As someone who writes for a living, the Internet can be my best friend and my worst enemy. Whether I’m writing for work or trying to finish my manuscript, being online is sometimes necessary but also so, so distracting. One minute I’m finishing an article and the next minute I’ve fallen into a blackhole of YouTube and social media. So a writing gadget that can also help me focus and keep me offline would be a pretty useful tool.
Designer: Freewrite
Traveler is basically a sort of laptop that you can use if you want to focus on writing, at least in the initial drafting stage. It cannot connect to any Internet browser or app so you can do away with all those that may distract you. It can still connect online but only so far as to back up what you’re writing on the cloud so you can access it later on for the editing and maybe some of the research parts. It also has no other frills or features so you get a minimalist design and functionality.
It has an e-ink screen that can also help with reducing eye fatigue which is another common problem for when you’re in front of the computer or tablet for long periods of time. And because it’s e-ink, you get a whopping 4-week battery life. It’s also pretty portable since it weighs just 1.6 lbs and the intenal memory is also pretty great as you can store up to 1 million words. The full-size keyboard seems to be pretty fast and highly responsive.
The writing screen seems to be pretty small as it only takes up a small part of the entire screen/cover. So if you’re already suffering from bad eyesight like me, this might be a challenge. But everything else sounds pretty appealing, especially the part where I won’t be distracted by the Internet. Now if only I would stop picking up my phone and scrolling in the guise of “research” while I’m using the Traveler. The idea is to just let you write your first draft and concentrate on the actual writing.
