Writing Tools: Hanx Writer

Does anyone else out there like to do their first drafts with pen and paper? Writing a first draft hunched over a keyboard just doesn't work for me. Leaning back in a comfy chair or lounging on the couch is much more conducive to first drafting, at least for me. That's been my writing process for years, scratching out the first draft and then keying my sometimes indecipherable handwriting for the second draft. The problem is the keying stage takes a long, long time. It's a second draft so I start editing and there's always the sentence crammed into the margin that I can no longer read. That keying stage isn't conducive to high-speed production. I also can't tell how much I've written until after the keying stage.

Then along came the iPad mini. I love it as a reading device, but would it work as an input device for first drafts, allowing me to still use my favorite writing spots and avoid the dreaded keying stage? I searched for an editor and settled on Hanx Writer.

Hanx Writer is supposed to mimic a typewriter with the look of the keyboard and the sounds of an old manual, including a ding at the end of a line. It's nostalgic and kind of romantic to imagine pounding out your first draft on a virtual typewriter. Unlike an old-fashioned typewriter, Hanx Writer has a built-in spellchecker with suggestions and you can easily move the cursor around the document to delete or add text. It also gives you a word count. To get your hard work into your favorite word processor, simply email the document to yourself as a pdf.

The app comes in three flavors: Hanx Prime Select, Hanx 707, and Hanx Golden Touch. The basic version is free. Use it to give Hanx Writer a test drive. Unfortunately, the basic version only allows for one document. If you want to work on multiple projects, you will need to upgrade to either the 707 or Golden Touch (both available as in-app purchases). So far, I've only had one bad experience. I was trying to move my cursor around but it wouldn't display anywhere. I pressed the space bar and lost a half-page of text. Fortunately, that half page was fresh in my head so I rewrote it (probably better than the text I somehow deleted). That hasn't happened again. However, I recommend emailing the document to yourself on a regular basis so that you'll have a backup in case something dire happens with the app or to your iPad.

Happy typing.