November is one of those months when I find myself wanting to write away from home more and more. For one thing, participating in NaNoWriMo means that I need all the writing time I can get. It’s not just that though. It’s the cold and gray I think as well. I just get the itch to go somewhere else.

So, how do you keep up with your writing when you’re on the move?

Don’t forget the old standby, pen and paper. Whether it’s a moleskine, a nice notebook or journal or something you pick up from a Dollar Store. This is a cheap and handy solution. The only problem I have with this is that I need to type it into the computer at some point. One year I did a lot of my NaNo novel this way, and my husband was nice enough to play secretary!

Almost as cheap, but higher tech, is a USB thumb drive. If you’re not sure what I mean, check out this froogle search. It’s simply a storage device that plugs in to your USB drive on your computer. This is easier for me than carrying a laptop. I attach one of these to my keyring, and anywhere I am, I can plug in to a computer and write. And since I’m saving directly to the USB drive, I don’t have to worry about uploading and downloading my files. This works great if you’re working on a computer that isn’t yours (library, office, etc.). Of course, the catch is that you need access to a computer (obviously).

A laptop is an obvious choice, and I was lucky enough to get one of the new Dell Minis.  It’s small enough to fit nicely into a zip up Bible cover!The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but after about an hour with the typing tutorial included (I got the Ubuntu version of the Mini), I was fine. Battery power is great, screen size is good and the brightness is great. It’s a wonderful little writing laptop. The one thing you might want to know before buying is that the ‘ and ” keys are in a wonky spot. Rather than relearn where they are, I simply replace them with > and << >>. Then a simple search and replace fixes all my apostrophes and quotes.

I’m almost tempted to say that this is a “woman’s” laptop because of the size of the keyboard. While I can type on it comfortably, my husband finds it almost impossible to use. His hands are pretty large, even for a man, so that’s something to keep in mind.

I’ve been able to write on the Mini for a couple hours at a time without having any problems with my hands tiring…well no more than usual. I think my speed suffers a little, but I’m a pretty fast typist. I hit around 90 wpm, but on the mini I’m probably getting 70-75 wpm. Still, that’s not too shabby, and I’m willing to take the hit in speed to get the convenience of a laptop that’s so small and light. Besides, it looks very cool too. (I’ll post some pics of it in action this week).

What kinds of things do you do to write while you’re away from home?