On Keyboards and Writing

2026-03-12

There is a particular kind of writer who insists that the tools don't matter — that any pen, any keyboard, any surface will do. I used to believe this. I no longer do, or at least I believe it less consistently than I once did.

The argument against tool fetishism is solid: if the words aren't there, no amount of tactile feedback will conjure them. A $300 keyboard does not make you a better writer any more than expensive running shoes make you faster. And yet there is something to be said for friction. Or rather, for the absence of it.

When a keyboard feels right — when the resistance is tuned to your particular pressure, when the sound is neither too loud nor too absent — something happens to the experience of typing that is hard to articulate without sounding precious. You stop thinking about the act and start thinking about the words. Whether that is worth the money and the obsessive forum-browsing is a separate question.

The actual point

The honest answer is: it doesn't matter that much, and it matters a great deal. Both are true depending on the day. On a bad day the keyboard is an excuse. On a good day it is invisible. The goal is more good days.

Here is a link to something relevant that I will replace later with something real.