Tablet Writer

The Why For

Clifford Brooks — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 06:37:45 +0000

I write nonfiction for a living and fiction to live. A few years ago I purchased my first tablet pc, an HP TC1100, and I fell pretty hard. I can’t imagine buying another computer without a pen. I really can’t.

In December 2005, I dropped my HP and broke it. Not having much to spend on a new tablet pc, and not wanting to invest much in a pre-Vista machine, I bought a Toshiba Satellite R15. The unit weighs more than twice as much as the HP, but I love the 14.1-inch display, the decent keyboard and the relatively loud sound system.

So my intent with this blog is to share my thoughts on creative writing, tablet pcs and the intersection between the two.

Honesty, It’s Hardly Ever Heard…

Clifford Brooks — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Ok, confession time. I didn’t work on the novel Wednesday night like I promised you. Like I promised me. I ended up talking with a friend instead, convincing myself that a friend in need was more important than writing. Except the conversation wasn’t about life stuff and the friend wasn’t “in need”. My excuse was pure bullshit.

The good news is (which, by the way, makes admitting the bad oh so much easier) that I did get back to the novel on Thursday. Five minutes in and I was gone. The world around me melted away. The worries and fears were lost to me. It was all about story. That story. And I was able to edit the new chapter 1. Today I’ll edit chapter 2.

And it felt good, as it always does.

By the way, my main character, a “psychic” named James Hoover, doesn’t go anywhere without his trusty TC 1100 tablet pc (:

July 7, 2006 1 pm

Revising the Muse…Again

Clifford Brooks — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

I’m working on a revision to the first novel in a proposed trilogy. I’ve been working on this project, on and off, for about a decade. I chose this year to buckle down and complete it, but based on feedback I got from readers of the first 100 pages, it looks like I’m going to have to make some really major structural changes if I’m going to make it work for them. And it’s freaking me out because I know they’re right. But as with all reader-requested changes, making them isn’t usually enough so it’s got me thinking. Is the project so self-indulgent that there really isn’t an audience for it? Could the tens of thousands of hours I’ve poured into the trilogy be wasted time? Is it worth trying to fix?

The only irrefutable truth: I love the saga.

I go through this kind of second-guessing all the time, but it’s never been incapacitating. It’s been over two weeks since I got the feedback and I haven’t put pen to glass. I’ve got to snap out of it, to more forward, to make it happen again. I understand this, but here I sit, blogging about it rather than facing the work at hand. I’m gonna sit myself down this evening and not get up until I’ve made some real progress. I promise this time.

Using the Microsoft Office Word 2007 Beta

Clifford Brooks — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 23:59:59 +0000

Confession time. I’m stupid, plain and simple. Okay, maybe you already knew that. But trust me, there are levels to my stupidity that in my vanity, I keep to myself. One of them is using Beta software. On production machines. To do work.

I know, I know, but I already fessed up to the I.Q. thing, so cut me some slack. And anyway, I’m gonna share some of my impressions. Cause sharing is good. And cheap. And I can be both.

So let’s start with the UI. Before I go any further, let me just state that I’m not a power user–most of my structured writing projects have been done in Framemaker—so I’m not enamored of the all the menus and submenus and options that make up the current UI. I use Word for letters, e-mail, novels and short stories. None of these uses require I tap into the power beneath the surface. On the rare occasion that I’ve had to, there was much cursing, fingernail pulling and teary-eyed promises to a higher power.

So back to the new UI. I like it. Quite a bit. I’ve heard it described as busy, but I think it’s just the opposite. The new UI uses a 2-tiered format. Tabs, and a row of icons called “ The Ribbon”. The tabs, which include HOME, INSERT, PAGE LAYOUT, REFERENCES, MAKINGS, REVIEW and ADD-INS make it pretty simple to navigate. Want to insert a picture? Click the INSERT tab and the ribbon changes to reveal just those tools needed to insert items into your document. Simple, no? Okay, there were a few things I had to search for, but for the most part, finding the right tool for the job is pretty easy now.

As a tablet user, you’ll probably find the larger icons on The Ribbon pretty damn tablet friendly. I do. And then there’s the REVIEW tab. Clicking the REVIEW tab reveals a row of large tools/icons, the last of which is labeled “START INKING”. You’re digging it, right? I knew you would. Any time Microsoft incorporates greater pen integration makes me smile. Ok, when you click the START INKING button, The Ribbon changes to a row of large, pen-friendly INKING icons. There are three pens available – a ballpoint pen, a felt-tip, and a highlighter. Unlike Word 2003, the pens are infinity and easily customizable by clicking the COLOR and the WEIGHT tools/icons on the INKING ribbon. Good stuff.

So commenting in ink is a real pleasure, and unlike 2003, you don’t have to wrap your brain around concepts such as ANNOTATING and COMMENTING when choosing the right tool for the task. And there is no confusing as to which icon is for ‘font color’ and which is for ‘ink color’. The Ribbon only reveals the tools you need for the task at hand.

Oh yeah, get this. There’s also a new spell checker. I love both Word’s spell checker and its grammar checker. Most of my writer friends poo-poo the grammar checker finding it useless at best and annoying at worst. I’m quite a bit more forgiving. Maybe it’s because my grammar is sometimes suspect and I find myself waffling. Realistically, English grammar has as many exceptions as there are rules, so creating an edict-bearing grammar checker probably isn’t in the cards for this generation. That said, I find the grammar checker helps me spot a few typos that the spellchecker can’t–such as typing ‘form’ when I want ‘from’. I love that.

Now there’s a new spellchecker. It’s context based, so it’s smart enough, within reason, to catch some of those silly their/there/they’re mistakes among others. Despite the fact that I know many of these rules as well as I know my name, I still make stupid errors. Regularly. I’m an emotional writer, so it’s virtually impossible for me to see those things. And when I edit my stuff, even for the nth time, I fall back into the emotional realm. This additional pair of eyes is welcome. So now, when composing, Word utilizes red squiggly underlines (spelling), green squiggly underlines (grammar) and now, blue squiggly underlines (context). Of course, it probably makes more sense to combine the context checker with the grammar checker, since, for all intents and purposes, they’re serving the same function. I bet there was a lot of discussion about that around Microsoft’s round table.

(to be continued)