Over a period of three years, fantasy author Peter Brett wrote 100,000 words on his HP iPaq during his long subway commute. And here I get all excited when I manage to post a new word I learned to my blog, while sitting at a bar. Given the length of most epic fantasy novels (or cycles) I would have thought it an impossible task to thumb out more than, say, 5-10% on something like a smartphone. But this guy seems to actually thrive doing it.

He talks about his experience, and why he went with an HP iPaq of all things, in this interview. He’s pretty bullish about the Kindle, much more so than I am, but it’s true that it is a breakout device; authors and publishers need to start working with e-books early or risk ending up like the recording industry. My question is, if he knew he was going to be doing so much typing, why not get something with a really sweet keypad like a Sidekick or Blackberry?

Update:
If you’re curious, the book has been uploaded to Scribd, so you can get an idea of just what one can write from a moving subway train, on a device I’d be afraid to compose an email on. Check it out below.

http://d.scribd.com/ScribdViewer.swf?document_id=13109405&access_key=key-ufm54s84i8q1a8py20w&page=1&version=1&viewMode=