Link: Confessions of a Computer Hater

I've long been a fan of Peter Kreeft, a Catholic writer, philosopher and professor at Boston College and one of the world's leading experts on the writings of CS Lewis. He has a knack for making the esoteric understandable and logical. And now I have another reason to like him: he's a typewriter kinda guy. My favorite quotes:

Despite my ordeal, I had not lost hope. "My name is Peter," I told myself, "and the Hell of Gates will not prevail against me." After all, after a mere twelve years of Herculean labors, I have actually figured out how to use Microsoft Word. Here's the secret: You must trick the computer. If it knows you're indenting, or paragraphing, or numbering, it will correct you. Only by doing something else entirely will the computer give you what you really want.

I have been there. Ooooh, I have been there. And I'm supposed to be a techie. Yes, I know how to work around Word, but I hate it that I have to do so.

And, of course, the money quote:

As for me, I'm done with it. I've found my way out with a relic as rare as a chastity belt: a beautiful little manual typewriter. It has no will, no devious designs, no nefarious stratagems. It's the honest, obedient slave the Industrial Revolution was intended to create. It's content to be my creature, and I adore it. Of course it takes longer to use than a computer, but who cares? Time ceases to matter when you're in love.

Inane Monday Night Typecast: Typewriter Bunnies

For the TV deprived or non-Western, here's the commercial I was referring to. WARNING: it's really, really catchy. "Yippee yi yay, mini sirloin burrrrrgers--hyah!"

The fact that I'm watching this while La Boheme plays in the background kind of adds...something. I'm just not sure what.

This, that, and the other

1. For my follow index card aficionados: I was at Staples today, and as usual went and poked through the odds and ends in the clearance rack. The local one is currently clearing out all their Buxton index card jotter and wallet type things, for the princely sum of $2.50. I'm very happy with my International Pocket Briefcase, which works as a sort of clutch for me (I thank God for the individual with the initals MSR who sent this thing back, thus enabling a cheapskate like me to score a Levenger leather item for less than they'd usually charge for shipping...), but I still picked up the Buxton jotter. It's just a writing surface with room for three or four stacked cards and two pockets behind it for storage and organization of maybe ten or fifteen more (like Levenger's Shirt Pocket Briefcase). It's thin enough to fit nicely in the back pocket of a pair of jeans--something the International just can't manage, with its extra space for credit cards and cash and all. If any of you have been looking for an easy way to carry and write on index cards, get thee to a Staples.

2. I am official finding brushing my teeth half a dozen times a day to be very tedious. I've also decided that braces feel rather as though you have a circuit board mounted in your mouth, soldering points side out. Any of my fellow computer techy types who have ever raked knuckles across the backs of one of those suckers whilst probing computer innards will understand what I mean. They do give you this nifty wax stuff to put on the prickliest parts--it's rather like wax lips, or those wax bottles filled with unnaturally colored sugar water. Anyone else remember those? I wonder if they still sell 'em. Probably not. They were probably declared a choking hazard in the 90s. How did any of us manage to grow up?

EDIT: Found this site, which carries all sorts of old candies and toys, including wax lips and wax bottles. Also fangs and mustaches. Cool.... I'm not sure what I'd do with 24 of 'em...but I guess it's nice to know they're out there. I feel better about the world in general, ya know?

3. I have been doing heavy transcribing, and thus haven't written a thing in several days. For previous hand-written stories, I've generally stopped every four or five thousand words to digitize, but with last year's NaNo, I got behind and stayed behind, and now I suddenly am faced with the task of typing in some 80,000 words, at a guess. Well...60,000 now, after a TON of work. It's to the point where I'm really not editing as I go--I'm just trying to get it in so I can start mashing it around and organizing it. I didn't worry about organization or redundant scenes or anything else as I was writing--I just charged ahead.

Transcribing on this scale is a pain in the neck. But it does dump me back into the depths of my story. And some of the writing is actually not bad. I don't think I can write that way on the computer. On the computer, I tend to be more flippant, more wordy; it's very hard to write meaningful dialog or soul-felt, serious thoughts. It may be that I just need more practice. It may be that I should just get better about transcribing as I go instead of being a lazy bum and putting it off for six months. I'm not sure. Part of my problem may also be that I love the physical act of writing with my fountain pens on paper, or on my typewriters, and I make excuses as to why I should do things the hard way. I wish I had an objective way to measure. It sure would be cool if I could write a scene or a story, forget that I'd written it but not the *idea* of it, and write it with another medium so I could compare the two. Unfortunately, I can't think of a way to do that....

JuST making excuses

I didn't write yesterday and haven't written much today because I JuST got braces. And had four teeth out. I've got crowding issues that were starting to catch up with me, and it was either get braces or have on-going problems that would likely cost at least as much...so I chose the braces.

I feel like a total dork, not to mention like I have the front end of a large automobile caught in my teeth. And I feel like I'm going to be living as an awkward adolescent *again* for two years in my early thirties.

On the other hand, all that angst is sure to generate some writing ideas, right?

My initial reaction to my friend saying I should really take a before picture showing all my teeth...

OK, so I can *sort* of smile, too.

I still feel like a dork. And man, that's a lot of metal.

Writing in the pink

Well, I did it. I bought a little netbook. I know...it's probably right before the next big thing, and I probably should have waited, but this is my usual MO. And honestly, there's nothing on the horizon that really makes a difference to me. I don't need the ability to watch heavy-duty video on a netbook, I'm OK with not getting Windows 7 the instant it hits the shelves, and the price on this model just dropped (at least in some places on-line) because there's a new replacement model out.

It's a Samsung NC10, and it's pink and white. Yes, pink. A nice pink--dark and sparkly, not pastel or bubblegum. I admit I mostly bought pink because it was the cheapest, but I like it. It's gloss, so it does pick up fingerprints like nobody's business, but it's pretty.

And the keyboard is pretty darned comfortable. I'm impressed thus far. Small, but very solid. Some of the buttons are in slightly odd places or are smaller than normal size (most noteably the arrow/end/page up and down keys), but not nearly as much so as most of the other netbooks I examined at Best Buy before mail ordering. I could touch type straight off, at least on the letter keys. Given a little bit more time, I don't believe it will be any more of an adjustment than going from a computer to a typewriter or a desktop to a laptop or any of the above to the Alphasmart. Speaking of which, somehow my brain has it identified as an Alphasmart, so I keep trying Alphasmart key combination and navigating with arrow keys instead of just using the l'il touchpad. Note to self: CTRL-W is *not* a good key combo to keep hitting in regular Windows applications! This is punishment for being a compulsive word count checker, it would seem.

I have it loaded up with Open Office, yWriter5, FreeMind, and very little else, and plan to keep it that way. It came surprisingly free of bloatware. Which, incidentally, is a word accepted by Firefox's spellchecker, unlike touchpad. Strange, that.

I believe I shall call it Mary Sue, after a laptop in one of my own unfinished novels. How narcissistic is that? Don't answer that.

Over the years I've come to be more and more reluctant to review a product until I've spent a good deal of time with it, so this isn't a review. But I will say, if this lives up to my initial impressions, this may well be the laptop I've been looking for since I first became enamored of them ten or twelve years ago when they were still thick heavy bricks with dim, fuzzy screens, clunky pointing devices and miserable battery life. It's lightweight and very portable, it looks like I'll get at least six or seven hours of battery life, the screen is clearer than my other computer, the keyboard feels good, it'll go in my book bag or purse, and it's cute and pretty and pink. There are some other cool little features, too: the mouse gestures it allows are pretty handy--instant zoom-in or out, for one. It of course doesn't have a very big screen, which is mostly an issue when web surfing (something I hope to keep to a minimum on this machine anyhow). It tends to help me focus, since I can really only view one task at a time. Kind of the Alphasmart outlook on life. It does get a little warm, unlike an Alphasmart, and seven hours of battery life pales in comparison with 700. But I can't imagine doing any editing work on an Alphasmart. I avoid even scrolling back to change a word here and there. This should be just fine for that. It isn't a gaming machine and there are far better computers for watching videos and such, but it may be close to the best portable writing machine available at this time.

Added about eight hundred words to another short story in half an hour at the coffee house this morning, which is good considering I was so self-conscious when I first took it out that I wasn't sure I'd be able to write. I wasn't worried about the relative oddity of the thing, but I live in terror lest someone actually read a sentence or two of what I'm writing--something that isn't as much of an issue with handwritten notes. I am a bundle of neuroses.

Dark side of the digital divide

I'll of course be over-obsessively researching these topics elsewhere--it's what I do--but I figure some of you smart folks might have some first-hand input for me.

I'm so close to finishing the rough draft of my latest long story that I'm finally starting to feel the wind in my hair on that last downhill slide. Don't get me wrong--it'll probably be a month or so before I can write "THE END." What's left is bound to be something of a slow slog, and I'm an exceptionally slow slogger, especially in the summer. Still, for once I pretty much know what's going to happen, overall. I just have to get it all down and fill in the details.

I really want to edit this one to completion. Which brings me to the two topics of the day.

1. Novel editing software
I've never used any. I've also never completely finished editing one of my novels. Inevitably, I end up frustrated with the word processor, because as soon as I start shuffling scenes around, I lose them and have to scroll and scroll and scroll and scroll looking for where I left that one paragraph. I also waste all kinds of time trying to remember details like what time of year it was when X had a birthday or A and B first met, or what color eyes I gave to Minor Character D. Is there such a thing as software that will let you parcel a story out into scenes, keep track of a time line, and with a section for character sketches? Those are the main things I think would be most useful to me. Like I said, I'll do the research (and how), but I'd appreciate any input. I'm a PC user, if that makes a difference.

2. Them there new-fangled netbook thingies
One of the things I've learned over the past six months is that I'm far more productive if I get out of the house. I'm sure a part of that has been lack of internet access (I've been writing strictly by hand), but I think a good portion of it is just being in a different environment. I work better if I detatch from the rest of my life for an hour or so.

With that in mind, I've been wondering how I could continue with the morning coffee house run, but do transcribing and some in-depth editing instead of writing, and I've been pondering picking up one of these little guys. They appeal to me because:
a)they're cheap
b)they're very portable (I could stick one in my purse, even
and c)the newer ones get five hours or more of battery life, so I wouldn't have to carry any kind of power supply.

I went to Best Buy the other day to just see what they looked like in person. The 8.9" models were a little too toy-like, in my opinion. I could see using them for surfing, but not real extended use. But the 10.1" were surprisingly usable. I didn't have any trouble with the keyboards on most. My favorite, surprisingly to me, was the ASUS model with the chiclet keyboard. I expected the keys to feel like calculator buttons, but they were...just fine. I have big hands, but skinny fingers, and I could type without any real loss of accuracy. The screen is small, but I think would be fine for my purposes. And the specs are actually better than my primary home PC. Go figure. Has anyone used one of these extensively and have any input on the various brands / downsides that might not be obvious at first glance? Thoughts, suggestions, snarky remarks?

They seem like the perfected version of the Toshiba Libretto, which I lusted after mightily back in the day....

Spirit of the Northwest

Coming from rural Vermont where coffee houses and espresso stands are all but unheard of, and where any coffee drink more involved than coffee with cream and sugar tends to be regarded with distrust and disgust, I'm often amused by Western Washington's juxtapositions. Gotta love it.

My how-to (in response to Mike Speegle's challenge)

Regularly irregular musings

So...how are the typecasting journal entries coming along? I'm just about done with the final draft of the story I *may* be submitting. It's a short short, I think. The terminology for short stories is all new to me. This is uncharted territory: well out of my comfort zone.

I'm one of those people who's never had a serious problem finishing NaNoWriMo. No, it isn't easy, but if I force myself to sit down and put one word in front of another for a few hours every day, I can do it. I'm not one of those crazy people who can sit and pound out 4000 words in a sitting (had a roommate during one NaNo who was, and it annoyed the snot out of me, I admit) but I can write a decent number of words steadily day after day. And my stories usually start out much too wordy and then gets whittled down. If brevity is the soul of wit, my wit (such as it is) is some sort of soulless wraith.

As a result, this story has been an incredible challenge for me. It's the anti-NaNo: saying as much as possible in the fewest possible words; implying details and descriptions some of the time rather than sketching them out, leaving most of the color and scenery and background to the imagination of the reader. In a thousand words, you can't do much more than capture a single snapshot in your characters' lives, or the borders and boldest lines. I'm not good at it. It makes me cranky. Therefore, this is probably good for me.

And speaking of difficult-but-potentially-good-for-me activities, is anyone else semi-terrified by the concept of revealing a fictional work to even a small subset of the big wide world? I sure am. For one thing, I always worry that my stories are, as a high school English teacher once put it to me, too "bleeding heart." But it's more than that. Fiction is an entirely different animal than non-fiction. Why is that? (Rhetorical question.)

In one of my notebooks, I came across something I had written to the effect that nonfiction reveals one's thoughts and opinions; fiction one's heart and soul. I'm not sure I really believe that--I think I just liked the way it sounded when I wrote it down. But why *are* we more self-conscious about make-believe? Or am I the only one who feels this way?

On another subject, I read with interest the pocket briefcase vs pocket Moleskine throw-down Strikethru linked to here. My International Pocket Briefcase arrived a few days ago, courtesy of the Levenger outlet on eBay. It was cheaper than the Franklin Covey version I posted about here, once I factored in local tax (right about $16). Pretty cool.

Since it's larger than the shirt pocket briefcase listed in the review, it's not quite as direct a comparison--I'm using it as a wallet as well as a notepad. But the Moleskine has been my carry-everywhere writing surface up to now, so the comparison is there. Since I'm a gal and rarely have a pocket that would hold either one, the size differences aren't as crucial. It comes down to the format differences. On the one hand, the notebook means you carry everything you've written around with you, so you always have it. On the other hand, the cards let you carry just the important stuff, toss the grocery lists and memos, and organize into categories at home. It's more flexible, but less contained. It's my Circa vs composition book dilemma in miniature, and time will tell how I feel about it. I foresee still using the Moleskine for longer entries.

As for the wallet itself, it is marvelously soft but sturdy feeling leather--smells wonderful. There's a little more wiggle-room for the cards than there was in the cheaper one, which I'm very grateful for--makes it much easier to get them in and out, and the writing surface will hold about three or four cards in a stack without complaining. The wallet side where there's space for cash and receipts has a shallower little area for paper money, instead of just being a deep gaping pocket where narrower items get lost. All in all, a step up, and I think I can live with the fake initials....

We're just cool like that

Couple of days ago I was driving home from work, just minding my own business, when I was startled by someone laying on their horn right next to me. I looked over to see what was going on, and it was a guy in a Corolla just like mine, but green. He pointed exaggeratedly at my car a few times and gave me a huge grin and a big thumbs up. I was too startled to do much more than wave before he had zoomed on ahead.

Corolla guy, if you're out there, a big honk back. 'Cause we Corolla people, we're way cooler than people give us credit for.