The not-always-weekly column appears once more
So... every Monday I said... well that failed at the first hurdle! lol
I get great ideas for a few hundred words to write about but of course I am nowhere near the computer and when I finally have the keys under my fingertips does my brain want to cooperate? Hell no!
Wouldn't it be great if someone (Apple?) invented a computer device that would make a document from out thoughts? I could brain-wave in stories while I was out walking, in the gym, or even better - in the shower! I get great ideas when I am in the shower.
Saying that, there are already some great little inventions that save ideas, words or sentences at times that yuo just can't stop the world to write it down.
Well, type it down!
A while back, I remember being awake at 4am one morning and getting up for a drink. Standing in my kitchen an opening line for a plot my brain has been mulling for a while, just popped into my head. Thankfully I had learned from many instances of 'I'll remember that in the morning' when I actually hadn't. So I wrote it down. Or to be exact I grabbed my iPhone and typed the line into the notepad on there.
Wonderful little invention. I still have the line and it is still the best part of that particular book.
I can't forget to mention the good, old-fashioned dictaphone. I never use one for work interiviews, I think shorthands notes are quicker to work with to be honest, but just this week I was reminded why they are genius in thier own way.
Yesterday we had a computer crash at work. One of the journalists here had a full story written and on his computer screen... but there was nothing he could do. The whole thing was seized up and there were a few hundred words that he knew would be lost as soon as the computer restarted.
Out came the dictaphone. He read his own article into the tape, and then was able to transcribe it back.
It certainly beats the hell out of an incident this morning where there was another crash and one thousand words of a lead story was lost!
Which kind of brings me on to computers themselves. They really are a godsend for writing. I used to write in pencil and in longhand, on foolscap paper. I enjoyed it and never thought I would want to change. And then I realised just how easy it is to work on computer. How quickly I can type, almost keeping up with my thoughts. How simple it is to correct mistakes and fix spellings.
I haven't written with a pencil for years.
But then again... with all these quick and clever ways to record thoughts and write stories what do I have to show for it?
Maybe I was on to something with the pencil and paper...
I get great ideas for a few hundred words to write about but of course I am nowhere near the computer and when I finally have the keys under my fingertips does my brain want to cooperate? Hell no!
Wouldn't it be great if someone (Apple?) invented a computer device that would make a document from out thoughts? I could brain-wave in stories while I was out walking, in the gym, or even better - in the shower! I get great ideas when I am in the shower.
Saying that, there are already some great little inventions that save ideas, words or sentences at times that yuo just can't stop the world to write it down.
Well, type it down!
A while back, I remember being awake at 4am one morning and getting up for a drink. Standing in my kitchen an opening line for a plot my brain has been mulling for a while, just popped into my head. Thankfully I had learned from many instances of 'I'll remember that in the morning' when I actually hadn't. So I wrote it down. Or to be exact I grabbed my iPhone and typed the line into the notepad on there.
Wonderful little invention. I still have the line and it is still the best part of that particular book.
I can't forget to mention the good, old-fashioned dictaphone. I never use one for work interiviews, I think shorthands notes are quicker to work with to be honest, but just this week I was reminded why they are genius in thier own way.
Yesterday we had a computer crash at work. One of the journalists here had a full story written and on his computer screen... but there was nothing he could do. The whole thing was seized up and there were a few hundred words that he knew would be lost as soon as the computer restarted.
Out came the dictaphone. He read his own article into the tape, and then was able to transcribe it back.
It certainly beats the hell out of an incident this morning where there was another crash and one thousand words of a lead story was lost!
Which kind of brings me on to computers themselves. They really are a godsend for writing. I used to write in pencil and in longhand, on foolscap paper. I enjoyed it and never thought I would want to change. And then I realised just how easy it is to work on computer. How quickly I can type, almost keeping up with my thoughts. How simple it is to correct mistakes and fix spellings.
I haven't written with a pencil for years.
But then again... with all these quick and clever ways to record thoughts and write stories what do I have to show for it?
Maybe I was on to something with the pencil and paper...