Welcome back to my 3-part blog series on my best author buys of 2020! (If you missed the first two posts, find them here and here.)
For this final post, I’m introducing you to the only actual physical product that made it onto my list. And although it has been a boon to my author life, you definitely don’t have to be an author, or business owner of any kind to love this thing. (My engineer husband borrows it regularly).
Here it is…
Best 2020 Author Buy #3:
“reMarkable2” E-Ink Paper Tablet
I saw this gadget advertised on social media, and it was literally the first time in my entire life that I went and purchased something the same day I saw it advertised. I’m usually an obsessive researcher when it comes to spending decisions, but not this time. I saw the ad and bought the thing within an hour. Despite the fact that it was a pre-order and I wouldn’t even have it in my hands for months.
So…what’s so special about the reMarkable2 that made me snap it up like that?
Well, let me start by saying that I love paper. I love physical to do lists, hardcover books, and documents I can file in a filing cabinet. Notebooks, diaries, recipe cards, everything PAPER.
BUT the problem is, I save it all. It’s my one weakness when it comes to organizing. I’m secretly terrified of throwing away documents, struggle to give away books, even tend to save to-do lists for way too long. In my normally fairly minimalist life, the books, magazines, and papers, papers, papers, always seemed to get the better of me.
“Go digital” everybody says. “Then you won’t have papers that need to be dealt with in the first place.”
Problem is though, I have an analog brain. I like to write my schedules and to-do lists by hand. I CANNOT write poetry digitally. I NEED PAPER.
Enter the reMarkable2.
It’s a tablet designed to give you the feel of paper combined with the functionality of a digital device. No back-lit screen! Instead it’s made with e-ink, like a Kindle. But unlike a Kindle, it’s designed primarily for WRITING. It comes with a stylus that feels very much like pen in your hand. But thanks to the settings on the device, you can use one stylus to get the writing results of a pencil, a calligraphy pen, a marker, a highlighter, a paintbrush, a ballpoint pen, and more! It even SOUNDS like a pencil on paper when you write with it!
The reMarkable2 comes with dozens of page templates, from a blank page, to checklists, graph paper, day-planners, lined pages in multiple sizes, even musical staffs for composers!
You can also download PDFs to read or write on, and of course, ebooks (but only DRM free ones).
I’m telling you, this thing has changed my life. I now keep most of my lists, schedules, and important notes in this thing, and I never misplace any of the papers. I can write by hand, the way I like to (it helps me think), but then I can easily cut and paste, reorganize the pages, and store them all in less space than is required for the average sized notebook! I knew my subconscious brain had accepted this things as “real paper”, when I found myself absent-mindedly doodling in the corner of the page. Lol.
Besides all the cool writing features, one unexpectedly HUGE benefit I got from this purchase was that my reading rate skyrocketed. I’ve always said I only like paper books, and would never go digital. And let me be clear, I still definitely prefer physical books. BUT…I’m currently in a small home without much room for bookshelves, I have a limited budget, and the library is over 20 minutes away. Guess what solved all those problems in one feel swoop? The reMarkable.
For the first time in my life I can fly through books as fast I want without worrying about shipping time, price, or storage space. Digital books are cheaper, I can store an indefinite number on my reMarkable, and I can go from deciding I am interested in a book to having it open in my hand within minutes, without ever getting out of bed! (Except to make a cup of tea of course.)
Do I still love physical books? Absolutely. Do I still plan to have a whole room full of them one day when I have a larger house? You bet. But for the time being, the reMarkable has filled gaping hole in my life and allowed me to go back to reading at a rate that I haven’t been able to since I was in high school. At that’s not just a good thing for me as a person, it’s a fantastic thing for me as an author! You can’t write good books if you aren’t reading them, right? I’m very excited about how all the books I am reading now will contribute to my “creativity well” as an author. Pouring good words in so good words come out, so to speak.
To sum it all up, between writing, reading, organizing, ad scheduling, I am literally using this thing EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. Except occasionally on Sunday. But that’s the day my husband borrows it to take notes during the sermon. So it still gets used. Haha.
So if you are drowning in paper, wish you could go digital but can’t give up your love of writing by hand, or simply want a fantastic all-in-one gadget that allowed writing, reading, drawing, creating, and organizing all in one place, give the reMarkable2 a try! I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.
P.S. There is an earlier version of this product, the reMarkable1, which you can probably get much cheaper than the $400 for thier newest version. But as I havne’t tried the older one, I can’t vouch for how well it works.
*This review is my personal, unbiased opinion, and I was not compensated monetarily or otherwise for recommending the reMarkable2 Paper Tablet. I am not affiliated with this company in any way.