I've Surrendered

Writers are bookish people, right? We like the smell, look, and feel of the physical object. Print on pages. Texture of paper. Weight in hand. Yep, that's me. Book person.

And as a book person I was never going to get an e-book, right? Right! Just like I would never become a nurse. Or be caught within ten feet of a romance novel. Well, I bought a Kindle. I did it just the way I ended up doing the other two "nevers." I was sitting at work, reading a book, and I wanted to read one of my writing books. But it was at home. On my laptop. With all the other notes and research materials I needed for applying to the novel I am working on. And I was happy that I had left it at home. I've been carrying the laptop around for a few years and it's beginning to feel like a chore rather than a respite from work down-time.

I have Kindle for PC and I thought that was good enough. Suddenly it wasn't. So, I bought one.

And felt a weight lifted. I didn't know, when I bought it, how much other material I could load onto it. All my drafts, research notes, workshop notes, reference material... That whole potential pile of paper now fits into my pocket.

I took it, a notebook, and a reading book to coffee soon after I bought the Kindle and felt like I was on retreat. I am imagining all kinds of other occasions where I might take the work without the "work". Today, I'm taking a road trip, on the ferry, to San Francisco. It's just a day trip to return a couple of library books and do some visual research for the novel, get some atmosphere.

As of this writing I don't know exactly what I'll be taking with me. Besides the Kindle. I'll take a photo and add it later. Being able to relax while still getting something done on the novel, making notes for editing, sketching scenes, seems to be one of the better ideas I've had for a while. I thought the laptop was liberating when I finally got one. Nice to know I'm still able to move forward.

Do you Kindle? What do you put on yours?