Re: How do... YOU... do... "IT"?

David,

> using a word processor running on a superclone of the TRS80

My first computer was a TRS-80 Model 1, serial number 23. It was only
4 K of RAM and 4 K BASIC so I didn't get much writing done. But it was
fun to code the BASIC.

> I concluded that prior to the invention of the word processor, no books were written.
> It's just too much work.

Well then just imagine when they had to create EACH book by hand... :(

> Or do you define "word processor" as implying "wysiwyg?"

I think Wang defined the term word process when they one-upped the IBM
Selectric. It had a screen, drive, printer and costs upwards of $12K
but could do boiler plate, more fonts and faces and most importantly
store and edit content.


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Irina,

> As is writing in a word processor; it gives me the feeling that it's more
> finished than it is, and I can't go back and tweak.

This is why some tools can actually create writer's block as you give
up flexibility.

> Plain text on a screen has just enough unfinished feeling that it's easy to throw the
> whole thing together like so much clay and reshape it.

I agree.

> I don't see my writing as "expressing myself"; it's craft more than art)

So where does the content come from ? You only write for Reader's
Digest?


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Nicky,

> Stamping my feet and shouting. Oh, you mean writing - just writing
> - getting the story down.

Yes! For me this it not only the most challenging part, it's the most
important part. And the most fun.

The rest is just work.

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Sea Wasp,

> This "first time" implies that you write it more than once. This is
> not true for all of us.

Now this approach impresses me. Maybe even more so because I can't do
it. My hat's off. (Do people even wear hats enough anymore to make
that comment meaningful ?)

Tom Robbins says he writes that way - about one sentence a day. But
WHAT sentences! Of course it hurts plot development a bit. And it
shows in his work. It makes you wonder what his stories would be like
if he did a couple of drafts first.

JMHO. I LOVE to read Tom Robbins.

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David,

> may have been used only internally on the Alto--although I found a reference
> to Altos installed in the White House, the Senate, and the House of
> Representatives

The AltoS computer (and word processor) was different (and later) than
the Xerox Alto research project. Xerox was great at inventing things
but they rarely got to market.

Too bad.

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.

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