Words on a page

As it turns out, I’ve written quite a bit about distraction-free text editors (also called full-screen editors) in this space — here, here, here, and here if you’re curious. In some circles, these apps are very trendy. In others, they’re buried under a pile of scorn.

I find them to be indispensable tools. Why? Distractions are everywhere, and can crop up when I least expect them. One of the biggest sources of distractions is the computer desktop. Things like email notifications, instant messenger windows, a Web browser, even your wallpaper.

When I want to focus on writing and not have my attention pulled away by email, RSS feeds, or anything else I fire up a distraction-free editor — either TextRoom or PyRoom. My screen goes blank, and I have an empty page on which I can type. My goal is to fill that page with words. And that’s what happens.

Going this route works very well for me. But I keep hearing one complaint (if you want to call it that)

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I admit it. Blame it on the foolishness of youth. A foolishness that’s been tempered by something resembling maturity.

What I’m referring to is this article. Written by yours truly in the early 1990s. If you have a moment, read the article to understand where I’m coming from

[For those of you who don't have the time to read it, the gist of the article was that the drive to make book digital would never create a replacement for actual dead trees.]

Times change, and so do opinions. I’m one who straddles both old and new schools. I still read physical books. But I also read electronic books. The “experience” (whatever that means) of reading both is slightly different but it’s pretty much the same.

In the time that I’ve immersed myself in digital text, I’ve come to the conclusion that many people rethink how they define what a book is.

It’s the words

What is a book? Is it a mass of bound paper? Is it a collection of bits?

It’s both.

What makes up a book isn’t its form. It’s the words. It’s the thoughts and ideas and emotions that those words convey. That is what a book is. Nothing more, nothing less.

It could be that trade paperback on my shelf. It could be, say, that nice hardbound edition of Anna Karenina that I pick up from time to time. It could be a PDF file that I view on my computer screen. It could an ePub file that’s read on an ebook reader or my smartphone. Each and every one of is a book.

A while ago someone saw me with an ebook reader and asked Don’t you think you’re helping kill the book by using one of those things? My reply, in a marginally Nietzchean vein, was Changing something doesn’t kill it. And that’s how I feel now.

The book isn’t dead. It’s just changing form. Books still need to be written. Books still need editing. They still need someone to publish them — although that can be done by the writers, too.

Even if masses of ink and paper go the way of the horse-drawn buggy books will still exist. For now, we have paper and digital. And that’s a great thing.

Thoughts? Feel free to leave a comment.

Photo credit: robootb from Photoxpress

Right now, I’m tired. Not of blogging (or writing in general) — it’s going to be a long time before that happens! But I’m physically and mentally tired from work, from the renovations I’m doing to my house, and from the wear and tear of everyday life.

So instead of pumping out some inferior posts, I’ve decided that this week I’ll look back at some of my favourite posts from the last few months:

• Four simple, subtle ways to improve your writing
• Using topic-based writing to pull together a project
• Editing: the secret to good writing
• Using stock photos to enhance your work
• A few thoughts about the day job
• Moving files between two Google Docs accounts: part 1 and part 2

As part of a larger personal project, I’ve been shifting more and more of my day-to-day computing to the Web. Aside from the project I mentioned in the last sentence, there are a number of other reasons why I’m doing this. Reasons that I won’t go into right now.

But one thing that I’ve noticed (and which I’ve known for a while) is that the Web isn’t your computer desktop. And a number of developers of Web applications have realized this too. They’ve created some simple, but fairly intuitive applications. They’re easy to learn, easy to adapt to, and are easy to use after only a short period of time.

I’m going to take you through a short tour of some of my favourite Web applications, and look at why I find them to be effective. And, yes, I use them in both my personal and professional lives.

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Information. It’s the stock and trade of the professional writer. Notes. Facts. Quotes. Sundry bits and pieces that help us when it comes time to write.

One problem that writers face is keeping all the information that we collect in one easy-to-access location. That can be hard because we’re often never in one place at all times. Take me, for example. My main computer is the laptop on my desk at home. When I’m running around, I often carry a netbook. Often, but not always. Sometimes I only have my BlackBerry with me. Sometimes not even that.

So, how can you easily organize that information? Read on for a few suggestions.

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