(The scribble on the top was added by my four-year-old.)
#3: A Folding Keyboard
I use the “1byOne” keyboard, which sadly isn’t available on Amazon at present (though you can view it on Amazon here).
I did a bit of research into keyboards before settling on this one, as I wanted one with a UK English layout. If you’re happy with a US English layout, you’ll have a lot more options to pick from! It paired very quickly with both my Kindle Fire and my phone, with no problems at all.
#4: In-Ear Headphones (Optional)
I love in-ear headphones.
I never used to like the cheap earphones that slot just inside your earlobe – they always felt uncomfy and fell out my ears easily – but these are more like earplugs.
They sit comfortably in my ears and don’t come out till I want them to! They also muffle a lot of background noise (and the noise from them doesn’t “bleed” at all so I don’t worry about disturbing other people nearby).
My current pair are pretty similar to this. They cost under £10.
#5: Micro USB Charger Cable and Plug
If you’re going to be away from home for any length of time, you’ll want to take a charger cable and plug so you can plug your phone into an outlet. You may also need to charge your foldable keyboard (mine is, handily, micro USB too).
I normally charge my phone in the morning before leaving the house, but if it’s running low, I’ll often take out our little charger bank and a 10cm USB cable, as our library doesn’t have any conveniently positioned outlets! That way, I can easily charge it in my handbag while walking around.
The one I use looks very similar to this one.
What Software You (Might) Want to Install to Write on Your Phone
The software you use will depend whether you’re an iPhone or Android person, and what apps you particularly like.
Whenever I’m writing on my (Android) phone, I use:
Evernote – to store all sorts of notes and plans, like my blog’s content calendar, my blog post ideas, upcoming posts that I need to write for my freelancing clients, and more.
Google Docs – this is where I do my actual writing when I’m using my phone. (On my computer, I write most of my content in Word.) Google Docs automatically saves my work online, so I can access it from any computer / device.
Rescue Time – to keep track of my time, when I’m using my phone. This helps me to avoid frittering away my writing time on Facebook.
Amazon Music – to play music (mostly because I haven’t gotten round to actually copying any of my albums onto my new phone). You might prefer Spotify or another music app.
What’s It’s Like to Write on a Small Folding Keyboard Looking at a Small Screen
I was quite concerned about how the physical experience of writing would work on a titchy screen and a folding keyboard.
It’s surprisingly okay!
I’ve never had problems with my keyboard not connecting (apart from the time the Bluetooth was switched off on my phone and I hadn’t realised…)
It’s a compact keyboard, but there’s a reasonable space between the keys so I don’t tend to hit the wrong one. The shift, spacebar and enter keys are all a good size, too. (Admittedly, it probably helps that I have fairly small hands.)
The main issue I find is that I sometimes have to tap the keys fairly hard to get them to register: probably about one in 20 “spaces” doesn’t actually appear on the screen, for instance, and some of the other letters (“c” in particular) don’t always appear.
This means I spend slightly more time backspacing and correcting, or editing afterward, than I normally would – but it doesn’t tend to interrupt my writing flow much, and I don’t think it would affect writers who type a bit more slowly than I do.
The keyboard has a middle section and two ends that fold on top of it, like this:
When I’m typing and hit a key on the far end (particularly the A key), the end of the keyboard does dip slightly – I don’t really notice this unless I’m looking for it, though, so I haven’t found it distracting.
While my keyboard lasted for days of use without a charge, I did find that when it finally needed recharging, it started repeating letters (so I’d hit “r” and get a whole string of “rrrrrrrr”). If that happens to you, there’s nothing wrong with your keyboard: it’s just low on battery power.
As I mentioned earlier, the small screen hasn’t been an issue for me. It helps that I opted for a phone with a fairly large (6 inch) screen, but even if you have a smaller screen, I think you’ll find it’s fine for drafting blog posts or novel chapters.
If you find the font size on your screen too small, you can always increase it, too.
So if one of your main writing constraints is that your laptop isn’t easily portable, or you want something that’s very quick to chuck in your bag and set up when you get somewhere you can write, try writing on your phone. With a stand and a keyboard, it might be a far better writing experience than you’d have imagined.
If you already write on your phone, or if you’re going to give it a go, do leave a comment on the blog to share how you got on.