while. But it's an important lesson to learn. It's not about how it looks, it's about getting things done.