Writing Tips at GarySpeer.com

Some months ago, I wrote about the single most useful technological “wonder” (besides a pen or pencil) I have as a writer — my little AlphaSmart “Neo.” (I had their earlier version, the “3000,” but I quickly sold it online when I got the improved version, the “Neo.”) Here’s a picture of the little jewel:

You can find out all about AlphaSmart and their wonderful set of tools — they offer a fancier version of Neo called “Dana,” I think — with a quick look through your favorite search engine (maybe, uh, say, G**gle?), so I won’t take time to put a link here.

Neo, the model I currently own, is a simple, practically indestructible “portable keyboard” that really does just one thing and does that well: It makes it quick and easy for you to enter text. About that “practically indestructible” comment. I know a guy who takes his Neo everywhere and always gets the attention of other writers at conventions and seminars with it. He has been known to illustrate the durability of his by suddenly knocking it off a table top while explaining what it does. That’s a great attention getter — and so far he’s never had it even crack — but I wouldn’t recommend it.

Got a novel throbbing through your veins and crying to see the light of day (along with all your other mixed metaphors)? Grab your Neo, stick it in the briefcase/backpack, and take it with you. Spend time at your favorite coffee shop, library, or whatever, and WRITE.

One of the niftiest features of the Neo is its incredible battery life — lasts, they claim, around 700+ hours on a set of 3 AA battaries. Yup. That’s seven hundred and more, in case you find the numbers hard to believe. Match that with your laptop.

Once you’ve gotten your rough draft done (the Neo hold approximately 100 pages worth of text, with 8 files you can store them in), hook the little keyboard-that-can to your computer via a USB cord, and you can transfer the text into your computer’s wordprocessing software to format, edit, and have a ball.

I highly recommend this humble little tool. I’ve seen forum posts by regularly published writers who own them and couldn’t live without them. Take a look around the AlphaSmart site for yourself. I think you’ll love the little Neo as much as I do.

Oh, yeah, did I mention, you can generally find one or two of the 3000’s or Neos on sale at online auctions for a terrific price. (AND — if everything you try fails to find you an affordable 3000 or Neo — you can always come back here and buy one of the fine pens or other writing sets from the merchants I advertise here. It’s all right to do that. Really.)

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My remarks about blogging today may sound a little like the old line, “Just fake it ’til you get it right” — but that’s not really what I mean when I suggest your passion for a subject should overrule your lack of knowledge when it comes to blogging.

After all, very few bloggers (myself included) are experts in their area. Most bloggers write about things they have passion for, sure, and hopefully some degree of experience in or knowledge about. I’ve done writing and editing professionally, both in real-world publication settings and in the less formal freelance mode. I enjoy writing and editing, so I started this blog about it. But I’ve certainly never claimed to be an expert writer or editor. I enjoy sharing my experience and thoughts about the whole range of writing, and I especially appreciate learning from you good readers who leave comments from time to time.

But I also blog about subjects as diverse about bikes and biking, hiking and outdoor living, buying and collecting all sorts of stuff — and even tips for buying tents and camping gear and ideas for rv camping enthusiasts. I have less expertise in all those areas than in my writing. But I truly enjoy all of those things and have had some experience in the past at each. The beauty of blogging is the way you can combine a passion (collecting, for example) with virtually unlimited Internet resources, and put together something useful and fun — a sort of “learn as you go and share that learning with others” approach to building a website.

So make sure you blog about what you love, about those passions that amaze and entertain you, even if you don’t know all that much about the subject. You can learn and share with others as you go.

It amazes me the number of truly literate writers who use the word “then,” when they really meant to use the word “than.” You know what I’m talking about: “I would rather run screaming from the room then see that misuse again.”

I’m guessing from the frequency with which it happens that many people really don’t understand the difference between “then” and “than.”

The correct usage in that sample sentence should be:

“I would rather run screaming from the room THAN see that misuse again.”

Using “then” instead of “than” happens so often that many people think it’s correct, standard English usage. But it’s not. Why not? Because one is a conjunction, the other is an adverb. They are NOT just variant spellings or pronunciations of the same word.

THAN is the conjunction and it is used in clauses of comparison:

“He wrote 1,000 more words today than he did yesterday.”

THEN is an adverb of time:

“He then celebrated such great writing with an extra cookie and a long nap.”

Got it? See, that wasn’t so hard, was it?

And, yes, I really would rather run screaming from the room than see that misuse again — but I know I will.

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