I have just survived four days without my laptop and…I kind of liked it.

My lil’ mac needed a new hard drive which was fortunately paid for by Applecare (that was money well spent!). I was also fortunate to catch this problem while the HD was dying and not yet dead, so I backed up mostly everything. I saved all my novels, my thesis, etc. A few things got lost: MS Word, every article I had ever bookmarked (cringe), my sticky notes with details like the names of the hero’s six houses and motivational quotes like “Don’t agonize, organize!” I also lost all my passwords (except for amazon and J. Crew–those I have memorized.)

So while it was in the shop, I was rediscovering life without a laptop. I got a lot of reading done. Instead of checking email and depressing news stories first thing, I started the day with a book. I spent the day on the couch with William St. Clair’s The Reading Nation in The Romantic Period, which I highly recommend if you’re into that sort of thing. Being unavailable was amazingly relaxing, as was getting ahead with my reading.

The other big difference: not being able to check on everything right away. For example: I had one of those days when I had nothing to wear. My instinct was to immediately visit gap.com and look at what denim styles were available, and perhaps even make a purchase. But with that not an option, I bullied through, wore what I had and saved time and money. I reckon I piss away a lot of time online. Note to self: be better about that.

I’m happy to have my computer back, though. The new Miranda Lambert album, Revolution, was waiting for me (I’m only 4 songs in and I LOVE it.) As soon as I get MS Word, I can get back to writing my books.