Power Woes Interrupting a Great Relationship!



  I just got my power back after being off for over thirty-six hours.  And I'm told it will go off again at four tomorrow morning - no one knows for how long.  So I'm rushing to get something posted here.  
     And that leads me to the subject the outage reminds me of: I love my computer.  Seriously, I love it.  My persnickety niece would say, "if you love it so much, why don't you marry it?"  Sure, we can argue about semantics, but saying "I like my computer" isn't nearly strong enough.  I need it, crave it when I don't have it, and just plain love it.  There's a little frustration mixed in at times, but that's true of almost any relationship.
 
    I'm not a hundred percent sure I would have become a writer if it hadn't been for the computer.  

I was late in getting a computer and struggled along with a regular typewriter for much longer than I should have.  If I had to write something for work (I worked out of my home), I'd research, write out notes, type them up with some revision, do more research, make more notes, and type everything up again.  Then again.  And again.  Most projects got retyped six or seven times.  
Crazy, right?  
     Then I got a computer and
One of my books
kicked myself for trying to save money instead of time.  A task that took hours suddenly took minutes.  
     A year or so later, I started getting the urge to write just for the fun of writing.  Wow, that was a shock.  I'd never enjoyed writing before.  It went on from there.  Now when I can't write because the power is out, I get really unhappy.  I want to write!  It's become nearly an addiction.  



A feral cat that a fellow writer
and I share in feeding


Of course, it's nice to talk with the family.  I've never neglected relationships with people in favor of electronics, so the family and I are not on unfamiliar ground when it comes to having a chat or playing a game by candlelight.  But after a while, I do start trying to determine how much battery power is left and if I can get in a few sentences.  The problem with that is I may really excited and going somewhere with the story, and then have to quit, or the computer quits for me



One of the great things about the computer is
the way we can store and share pictures! 


     It's quite a history for books.  From every manuscript being written by hand, to Gutenberg's invention of the press, to e-books, though I'm glad they haven't given up on physical books.  There's something special about them.
    

 I'd like to think that a writer was always lurking inside me, waiting to get out, and that it would have gotten out even without the computer.  Maybe it would have, but what I know for sure is that the computer sure hastened the process.  I look forward to many decades of relationships with computers not yet built, and fervently hope the power won't be out for long!  
     







How about you?  What has the computer done for you as a writer?







P.S. - I didn't have a photo of the computer with which I'm having the current love affair.  So I shared some of the store of photos stored on the computer.

Comments

  1. I really hope your power is back on Callie! I can totally relate to your computer/typewriter story. I wrote my first book on a portable (non-electric) typewriter I got when I was 16 and wrote the book when I was 38 (a long time ago!) so yes, it served me well. I always said if I didn’t sell that book, at least I became a good typist. Fortunately computers appeared. Taking and using photos (as you’ve shown here) is another huge bonus of computers, tablets and phones for me.

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    1. I'm amazed to have power, since we're hours past when they said it would definitely be turned off again. I so admire your writing an entire book on that typewriter! It was agony for me to do 8-10 pages at a time. Now, of course, computers are also a medium for how we communicate with the world with blogs, Facebook, Twitter, news, etc.

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  2. What an interesting post! I have to say, "Ditto". Right now, I'm reading the life story of Steven Jobs and after recently finishing a novel at which AI and early computers being built in Houston was the core plot line, I know I couldn't live without my computer. Or computers plural. My first book 40 years ago...written in long hand in my six year old son's three ring binder. I didn't even own a typewriter, though I was a good typist. Love all the pix and the covers are fabulous!

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    1. Long hand. Wow! Hopefully you had a ballpoint pen at least. Imagine writing everything when you had a quill that you dipped in ink every word or two. Did that handwritten book get published?
      I'm enough into writing now that I'll probably scratch out a few lines, at least, even if I have no power. It's still on and I'd be celebrating except it could just mean that it will be off for later than they said it would be, which is what happened the last time. Still, there are people who've had to evacuate in some areas, so they're the ones who have it worst.

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  3. I always wrote, so would have continued to w/o the computer, but if I had to go BACK to a typewriter, I doubt I'd do it. I'd probably write in longhand and hire out the typing. Interesting thoughts!

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    1. I know someone who is like you, writing no matter the instrument. For me, I really don't know if I would have climbed the mountain of typing, retyping, and retyping to get a clean enough ms to send to the publisher. I'd like to think I would have and I'm awfully glad I did start writing, but I sometimes wonder. Hiring out the typing would be a good thing, but I admit that I'm never satisfied, making little corrections and revisions until the last minute, so the computer is great for that. At some point, I just have to fish or cut bait, as they say, and send it anyway.

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  4. My boyfriend (now husband) bought a computer from Radio Shack our senior year of college. It had no hard drive or even floppy disks, instead it recorded to a cassette tape. We would type out about three pages and then work on the rest for twenty minutes or so while it saved, but because of revisions, it was still better than the typewriter.

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    1. I never heard of that kind of computer. Sounds cumbersome, but still better, like you say, than the old way of doing things. What I'm missing now is that the new computers don't come with floppy drives, as of the past few years. I use a separate computer for Internet and never take something from the Internet to my data/writing computer, but put things on a disc and discard after taking it to the Internet computer. Saves me having to have a virus control, but it's getting more and more of a challenge.

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  5. It would be very difficult to write a book without a computer. I wrote my first short story on a portable manual Hermes. When I sold it, I bought myself an electric typewriter, then after I sold another story, I bought a computer. I do not long for those good old days. lol

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    1. I'm a very fast but not terribly accurate typist. Having to type and retype so a manuscript is reasonably low on errors is so incredibly hard. Even with a computer, spell and grammar check, there are still errors that slip through.

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  6. I wrote my first book on paper. I didn't want anyone to know I was writing. Then I typed it on a selectric typewrite. When computers became available, I was the first to get one. I knew I wanted to use it to write. There are times I still write on paper. When I'm tired of sitting in one spot, I take a pad and go to the sofa. I cultivated myself to write anywhere and under any circumstances. sure, I could move the computer, but unhooking all the wires and then having to rehook them takes more time than I want. It doesn't take long for me to return to the computer. I love it, but without it, I could still write.

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    1. I have a laptop and a desktop computer. The laptop is convenient and has a battery so I can move around with it, so that's nice. Yet, there's something so organized about sitting at the desk - perhaps having one spot encourages the process?

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  7. I'm joining the ranks of the former typewriter users and longhand writers. I wrote many dozens of articles and my first three books on both portable manual and electric typewriters--longhand first, for many projects. I've always been extremely grateful to have been born when and where I was, and have had great opportunities in my life. But maybe because every project had to be retyped so many times, I have zero nostalgia for the typewriter days--what's less than zero?. The handy delete key and cut 'n paste cured me of that. While I often make notes and do some outlining in longhand, and occasionally get on a roll with that method, the computer sits on the throne.

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    1. Yeah, less than zero nostalgia. Cut and Paste is marvelous. I'm also very fond of the undo button. I do some note scribbling in longhand, but I can type faster than I can write and it does a better job of keeping up with my brain - not perfect, but at least better.

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  8. At the moment, I still have power, but may not in a few hours. Sigh. I'm taking advantage of it while I can and reminding myself not to take it for granted in the future.

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  9. I have a love/hate relationship with my cell phone, but I truly love/love my laptop. My husband surprised me with a laptop for Christmas years ago, and I hugged it (then him, of course). Escaping the house for a few hours to write and drink tea at Panera? Yes, please! Researching from the comfort of my recliner? So easy. My favorite feature is 'find and replace' and I use it all the time.

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    1. Find and replace is terrific. I use it frequently as well, though the most common is if I decide to change a character's name. The danger is if I also use a diminutive of that name, so I have to be careful. I love being able to take it with me. There are some gardens I enjoy. It's great to sit in the recliner. Sometimes I take to the patio or the porch where I get a view across the landscape.

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