A Sad, Sad Day (NEO 2 is no more)

On a recent trip, NEO went with me, and I wrote on planes, in airports during layovers, in a tent by the light of a headlamp, sitting in the cab of a truck and outdoors on a log, at a table in a busy community dining area, etc. With effort each day during the trip, I finished 1/4 of a novel in those 10 days.

I even shared with someone about the NEO 2, which I blogged about in one of my first posts on Alexa Writes Books.

NEO is a digital typewriter that weights a mere 1.2 pounds and has 700 hours of battery life on three (3) AA batteries. Nothing on the market compares with the durability, accessibility, or the long-lasting ability of the battery life.

The NEO has been one of the primary and most-often writing tools I've used, yet when I returned home from the most latest trip, I discovered that the device is no longer being produced.

The writer's tool that had been pawed out of hands by eager boarder collies and dropped on concrete, banged on a carpeted floor, etc., and kept working so that I might keep writing had been discontinued in September 2013.

Supposedly, technology, such as the smart phone and ipads, has negated the need for a device like the NEO.

One of the most valuable tools that I have used as a writer, and the NEO is no longer being produced or sold by the company that produced them. Thanks to ebay, I was able to purchase a lot of three units, with software CDs and connector wiring, for a very reasonable price. Hopefully, these backup units will travel with me and/or be with me during the writing of many more books to come.

At this point, there is no similar keyboarding unit available with such extended battery life, durability, and flexibility.

Yes, a sad, sad day because the NEO is no more.

Work in Progress... Always

Part of writing for the long haul is writing one book after another. There is no THE book, only writing the NEXT book. With 5 skeletal drafts banked (written by lightning drafting, which I do NOT recommend), I have been working through those drafts to flesh them out. In other words, in my cycle of learning, I doubled, if not tripled, the workload of writing the series.

Thus, when I might have finished in months, the process has taken way too long and has been quite tedious.

During a recent trip that was electronics restricted (translate to no electricity or internet access), I started a fresh manuscript in a new genre.

A few weeks away from finishing the first series, I have started a trilogy as well. One book after another.

Publication of series one is set for August, with the trilogy set for release in February.

Thus far, my writing experience has been about learning the tools to write professionally and about what works and what does not work for me.

First health issues, then choosing a process that wasn't the best for me, then the time necessary to finish what I started... Well, time moves on, and so does my writing. Onward!