The Write Equipment

A surgeon needs a great scalpel.  A fireman needs a great water hose.  A porn star needs a great…co-star.  Bottom line, every professional needs the proper equipment to be the best they can be and ensure they reach their maximum potential.

I say this because I had to recently upgrade my writing equipment.  I originally had a traditional keyboard that was plugged into the back of my computer, but the cord was unruly and got in the way.  So I upgraded to a wireless keyboard.

At first, it was paradise.  All the wires were gone, and I could type away without a care in the world beyond the content of what I was trying to say.  Unfortunately, I started noticing a few issues.  Occasionally, the keyboard would skip over a single letter.  It didn’t happen often, and I remember reading that this could be an issue on the reviews, but it was very intermittent, so I didn’t pay much attention.  After all, it was rare and only required a brief correction.

Then it started more often.  The keys would print out several of the same letter(imagine writing, “appearing hhhhhhhhhhhigh above the skkkkkkkkkky”).  Then it would skip over entire words(usually shorter words like “to” and “for”).  In time, it would require more time to correct my work than it did to write it in the first place.  I need time to go back anyway, so it became pretty frustrating to have to more than double my correction time.  Worse still, sometimes words were spelled correctly, but the missing keystrokes would provide the wrong word in that space(open became on, through became though, and so on), making it much harder to find mistakes.

Even more frustrating would be that just as I got to my wits end, the keyboard would work flawlessly for a day or two.  But just as I began to sigh and get back to the way things should be, it would happen all over again.

I’m a heavy typist and like to pound on the keys, but I’m not doing that much damage.  So I had to spring for my third keyboard in the last year.  The right equipment is essential to the writing experience and final product, so just slogging on wasn’t an option, if for no other reason than the momentum I’d lose making corrections…assuming I found them in the first place.

Therefore, I’m now getting used to a new keyboard that is different but isn’t supposed to have the issues the last one did.  The mouse is quieter, but the keyboard isn’t as raised.  Still, my previous issues are not supposed to happen with this product.  Let’s hope so, or I’ll go insane.