Freewrite
Today I’ve unwrapped an Austrohaus Freewrite. Half a year ago I was feeling a bit overworked. I’m privileged in that I love my work a lot — so much that if I don’t restrain myself it can eclipse the private life. As a result I was looking for new hobbies. Hobbies that wouldn’t involve computers so much. At the same time, I enjoy myself the most when I’m doing something useful.
I thought I’d really enjoy writing more. However, sitting behind a laptop it’s easy to fall into the trap of checking email, Slack, or doing plain old research. Before you know it you’re lost on Wikipedia or Facebook. Those activities have their time and place, but I didn’t want them leaking into my hobby. I wanted the activity to feel somewhat useful, but also enjoy some quiet time with just my own brain.
You’re thinking: “So, use pen and paper”. They too have their moments, but I’m too spoiled by tech and can’t stand the inefficiency of what my handwriting has become, nor the thought of having to transfer that writing to my blog somehow. I wanted to remove barriers to encourage writing — not add new ones.
So half a year ago I started searching for a low-tech and low-distraction typing machine that could sync with my computer somehow. There are apps that disable distractions, but my brain knows how to disable the app and it will just become a battle of restraint again. I thought of getting a cheap laptop and strip it from GUIs, webbrowsers, etc. Then I found out about the Freewrite. It was exactly what I was looking for: a typewriter with an e-ink screen and WiFi. The WiFi could only be used to sync to Dropbox-like-services.
I ordered it on a bit of an impulse half a year ago. They had construction delays and struggled with high demand, and it now only arrived today.
This is the first post I write on it. First impression: I don’t think it’s particularly pretty. It’s expensive. It doesn’t have a cursor. Make a mistake and it’s Backspace all the way back.
What? Yes. That last one is tough to swallow. On the Freewrite website they say it’s a feature. Something along the lines of: “Writers never had the ability to do this. Knowing that ‘undo’ is hard, makes you more mindful and deliberate about what you type next, it encourages deeper thought. Not going back and forth keeps you in a creative flow. Just use your computer for the final editing in your Dropbox”.
Okay, I guess I’m convinced already. Good marketing.
So is there anything good about the Freewrite?
Well I wrote this blog post, and I can say it was a relaxing experience. The keyboard feels nice & retro, it was painless to set up, and not once did I (have to resist an urge to) switch to something distracting. When I sit down behind it: I’m writing. I commit to the act, until the brain has output its thoughts and the post is finished in raw form.
I am cautiously optimistic that it will encourage me to write more. I sure hope I will, otherwise at $419 this has been one hell of an expensive blog post, as well as probably the most expensive way I've ever kid myself.
Guess we’ll just have to keep an eye on this blog to know for sure :smile:
This can be seen as a product review perhaps. To be clear: I’ve never taken any money or other rewards to say anything on this blog, I never will, and this is no exception.
Cross-posted from https://kvz.io/blog/2017/09/05/freewrite/.
