I have always wanted a blogging device. A “computer” for lack of a better term that could only do one thing: Blog. I wanted the ability to write at a moment’s notice and post to my blog without any of the friction of having to login or make changes to the formatting. I just wanted to write.
And that is why I have been so enamored with the Freewrite. It is a tool unlike any other that I have come across. It is a single tasker. A device with comfort and speed in mind. It lacks almost all of the features that would make it “better.” There is no way to move the cursor to anywhere other than the end of the story. What is happening “right now.”
At least on my version, this is how it works. The newer versions have added cursor support. They have added the ability to see folders of files, navigation of settings. And while these things would make the device more user friendly, they would make it less like the device that I actually want in my life.
I want the fewest features possible. I want it just to take the letters that I type into it and display them on the screen. The fact that it connects to wifi and let’s me sync to the cloud or send a version of the draft to an email address is all gravy. It is nonessential for getting ideas out and for translating thought into words on a digital page.
And that is all that I ever wanted in a blog. The ability to share my words. The ability to post into the ether, scream into the void. Because it is the scream that matters, not the amplification.
So, I finally found my solution. The blogging device. And I will attempt to describe the setup without the aid of any HTML or formatting that a typewritter could not handle.
- Write something awesome on my Freewrite.
- Put a special hashtag that only I knew at the bottom.
- Press the “send” button on the Freewrite.
That’s it. The whole draft gets posted to my blog within a few minutes.
How is this sorcery done, you might ask?
Well, it is a pretty simply process of taking the default email that is generated by Freewrite and sent to my email address and then having Gmail use a filter to look for the special hashtag I have set. Once it finds the hashtag within one of my drafts, it shoots the email off to an account I have set up to post to my blog.
Then the Postie WordPress plugin takes over. It checks the email account I have set up to post to the blog and strips out any attachments or formatting that don’t work for a blog post. And it just posts it, at the exact date and time of when I pressed the “send” button on my device. It is elegant and it is incredibly fun.
So fun that I think I am going to do it right now!
