A new writing tool in my arsenal.

Last month I got an email saying the Kindle Touch I’d bought in 2013 (as a present to myself for selling Blue Birds and Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine) would soon be obsolete. It would still work to read what I’d already downloaded, but I would no longer be able to buy new titles or check out books from the library. Amazon was offering me 20% off select models if I wanted a new version.

While my preference will always be a real book, I have loved having a Kindle, too. So I looked through all the new versions available (and wow, there are a lot). The one I really wanted, the Kindle Scribe, wasn’t covered in the offer. It’s part Kindle, part electronic notebook (like the reMarkable, which I’ve always thought would be fun to try out). I almost didn’t get it because I like a good deal, but my husband, Dan, encouraged me. “Will you use it for your writing?” he asked. “Then why don’t you get it for yourself?”

I am so glad I did.

I love to print (and bind) my manuscripts to edit by hand. There is something very nuts and bolts about returning to pen and paper while reading through my work. With this Kindle I’m able to send PDFs of a manuscript to the device and then mark it up with the stylus. While it’s not exactly paper (this is a downside — I’m still looking at a screen), it feels very similar. There’s a nice scratch to the stylus as you write.

I had a rejection in February (boo) that nevertheless led to a manuscript request. Would I be interested in trying a picture book about a particular thing? I would! That idea has been in the back of my mind as I’ve worked on the project in the first picture. After I sent that manuscript off, I sat down with my Kindle, created a notebook, and started playing with words. In some ways it felt even freer than drafting with pencil and paper. I’m not sure how to describe it other than the impermanence gave me the space to experiment in an even more carefree way. A few hours later I had a decent-ish, mostly-finished first draft.

Over the following week I bounced between my computer and my Kindle rewriting and refining. Then I took it to my critique group, fiddled a little more, and sent it off to my agent. I will definitely draft like this again.

I’m already thinking of more ways I might use this tool now and in the future. So thanks (?), old Kindle Touch for becoming obsolete. I’m excited to see how else I might use this.

And at some point I’ll actually read on it, too. ;)