I'm blogging from a different computer today, as mine has just about given up the ghost. It's gone bonkers. Done all kinds of crazy things lately. Not good timing. But is it ever when your computer is your livelihood?
I guess I've been around a while, because I remember typing on manuals, and then on selectrics, as well as mag-card typewriters. Those were the good old days when we went to the library to do research, dug through encyclopedias, and collected boxes of magazines in our basements. I think I've mentioned this before, but I used to type on a noisy IBM late at night when my children were asleep. I'd cram pillows around it to muffle the sound. Mimeograph machines. Remember those? Good grief, I'm dating myself. Of course, I know some writers who pound out their first drafts with pen and paper. I can't imagine it.
Back in the 8o's, I worked for a law firm that was cutting edge when it came to the "new" windows programs. Those tiny monitors with green-tinted type. I took to computers like a bear in the woods. Well. At least to word processing. I loved the feel of the "new" keyboards, learning the software programs. I remember thinking ... someday, everybody will have one of these in their homes. Little did I know we would carry them around in our pockets.
What's next?
I don't try to keep up anymore. I've settled in with a dated version of Word, a few online programs for writers, and good ol' Google. My energy is better spent these days writing the book, and exploring the best ways to market it. Tweeting, Facebook, keeping up with it social media is difficult enough.
Right now--I'd just like to have a computer that doesn't crash every time I open my Internet program.
Blessings to you and yours.
2 comments:
Ah, Pam. You're stirring up the nostalgia. When I was an undergrad many moons ago I typed all my papers on an old Royal that my dad had rescued from on top of someone's garbage can very long ago. I caught the bug and began to buy up old Underwoods etc. at yard sales for $5. I used several of them to write my first short stories. I too learned word processing on the job, on a clunky Olivetti that's probably now a boat anchor at someone's cottage. I must say, though, that revising in Word is a lot better than having to retype an entire page to change a sentence!
All the best to you,
The Overnight Bestseller
http://michaeljmccannsblog.blogspot.com/
Right, Michael . . .
I've used too many bottles of white-out in my day. Gotta love that delete key. Thanks for your comment!
Pam
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