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Subject:Re: TOOLS AND TECHNOLOGY From:Win Day <winday -at- IDIRECT -dot- COM> Date:Tue, 27 Jan 1998 16:50:19 -0500
I originally sent this reply directly to Roger. After seeing the other
replies posted to the list, I'm going to stick my neck out here...
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At 12:35 PM 1/27/98 -0800, Roger Peterson <wy491 -at- VICTORIA -dot- TC -dot- CA> wrote:
>Fellow Writers:
>
>You can file this one under misc or you can make it my "off-topic"
>post for the month, but here goes:
>
>If you did not have all the latest computer technology and all that
>wonderful GUI "eye candy" would you still be drawn to technical
>writing. How interesting would it be if you used pencil,
>notepad, and an electric typewriter? Can you separate the
>technology from the task?
>
Actually, I don't use a whole lot of fancy tools to write. I write about
hardware and engineering projects, not software. And I STILL always write
my drafts in pencil, in a three-ring binder! Even the fiction I've started
to write recently...
How's that for old-fashioned?
Win
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I find I think better when I write by hand. I don't document software, or
computer hardware. The hardware I write about is things like pumps, and
compressors, and turbines, and control valves, and distillation columns, and
desalters, and heat exchangers. I also write engineering project reports.
Not terribly high-tech, or GUI, but I LIKE refining!
Also, I find it difficult to stare at a computer screen for hours on end.
No matter how fast the refresh rate, I can still see the damn things
flicker, and it drives me nuts. The only thing worse is fluorescent
lighting. The combination of the two would drive me right round the bend.
So I'll continue to work on notebook paper with my pencil and eraser flying,
at least when I'm writing a first draft.
Win
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Win Day
Freelance Technical Writer/Editor
Mississauga, Ontario, Canada mailto:winday -at- idirect -dot- com
