Hi Andrew, these are all nice anecdotes!
I would want to focus more on the topic of the tool itself, i.e. the computer as a writing aid, or writing machine. Historically the computer has nothing got to do with writing texts, and in some way I do see this still today. Hardware and software are subject to a industrial model suited for office work: sheets and calculation. Jef Raskin’s »Canon Cat« was a clever try, but not a sales success. He lost it against Steve Jobs computer »for everything and everyone«. (I am sure, someone hooked a coffe machine up to his MS-Word …? creating a macro for »cappucino« - Control-C or »double espresso« Control-Esc ;) ) I don’t like the way the standard keyboards are made (neither ergonomically nor logically) and how the mouse works (clicking with your right hand?? and getting RSI from clicking?!) and a couple of metaphores we take for granted (Num-Block?? Have problems to print out your Markdown file?? etc etc…) To say the truth as I see it: We are trapped in a »locked-in« system, like the standard keyboard. Maybe it softly is beginning to change (think about »split keyboards« and »alternative Layouts« and »ortholinear keyboards« or fancy pointing devices or just a »touch screen« - never solved problem for usage in writing, b.t.w.) The way a writer creates her texts might partially be a secret even to the person herself but when it comes to the actual act: You have to ask yourself: what are your tools? Honestly, the mechanical typwriter is not the solution. I am occasionally using a typwriter (Olympia Monica) and then I OCR my pages after writing to do some more editing on a Mac (BBedit). Why a typewriter? Because where I write, I don’t have electricity (!). Yes anyways we should start thinking how mouch energy goes into **unnecessary** computing (!!). Use energy savers on the computer! Don’t use ChatGPT! > The estimated energy consumption of a Google search query is 0.0003 kWh (1.08 > kJ). The estimated energy consumption of a ChatGPT-4 query is 0.001-0.01 kWh > (3.6-36 kJ), depending on the model size and number of tokens processed. [...] > That means a single GPT query consumes 1,567%, or 15 times more energy than a > Google search query. To put it in context, a 60W incandescent light bulb > consumes 0.06kWh in an hour. [...] > Using AI requires not just electricity but water as well. (1) So when you finally *do* write (I call this first stage »drafting« to differentiate the stages in the work process), you can »draft« your text on *any* device. As Jim Hall rightly puts it: »constantly spinning your wheels«, is NOT writing. Yes, Andrew, you are right: Writing means RE-Writing, or - as I call it »editing«. In this "revision stage" the actual deficiencies of our calculating-machines-as-writing-machines start to appear. There is a ton of things which are objectively ridiculous in today’s setups. My latest experience was the idea to write on an iPad Pro using the Apple Pencil as input device and the »swype« function to »draw words« on the tiny onscreen keyboard. It sort-of works actually quite well, despite the fact that you have to access a second layer for interpunctions. Absurd! - A »VIM - App« for iPad allows for extra buttons to insert interpunctions. Nice. But wait: VIM on an iPad? How absurd is that idea?! And… There is another problem: Every first letter of a new sentence appears with a lower case letter. And the hurdles just start to multiply. Every used a text editor on an iPad? Did someone say »distraction free« ?? And so on and so on… Experiences like the one I had unveil that nowbody actually seems to have thought to create a really proper working system, nor an industrial devide for writing for ordinary people, rather following down the industrial standard a »all purpose machine« and gadgets like iPads as entertainment devices. I was surprised when I learned of FreeDOS that the main use of it seems that people can play old computer games… Really? The road map of FreeDOS seems to me include compatibility with advancing storage devices. And USB devices such as printers. Maybe networking. That is cool. Even the tiniest CLI Linux cannot compete with the simplicity of DOS. (HAIKU OS or MENUET OS someone? Forget it!) And no nagging »update me« and spying and cookies and so on. I am much interested in seeing more integrated and single use devices for writing. The »freewriter« and the »AlphaSmart« (obsolete) are made looking in this direction, but not made for the revisioning and editing stage. Useless for me. Who would really need a crippled computer which still is a fragile electronic device, only to carry it to your corner shop for writing and sipping a »latte«? Also the »input methods« are of great interest to me. The motto for me is: Take back control over the machine! - keep writing, folks! (That is, by the way, why I like FreeDos.) Thomas Source: (1) https://lifestyle.livemint.com/news/big-story/ai-carbon-footprint-openai-chatgpt-water-google-microsoft-111697802189371.html#:~:text=The%20estimated%20energy%20consumption%20of%20a%20ChatGPT%2D4%20query%20is,and%20number%20of%20tokens%20processed. > On 31.01.2024, at 21:42, andrew fabbro via Freedos-user > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > > On Mon, Jan 29, 2024 at 12:57 PM Jim Hall via Freedos-user > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > It's a different sort of thing, but a colleague shared his editor's > advice to write in a way that makes it difficult to go back and edit > what you've done, while you're writing it. The idea is that you don't > spend time "editing as you go" - constantly spinning your wheels, > editing what you just wrote when you should be focusing on writing new > stuff - and instead do all your editing and revisions after you've > finished a full draft of something (article, chapter, etc). > > There's a simpler solution: turn off your monitor :-) I actually read that > in a fiction writing book once (Frey's How to Write a Damn Good Novel IIRC). > > The "don't revise while you edit" is good advice but in my experience it's > more about consciously not getting bogged down and not using revising as an > excuse. But you're going to spend far more time rewriting than rewriting, > anyway. Writing is fundamentally rewriting, not writing. > > TBH, none of the pro writers I know use any kind of "distraction free" setup. > Most of them are writing on Scrivener for macOS (which I used) or Word for > Windows. If you're going to write a book, you write a book and distractions > aren't going to get in your way. I've written three books and did them all > on Scrivener for macOS. If I was going to get distracted, I'd find a way > even if I was carving cuneiform. > > But whatever works for you! The history of alternate writing methods is > long. Jack Kerouac bought a roll of butcher paper and fed it into a > typewriter and wrote the first draft of On the Road as one long continuous > scroll. Tom Robbins wrote all of his novels one sentence at a > time...drafting it it in his mind, debating it, perfecting it, and then > committing it on his typewriter, and he never revised. When he'd written his > last sentence, he sent the stack of papers to his publisher. I'm not > endorsing Kerouac or Robbins' results but writers have tried all kinds of > things and there is no one method that fits everyone. > > On Tue, Jan 30, 2024 at 11:13 AM Ben Collver via Freedos-user > <freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net> wrote: > If there's a "Walden" for computer programmers, it would be a 4:3 > display running DOS where coding can be done without any modern day > annoying interruptions. > > I disagree. The perfect coding environment is radically different than the > perfect fiction writing environment. When I'm writing code, I want reference > docs, PDFs of books, StackOverflow, ChatGPT, manuals, my own library of > examples, etc. > > Even when I'm writing nonfiction articles (which I do every day), I'm pulling > in info from the web, books, etc. > > As always, YMMV. > > _______________________________________________ > Freedos-user mailing list > Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user _______________________________________________ Freedos-user mailing list Freedos-user@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/freedos-user
