A Smart Pen that outsmarts the User.

joannaauthor ♦ January 28, 2017 ♦ Leave a comment

To be fair, I don’t know if I can honestly say I’ve been procrastinating with writing.  I have been writing, just not every chance I get. Getting used to the nuances of the smart pen (and it getting used to my handwriting) hasn’t been bad.  I will say it is a lot easier to carry a small pen and a regular sized notebook around, as opposed to lugging a laptop everywhere.  I can feel productive when I’m stuck in a lobby or waiting room somewhere.

I think the biggest problem with this new technology is getting used to actual physical writing.  I don’t think I’ve handwritten things since middle school.  True, I write handwritten clinical notes everyday at work, but those are brief and I don’t have to worry about my handwriting. To actually compose something with pen and paper is a skill I haven’t forgotten.  I’m used to my hands posed over a keyboard, as I think.  I like that as I’m thinking dialogue through I can be typing it.  Don’t like a word or think of a better one?  Just backspace.  There is no “backspace” or “delete” on the smart pen.  In grad school they drill into your brain that if you make an error in a medical chart (case notes are considered medical) you correct it by a single line strike through.  When you correct something with your smart pen, a single line strike through causes those words to be underlined when it’s transcribed to text.

All procrastination aside, I’ve had a great January with a trip to Arizona, several new clients, coordinating a fundraiser for ALS and at least 2,000 more words added to the novel.  I know some people do 2,000 words in a matter of hours, but these are special words.  They are written a sentence or two at a time, in the notebook with the smart pen, between clients, at doctor’s offices, in the drive thru line at the bank, on the airplane tray table.   I once saw a highly acclaimed cardiologist speak about the links between anger, anxiety and heart attacks.  Patients flew in to see this doctor, and she worked 5-6 days a week.  She had several books written and when someone asked how she managed to write with her schedule she said “a line or two, in between patients, every day adds up.”

This novel is a work in progress, but so am I.