Published in SF&Fantasy Workshop newsletter, May 2002
The Computer Is Your Friend: Work Smarter to Save Time
by Ron Vitale
I'm working through a bout of writer's block (or should I say that I'm in one of those "I don't feel like writing creatively" type of moods) and thought I'd take advantage of the downtime and spread the word. Computers can be our friends! Over the last several years that I have been a member of SF&F Workshop, I've come across several anti-computer views from members. I hope to create a dialogue to help open the doors to various uses through which a computer can ease a writer's workload.
I find that there are several types of writers. Granted these generalizations have been simplified, but follow me on this.
First, there's the writer who refuses to touch a computer. A pen and paper or a typewriter is all he/she needs. Isaac Asimov fell into this category. I still gape in awe at the sheer volume of books he wrote. Many of his works he wrote without the aid of a computer. Second, there's the writer who has a computer or access to one but doesn't quite know how to use it and is intimidated by the exponential evolution of computer technology: "Yesterday I used a 5 1/4" floppy disk and now people are asking me if I have a Zip drive. What is that?!" Thirdly, there's the writer who lives and breathes with a computer, finding it difficult (or wasteful) to work without his/her machine.
This article is for those who are in the first or second categories. And if you're another Isaac Asimov and find my attempt to convince you to use a computer or embrace technology to be uninviting, I thank you for your listening to me and agree to disagree with you. Each writer will find his or her own way. I hope to offer options and to broaden one's horizons in the nitty gritty work of writing. In simplified terms, writing consists of planning, research, and the actual writing. Case in point: I'm on my way to work on the subway and I do not have a laptop or PDA with me. I'm suddenly hit with the inspiration to write this article. What do I do? My options are limited: I can jot down my ideas on pen and paper or use my cell phone to call my voicemail to leave myself a message with the idea. Today I decide I'm too lazy and do neither. I file the idea in my head.
When I come to the office, I use my e-mail, jot the idea down, and send it to my home e-mail account. Later that day, I check my e-mail at home, use the computer's copy and paste commands and put the idea into a word processor and then go to town.
Let me take a step back and break all of this apart.
Planning
I call this stage "planning" because it's the phase in which you generate the idea that's still in your head. Ideas pop out of the proverbial blue and you're stuck with this concept in your head. You mull it around for a bit and file it away until you decide to do something with the spark that the muse has given you. How are you going to take those formless ideas and transform them into words? Sometimes I utilize pen and paper along with technology. If pen and paper isn't at hand, how about using a phone to leave a message on your answering machine? Or a tape recorder to record your thoughts at the time? To help coax those ideas out of me, I often take a walk and the act of exercising gets by mind's juices flowing. Technology can help you with the planning stage by allowing you to skip some steps in the writing process. For example, if I am on the subway and write the several pages of ideas for an article, I still have to get to a typewriter or a computer and type it up. That extra step of typing up your work can be avoided through the use of a computer. E-mail is a fundamentally useful tool for the writer.
Let's assume you just woke up from a Rip Van Winkle sleep and you've never used e-mail before. How can you use it or gain access to it? Many public libraries allow you to access the Internet, people at home have their own computers and have access to AOL or an Internet Service Provider (ISP) who allows them to connect to the Internet, and most companies have computers with Internet access. If you do not have a Yahoo! or Hotmail e-mail account (or do not know what one is), now is the time to get an account. Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com) is a search engine (more on that later) that also offers a variety of other tools. Companies pay Yahoo! to run their ads on the Yahoo! Website while users flock to the site to use the search engine, pull up maps for driving instructions, or use the free e-mail service. A Yahoo! e-mail account is a Web-based e-mail application. Simply put: You can be at any computer, anywhere in the world that has Internet access, and can pull up your own private e-mail. On my honeymoon, my wife and I found an Internet Cafe in London. For $1.00 for a half hour, I was able to sit in front of a computer connected to the Internet and send e-mail back to my family and friends. I went to mail.yahoo.com and typed in my username and password. Once logged into the system, I could check on the e-mail someone sent to me or I could send e-mail to another person.
Now let's work smart in our writing. If I'm at work, a friend's house, or a public library, as long as I have access to the Internet I can access my e-mail. What is so great about that? Have you ever gone on vacation and had a great idea and think: "Now I have to type all of my handwritten work into a computer or typewriter." With a computer connected to the Internet, you can e-mail an attachment of your word processor file to yourself. When you get back home, the file is there all ready for you to go. Do you think that finding a computer connected to the Internet is difficult? Many travel guides offer listings of local Internet cafes. I have found them in France, England, and throughout the United States. Granted, sometimes it is not possible to find a connection to the Internet, but if you have access or can gain access these tools can make your life easier. A little bit of planning on your part can save you a lot of time in the long run.
Research
Use a computer connected to the Internet to go to a search engine, look up the information you need and copy the Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) to an e-mail and send it to yourself for later reference. To break that down into non-tech language: A search engine is a powerful tool that allows you to search the entire Internet. Some of the most popular search engines (there are thousands of search engines available on the Internet) are Google (www.google.com) and Yahoo! (www.yahoo.com). What's a URL? Think of it as an address or TV station. To access a particular Website, you'll need to type in the correct URL ("address") to bring the page up. Typing in "www.yahooooo.com" (instead of www.yahoo.com) as the address for the Yahoo! site will bring you to a page that does not exist. To show how practical research on the Internet can be, here is an example of a search I used to write this article. I could not remember what "URL" stood for so I went to www.google.com, typed in +"URL" +"definition" as search parameters and the Google search engine scoured all the Webpages it had in its database that contained the words "URL" and "definition" on them. The search took .19 seconds and I discovered that 39,300,000 Webpages had these words contained on them. The first several results contained links to a Webpage that listed the definition of "URL." Here's another example: I used Google's search engine to look for Webpages that contained the following words: "Asimov," "computers," and "typewriter." The third result came back as "Asimov's Nonfiction Books" with a description of the page that read: "Also, Asimov never used a computer to write, only a typewriter, because of personal preference." The URL (Webpage address) for that page is: http://www.norfacad.pvt.k12.va.us/project/asimov/nonfict.htm
For hardcore research, I would still use print materials for sources because many Webpages are out of date or contain inaccurate information. Use your common sense when doing research or use a trusted source. The encyclopedia Britannica online is a great place to start: www.britannica.com
Now that you have done some research, you can print the materials out, or e-mail the articles to yourself so that you can view them at a later date. The choice is dependent upon your access to an Internet-ready computer. If you have a computer at home, I would suggest saving all the addresses as a bookmark in your Web browser to be recalled at a later date or to send an e-mail to yourself with all the relevant links. If public library access is all you have, then use the library's printers to obtain hardcopies of the articles you need.
Writing
A computer can be a wonderful life-saver when it comes to your writing, or it can be your worst enemy. On the one hand, the excuse that the “dog ate your homework” is no longer valid. I have done some writing in which I have spilled juice on my papers and it’s not a pretty site. But with a computer, you can work smart. Although I am on the paranoid side, I prefer to make three copies of important works of writing. Back in High School, our teacher told us to have the grandfather, father, and the son copy of our data. Having three copies is a lot of work, but you’ll thank yourself when catastrophe strikes. Here’s another real life example: I began writing this article at lunch at my work. The power in our entire building went down for nearly 2 hours. Luckily, I was saving the file every few minutes so I only lost one sentence. I then e-mailed the file to my home and I am now writing it on my home computer. Plan smart and let the computer be your friend. I can name many reasons why you need multiple saved copies of your work. Sooner or later one of these tragedies will affect you: Loss of power, the computer dies on you, or a virus infects your computer. Having a backup copy stored away safely will save you time and effort. Again, work smart.
I advocate writing on a computer because I am left-handed and can type much faster than I can scribble words down onto a page. My personal writing style consists of jotting ideas down into an e-mail, sending the e-mail to myself, and then working from Microsoft Word on my home computer. With e-mail, there is no need to carry the papers with me. I can send the file to myself and then work during my lunch break at work, go to an Internet café and work there, or access my Yahoo! e-mail from a public library’s computer. My choices are only limited to where I have a computer with Internet access. If Internet access is not available for you, then use a computer for your writing. I find the ability to type as fast as I want and to make as many mistakes as I want extremely freeing. With a few stabs at the backspace, I can correct a mistake and move onward.
Using a computer in conjunction with writing can save you time and effort. With the Internet at your fingertips, you can do your research, write, and even join an online writing group for feedback for your story or article. With the cost of computers constantly dropping in price, older machines (which are great for simple word processing) can be purchased for under $150.00. Local computer shows or online auction sites (www.ebay.com) are a great place to find such treasures. Granted that a pen and paper will always get me through a pinch (and it’s a lot cheaper), I find the use of a computer to be a great resource in helping me with my writing. So if you have a computer and aren’t using it to its full potential, think about the tips suggested here to help you work smarter.
