Writing on the Go: Tools of the Trade

Sometimes, you just need to get out of the house.

So you go to the park, or a local coffee shop, or your corner Starbucks, or a hotel, or a train, or wherever. So you pack for the journey: money for provisions, your spiral poetry notebook because you're behind in your Great Devotional Poetry Project, your devotional, a book for the next play you're researching, your phone, etc. And of course, your portable typing device.

In my case, it's a lightly used Surface gifted to me by my Aunt Mary a while back. This little tablet/computer is a gem. I keep it in desktop mode because really, what do I want a tablet for? It's super small and light, but it does all the things my desktop does except play DVDs and have a big screen, and it does them all just as well - when I was in school, I had Adobe InDesign,* Photoshop and Illustrator all downloaded** and simultaneously running on this tiny little workhorse and they worked great!

And that's pretty much what I take with me when I'm setting out to do work away from my home office. I'm actually typing this post (and getting interrupted by bunches of other work-related stuff) in my local Ava Roasteria while sipping on a slightly under-syrupped raspberry Italian cream soda.^ It's very convenient to be able to run some errands and end at a coffee shop where I can sit and work for a while away from the distractions of cat, internet,^* bookcases, and DVD collection.

So thanks, Aunt Mary! This has been an extremely useful gift. :)

*I love InDesign, by the way. LOVE it.

**I would still have them, except budgets.

^Everything else I've had here has been great.

^*Not that I don't have internet here (I obviously do), but that working in public rather compels one to get down to business and be productive - someone could be watching!!