Putting Down Ol' Yeller

Okay, so technically, it's Ol' Teal, but yes, the time has come.

I have to get a new laptop. Ugh.

Now, you may be saying, "But, Rachel! New laptops are made of awesome and covered in awesome sauce! Why do you not want one?"

And that is true, new laptops ARE Very, Very Awesome. Besides, I have to buy one before the end of the year so that I can write it off as, in case you haven't heard, Self-Employment Taxes Are The Devil.

But... I'm really attached to this one. This is the one I wrote my first book on! This is the computer that helped me find Agent Holly! Ol' Teal still holds spreadsheets of publisher info from when Demonglass was going to auction! *sniff*

But it's also running really, really slow, and it has a couple of cracks, and it's battery will no longer hold a charge. So I know it's time. And, as I keep telling myself, there are lots of awesome, new laptops out there, just waiting for me to write novels on! Right now, I'm leaning toward this one:


I like it because it has lots of RAM, and...um...superior....motherboard, uh...

Okay, I only want it because it's PINK! PINK PINKETY PINK PINK! (Yes, I am a pink girl. Pink phone, pink clothes, even a pink Cross pen. I think it's because I live with boys.)

Now, I know that Mac books are the thing to have if you're a hip, young YA novelist, but I am profoundly meh on the Mac book, mainly because I don't feel like learning a new OS. But people swear by their word processing program, so I might think about it.

But until I make up my mind about a new laptop, I have a new writing toy that I am SO SO EXCITED about. I just ordered an Alphasmart Neo! Now, the Alphasmart is just a word processor, so it's pretty much useless to anyone who's not a full time writer, but I AM a full time writer, and therefore I must have one in my life. It only weighs 2 pounds, it will fit in my purse (although I do have a big purse) and, best of all, it runs for 700 HOURS on 3 AA batteries!! No more plugs or getting all tangled up in cords when I'm out writing! Yay! Plus it has absolutely no bells and whistles, i.e.,distracting stuff like internet or games. So I can type away, and at the end of the day, hook it up to my laptop and dump everything into a Word document for editing and what have you.

Of course, I will look lame when I'm out and about writing, and people will think I'm typing on a Speak and Spell, but that is the price I must pay for being distraction-free during writing!

But until that gets here, I'm going to keep hammering away at Rebel Belle on Ol' Teal. Still hoping to have it finished by New Year. In fact, yesterday I emailed Agent Holly and asked her to yell at me like I was on a real deadline and not one I made up in my head. Her reply? "REBEL BELLE MUST BE IN MY INBOX BEFORE 2009,OR MY ENTIRE YEAR WILL BE MADE OF SUCK AND IT WILL BE ALL YOUR FAULT!"

This is why I heart Agent Holly.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go cradle Ol' Teal in my arm while singing "The Way We Were."

ETA: If you want to hang out with me elsewhere in Internetlandia, you can now follow me on Twitter! Mostly all I do is quote Britney Spears lyrics and bitch about misplacing my BlackBerry, but there is occasional writing-related content. Plus lots of publishing type people are on it. Also, if you read this blog and you have a Facebook, why are we not friends yet?