When a Splurge Isn’t

Some purchases may seem like splurges, but in the long run, they really aren’t. Here are a few of mine:

1. A netbook.

When I purchased by Acer netbook, I already had a laptop. An aging laptop, it’s true, but thought the battery was (and still is) weak, it still works. However, after I bought the netbook, which is much smaller and lighter, I found that I wrote more. I was more willing to carry the netbook around all day, and take advantage of random bits of time to write.

Outside of writing, the netbook has wireless. I try to avoid internet while writing, but I found that I could spend a little time on online promotion or other writing-related tasks after I’d finished with my writing.

2. An e-reader.

I had very ambiguous feelings about e-readers for a long time. I still prefer to read from print books. But not only has it proved a useful device to have while on long trips, from a [writing] business standpoint it’s been useful as well. I can view text I’m planning to release electronically and see how it looks, formatted. If I’m traveling to a conference where I’ll be reading, I can carry my own manuscripts on it. And I can carry manuscripts that I’m critiquing for others.

There’s a point past which the money spent on the items is less important to me than the advantages I gain from them. Anything that makes writing easier? Totally worth it to me.

3. An expensive conference.

The costs may be high, but the people you meet are, as they say in those commercials, priceless.