Writing with a netbook reminds me of when I was offered an early model laptop by the journalist Bob Scheer. He and wife, Narda Zacchino, were upgrading. They knew that the school where I taught had no computers at all and on the salary I was pulling in, there were none in my immediate future.Bob was forcefully arguing that I should take his old laptop--thick as a toaster and still "usable".
Having no internet access, no printer, and no disk drive, it seemed a back-handed present at best. At the time, few people were running with laptops. Cell phones were mostly in upscale cars and if you owned a computer, it took up a chunk of your diningroom. I remember telling Bob and Narda that they should collaborate on a story that got the industry to create a small type-writer that one could stick in a backpack and take into the woods. At the time, that seemed to me a kind of writers' Nirvana...
Today, here I am, punching a word at a time, on a machine the size of a small envelope.It doesn't have a printer attached and it still needs to be plugged in to recharge. But I could take it in my knapsack/backpack/hobo bag.The amazing thing is that I've lost track of Bob and Narda--they upgraded out of my life. We all out-sourced from Orange County and moved in various directions, theirs much more main-stream successful. My hoped-for invention hasn't made me a better writer--yet--only a more public one. And it is a pain to work on...so,who is right and who is a failed visionary? In the end, does it even matter?
Who is keeping track?
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