# Writer Deck Part 1 - Requirements

Off and on, I've written as a hobby since junior high. I believed, for a fairly significant portion of my childhood, that I would write novels for a living. Even though I chose a different path professionally, I never wanted to not write. That said, without a paycheque at stake, and with a million and one things clamouring for my attention, lots of which do have a paycheque in the balance, it is hard to take the time to get the words out. I tried writing a blog post about how hard it is to concentrate enough to write, and I gave up after being interrupted in the middle of the same paragraph three times.

# Distraction-Free

A couple of years ago, I first saw advertisements for "Distraction-Free" writing devices. I'll admit, I bought into the propaganda. Something you could stash in a bag and take with you anywhere. Write a novel on the dock at a remote mountain cabin. Take yourself to a writer's retreat and focus on your work. Take the plunge and finally make writing the priority it needs to be.

Fortunately, I'm cheap, and that frugality led me to the understanding that the thing that the company was peddling (at an exorbitant price, no less) was something they absolutely could not deliver: the freedom and leisure to dedicate one's life to the pursuit of the arts, or some higher ideal, or something like that. You know, the exact thing I decided not to pursue when I picked software development as a career.

The premise that the purveyors of multi-hundred-dollar writer decks are pushing is that the shiny bells and whistles, the notifications, the existence of a web browser - these are what keeps their prospective customers from writing the next great novel. That paring everything down to a keyboard, screen, and writer will unlock you, unblock you, and get that story out of you.

I don't agree with this premise. I was distracted from things I wanted to accomplish long before the internet was a thing. I'll acknowledge that distractions are a lot easier to find on a multi-purpose, multitasking machine, and so there is value, to me, in a single-purpose writing machine. But I don't see a way to a life free from interjections just because I spent a lot of money on a writer deck.

The thing that I want from a computer dedicated to writing isn't a transformation to some life of isolation where my time is suddenly my own and I can step out onto the beach and peck away at my novel. I try really hard not to shoot for things like that. I've read too many stories with genies. Instead, what I want, what a writer deck can maybe provide me, is opportunity. A quick startup time, portability, access to my writing, and a seamless way to back up my files. To some extent, the machines on the market provide that.

One problem with commercially-available writer decks is less a problem with them and more a problem with me. I don't know if it's a gift given to me from my time at the bleach factory or if I'm just genetically blessed, but I can not type with a traditional keyboard for any length of time anymore. I mean, I can spend a couple of days using one, but then I start to suffer. Given that a writer deck is meant to be a machine you hammer away at, hour after hour, to extract your novel, I need more flexibility out of the keyboard, because it isn't coming from my wrists.

Some decks let you bring your own keyboard, and so do laptops, obviously. I've tried using a USB keyboard and it has worked, but it isn't ideal, whether with a laptop, my phone, or an iPad. I've used different versions of lap desks, cases, and stands, and none of it is as usable as a unibody machine.

'Huh,' I can hear you say. 'Sounds like what you really want is a laptop with a built-in ergonomic keyboard.' Exactly. Yes. That. But would you believe that isn't really a thing? Shocking, I know. But still, the heart wants what it wants.

Looking at the various writer decks on the market showed me a few things::

• I'm not willing to shell out upwards of $600 on a writer deck because of all the things it can't do.
• I really need an ergonomic keyboard.
• I need a unibody writer deck.
• I would really prefer a dedicated writing machine (either because the software is stripped down or just by usage)
• A quick startup time would give me opportunities to write that I might not otherwise take advantage of.
• I could absolutely build something as functional as (or more than) the writer decks that I've seen, even if it would be way, way uglier.

With these as my requirements, next time I'll talk about the software I'm using in my current writing set-up.

Until then,

Liam