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***I received no compensation of any kind for this post. Thoughts are all my own***

This spring, I finally bought a new iPad. It was something I'd been meaning to do for a while, but had put it off until my old iPad was so decrepit, I basically used it for reading ebooks in bed and not much else. In fact, I do so much on my phone, I wondered if I even needed another one.

But I was intrigued by the pencil function and the idea of writing notes electronically was compelling. Like I needed another place to make notes. :-( As an aside, one of my biggest problems is jumping from system to system. I know I'm missing notes for Wicked Intention that I made years ago. This realization didn't stop me from making notes in one of my new apps for the book. :-(

The other compelling reason was there were things I liked to do while I watched TV, but my laptop is 17 inches and it's heavy to sit with it on my lap. Plus the cord and the cooling pad. Yeah, if I could use the iPad as a laptop replacement for home use (Not writing) that would be worth it. So I jumped.

Seven years ago, when I bought my only other iPad, I upgraded to the top memory and paid an arm and a leg. This time, the beginning memory was (I believe) double what I had way back when. I picked up the iPad Pro, BTW. I wanted full functionality.

This new tablet made me fall in love with the iPad all over again.The magic was back!

I have an app to write notes in that I love. I have another app that converts handwritten notes to text. (It's convenient, but I prefer the first app.) I can play games while I watch television at the end of the day. I subscribed to the New York Times crossword puzzles! I blogged earlier about digital planning which failed the way I expected it to, but would have been cool if I could have made it work. I also do research for my stories in front of the television and some other writing related things. There are so many more possibilities than with my old, tired iPad.

There are some things I don't love--Face ID, for one. Although I'm not sure that the fingerprint reader would be any better. Maybe I should just go 100% to the passcode, but I'm not excited about that option either.

After the new iPad OS has been released for a while and the bugs have been worked out, I'll upgrade to that and maybe some of my peeves will go away. (Not face ID, but other things.)

Anyway, I'm glad I spent the money and I am getting my use out of the new tablet. I'm also glad I waited until the pencil charging was improved. I'm definitely getting my use out of it.