[dieterrams]

I think you're absolutely right that fear is the biggest problem a writer has to overcome, and that many of these products appeal to the fearful writer.

At the same time, I do remember what it was like writing on a typewriter, and in DOS word processors, and before I had an always-on internet connection. And I do think it was easier.

I had recently tried to get back into writing, and had cancelled both my home and mobile internet service, and wrote on an iPad with virtually every app deleted except a text editor. And I found that it really did help: instead of my head being filled with stuff from the internet, I could fill it with stuff about the story I wanted to write, the way I remember being able to when I lived in a more isolated world using a device that wasn't bursting at the seams with digital affordances.

That "imposed expectation" you talked about ended up killing off my efforts after I produced a draft I wasn't happy with, so that problem was still there. I'm getting back into it again, and will probably recreate my setup from before. This time around I bought a cheap Alphasmart Dana, since I'd sold my iPad.

It could be that I'm part of a subset of people that are just more easily distracted by / addicted to a lot of digital stuff that's emerged in the past couple decades. But I do know that some professional writers have considerably more elaborate setups than myself or anyone buying a portable word processor: a tiny house out in the woods, a room that simulates a thunderstorm outside, etc.

I don't think you're wrong about what drives a lot of people to buy this stuff, but I also don't think these products are without value.

[Semiapies]

I don't think you're wrong about what drives a lot of people to buy this stuff, but I also don't think these products are without value.

I'd agree that there's some potential value for the right people, and I definitely agree in doing whatever makes your process work. If you work best emailing yourself passages you bang on out your phone on the train, curling up by a window, at a computer with no network or games, sitting at a desk with no random objects to fiddle with, running WordStar in a DOS box, writing with pen and paper—that's all good. (I myself use Emacs; low distraction, so long as I don't open a web page or play Tetris or whatever in that window.)

But, I think that's distinct from how these products are generally marketed, which has been more on the exercise machine or gym membership model: aimed at the people who won't use them. Some people will use them, but they aren't the target. Freewrite was always marketed fetishisticly, going back to when it was "Hemingwrite". Low-distraction word processors harped on how "beautiful" the program looked as much as the minimization of distractions. They're more about provoking the aspiration to write rather than selling a tool for the job.