Which part? The 12.9 arriving, or actually writing a draft of a novel in a month? (really cool challenge by the way)
The first is happening, the second is questionable but I’ll at least give it a go. 
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I caved and gave it to my daughter (she is an artist) and got her tiny one. I bought an M1 MBA 16GB/512GB instead. I just needed a real mac. That said, I still haven’t been quite as productive as I was in that magic time I whipped out my first book (1st draft), so let me know if it works for you!!!
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Thanks, @Eltos I’ll report on how things go. Retirement is the time to actually try doing what we always tell ourselves we’ll do someday. Plenty of free time, no excuses left. But it’s for my own satisfaction so I won’t cry if I discover it’s not for me. I’ll just move on to the next thing.
Learning to draw is still in progress, I haven’t given up even though it went on hiatus during my summer volunteering. The bigger iPP 12.9 will be nice for that, especially with the new pencil hover.
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This morning as I finished writing for day nine of the 30-day NaNoWriMo challenge, I couldn’t help but chuckle at how incredibly overpowered an M2 iPad Pro 12.9 is for the task. I could have done it no problem 40 years ago on my Commodore 64*. Paperclip writing software would keep track of wordcount just as well, too.
But I’m quite pleased with this writing setup. So far so good. 
*Ironically, that C64 cost more than this iPP in current dollars. From Wikipedia:
US$595 (equivalent to $1,671 in 2021).
Also, that Paperclip software was $125, which would be $371 in today’s dollars.
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Perspective - a gift I have yet to receive…
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This has made me rethink my situation (again). I am going to use my bonus to get either a 12.9" 2018 or 2020 iPad Pro. I really do miss the simplicity. I have the MBA for when I need a full mac, but dang it if I didn’t get the most done on that gen 1 iPad Pro 12.9" with that massive Logi Create keyboard. So good. I considered trying to get that setup again with the 2017 version, but both the keyboard and the iPad are rare now and thus more that retail 
. Oh well. 
So if anybody comes across a great deal on a used/refurbed iPad Pro 12.9" 2020 or 2018, I would really appreciate a heads up.
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Good luck!
Day 14 of NaNoWriMo. Still going well, ahead of the game at 30k words (daily target has been 2k or more in case I missed a day or three due to life, but it’s been good so far. Knock on wood.)
I’m hooked on iPad in portrait on a little stand and using my Microsoft Sculpt Ergonomic keyboard setup (the wireless dongle works without issue, just need a USB-A to -C adapter). Writing wants height in a monitor, not width like most things.
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It looks like they aren’t right as I type this but Microcenter was blowing out the 2020 12.9 for last week on “black friday deals now” sales for $300-400 off dependent on the model. Two of our employees bought the 512 GB versions for $899
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This reminded me of our first word processor at our law firm in 1982 (CPT 8100) and it’s 8.5x11 black on white screen - it was glorious and Mary, our word processing guru, guarded it like the queen jewels…
PS - we paid over $16,000 for it with a daisywheel printer and sound hood (the printer sounded like a machine gun with hood open)…
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I like my references and notes on the side too much to get by with portrait mode personally. I tried the whole no distraction writing thing for awhile, but it’s just not how I work best I think. Sadly, even as good as some of the apps are on the iPad for that, and as much as I like writing on the Magic Keyboard, I find myself enjoying writing at my desk on my MBP a lot more often these days.
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Writing can be a very personal thing. I once corresponded with a popular author and received a response on note paper, covered both sides with his handwriting, and I discovered that that was how he wrote entire novels (a couple of 5-book fantasy series among others). That was David Eddings. Another, Piers Anthony, might still be using a custom mechanical (non electric) typewriter converted to his own preferred key layout.
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David Eddings taught English at my Alma Mater, and is possibly my favorite fantasy author of all time. He’s the reason I am trying to build a career in the field! Nice!
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Yeah, one of my favorites too. In my letter to him I mentioned aspiring to write and he threw some cold water with “the first million words are just practice” advice. :vb-embarassed-laugh:
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Then my wife’s favorite author, Danielle Steel, has been “practicing” for nearly half a century…
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This reminds me of the conversation I had when I had Anne McCaffrey sign a book for me. I had struck up a conversation with the person in front of me in the line and it came up that I was an aspiring writer. So she mentioned it to the Grand Dame herself!
She looked me in the eye as she handed my my signed book, “Young man, writers write!” and slammed the book shut. Yikes. Talk about intimidating.
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It is honestly crazy how cheap good tech is now compared to the 80s and 90s.
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I never did need the extra buffer I was building up so I finished my 50k word first draft for NaNoWriMo yesterday. Yay, me. I think it was a worthwhile exercise.
Among the “winner” goodies was 5% off a Freewrite dedicated distraction-free e-ink writing device. I never heard of them before.
This one’s only $600 with current discount.
I think I’ll stick with my own distraction-free setup. It still works for me after 24 sessions of over 2k words each this month.
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According to what the company told us awhile back, the Freewrite has at least one notable adherent, in the author John Irving (The Cider House Rules, The World According to Garp) who is otherwise pretty much a technophobe and used a conventional typewriter for his books.
It also has an exceptionally good keyboard, though for the price, I’d expect that.
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