Chekhov’s Mistess

Writing in (computer) Isolation

Whither the poor typewriter whose few remaining acolytes hoard ribbons and spare parts. Frankly, there’s no way my wife would let me clang away at a typewriter anyway – solitude is hard enough to come by without the click-click-clacking to wake the kid.

I do a lot of writing on a cheap (paper!) notebook and a soft pencil, but at some point every story begs for the spit and polish of type. That presents some problems for me because I make my living working on the computer, read the paper on the computer, read blogs, and so on and all those things are just a click away, and each of those clicks has many more clicks. You know of what I speak?

I once wrote about Macs being the new typewriter. That’s when I had a Powerbook, which has the smoothest keyboard of any computer known to man. Now I use a MacBook, which is more comfy because it’s smaller and cheaper. The keyboard takes a bit more heft than its double-the-price sibling, but I’ve grown use to it.

But what’s the good of a keyboard if it’s forever leading you away from the glorious path of writing? None, I tell you. I know! So this is what I’ve done:

Macs allow you to set up users. Each user has their own log-in and profile – it’s really very much like being on a separate computer. I set up my alter-ego writer guy profile with parental controls so that I can only access a couple of applications:

1) Copywrite
Copywrite is billed as “project management for writers,” which it is, but I can’t say that I use it so elaborately. I primarily use it because it just gives you a blank page with few formatting options, full screen writing, and “versioning,” an invaluable feature because I like to freeze one version (without having to save a new file) before making substantial edits. It does have a lot of other features, like categories, etc. but I don’t use those. I just write with it. I do like having all my documents in front of me if I want to switch what I’m working on, which is an obvious difference between a program like this and, say, that devil’s child, MS Word.

2) Safari Web browser, also with parental controls set so that I can only access one Web site: Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary

That’s it. I can write. I can look things up in the dictionary, and I can print. I am my own parent and I’ve put myself on restriction. It may seem a little silly, but I even write in a Courier font, which in a way is a reminder that I’m supposed to be writing as though on a typewriter; that means write forward – not writing over what I’ve just written.

While I’m mentioning writing programs, I should mention that I use MacJournal for day-to-day writing, such as blog posts or anything else relatively short when I just need to be one second away from creating a new document. Again, the biggest feature here is that there’s no formatting and all your documents are in front of you instead of opening new ones. Ulysses is another I’ve used, but seems to have too many features for my purposes.

comments

This is a fantastic idea. I’m going to go home and set up a separate profile for myself tonight, and make a similar arrangement. Thanks!

    – ted (08/09  at  12:13 PM)

Glad to hear it, Ted. Let me know how it works out for you and if you come up with any other ideas

    – Bud Parr (08/09  at  03:09 PM)

Brilliant!  Before I bought a laptop I had the idea to try and find a high-tech version of an old-fashioned (these days) portable word processor, but, so far as I can tell, nobody makes them anymore.

    – Tadd (08/10  at  08:16 PM)

Agreed. The idea of creating another profile is good one. I may have to try that. Right now I use WriteRoom, which is a program that turns your screen into a blank page and all you can do is type, copy, and paste. You have to exit the screen in order to use another program (such as the siren, Safari). I’ve got mine set up to look like an old computer screen that is black with green monotype font. It’s a simple program for a simple but much needed function - I highly recommend it.

    – Season (08/11  at  09:38 AM)

I do all my writing on an Olivetti 22 typewriter, I wouldn’t have it another way! I then rewrite it all into web form. Computers always end up leaving me a little sick, too much light, too much distraction.

    – descriptedlines (08/24  at  03:23 PM)

I once read about this guy planning a software that he was going to call Blockwriter. Once accessed, it would basically turn off the rest of the functions of the computer. One of the key features would have been a timer that you could set on two hours or ten hours or whatever: once you start the program, or turn on the timer, the other applications or programs can’t be accessed until the set time has elapsed.

Which is basically what you’ve already got on your alter ago profile on your MacBook, except for the timer. But that’s covered too, since you are your own parent :D

    – Mathias (08/25  at  01:36 PM)

I write a LOT by hand. Some health problems are starting to make that harder and I worry about how I will handle it. Composing at the keyboard is foreign to me-- I find it very difficult, particularly when writing poetry-- and the distractions, as you note, are omnipresent.

The little I have tried so far involves writing where there is no internet access and drafting everything in a text editor (emacs for me with my little binary-beating nerd heart). I used to use WordPerfect for DOS when I really needed to focus, but that causes more technical problems later in the life of a piece of writing than it is worth.

I will have to give a few of these programs a try. I do see a typewriter in my future, though at this point I just hope it will be a way to retain some physical connection to my snail-mail habit. I am loathe to give up writing real letters, but laser printing and then mailing seems strange even to me…

    – Chris L (08/27  at  03:34 AM)

I also use majournal and find it one of the best programs out on the market. It has literally made journaling my life fun. Going from pen and paper to macjournal was one of the best moves I’ve ever made.

www.marinersoftware.com

Pops

    –  (08/29  at  01:02 PM)

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About this Post

• Posted by: Bud Parr
• Date: August 08, 2007
• Filed Under:
  In My Craft or Sullen Art: On Writing

• Comments:8
• Links to this Post: Technorati

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