Blogger: Michelle Ule
Location: www.booksandsuch.com (Writing from the Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.)
Ah, the wonders of technology. You’re sitting in front of your computer, perhaps in your pajamas, and I’m sitting in front of mine–fully dressed. Most of you have never met me, but we’re communicating as you read my thoughts.
That’s a wonder.
It’s marvelous.
It’s more than King Tut ever had or could have imagined (even assuming he could read).
Don’t you love technology?
I happen to be a techno-phobe. The nuclear engineer, physics majors, math majors, machinist and biology student members of my family all have more technology skills than I possess–and we never forget it. My one son claims that I’d make the perfect Beta tester–I can make technology fall apart by the simple act of trying to type in what I see in the instruction book. I’m that good.
And yet, I love what technology–when I can get it to work– accomplishes.
The history of the written word has never seen such a tool as the word processor, much less a computer. My father actually took a typesetting class in high school and considered a career organizing small blocks of type into a tray for a printer. We’ve come that far in such a short time.
When I copy edited for The UCLA Daily Bruin thirty-five years ago, we used a sharp stylus to cut and paste typeset copy into the right spot on the long paper galleys before sending them off to the physical printer. (And on more than one glorious occasion, put together a fake USC Daily Trojan as a prank . . . ) We didn’t have typeface choices unless we asked for them well in advance. Nowadays, for me to highlight a word and then click italicize is sheer joy.
E-mail is another glorious invention. My father’s father worked for the U.S. postal service for twenty years. He won an award once for being the fastest mail sorter at his post office. What would he make of being able to send not just a missive but an entire manuscript over space with just a click?
Even during my tenure here at Books & Such, the amount of mail we process and the paper we go through has diminished, saving forests full of trees.
As a writer, I can keep research in one place. I can scan documents I want to look at later. I can read entire books on line. I can find obscure books at local libraries and sometimes open them on my screen. All for free.
While I didn’t like Google books as a royalty-receiving writer, I loved them as a genealogist. The resources available to me through Google Books was extraordinary (it’s changed now with the lawsuit, but I can still find some things).
And who in their right mind would want to write with a pen, much less clatter on a typewriter?
I could go on and on, and I’m sure you could as well. I’m just thankful I’ve lived long enough to experience the ease of writing and doing research that 2011 provides.
Even when I can’t get the technology to work properly. Where are all the scientists in my family when I need them?
What about you? What technology tools do you appreciate the most?
And which ones discourage you the most? 🙂
Lindsay A. Franklin
I most appreciate technology for research and networking purposes. I’m shy in person (until I get to know you), so it’s great to be able to connect with other people behind the safety of my keyboard. Yes, I’m aware of how pathetic that is, but whatever. 🙂
And research, well… What can I even say about that? Just to be able to do a keyword search through the NIV saves me hours of time in writing my novels, short stories, devotionals, Bible college homework, and the list goes on. There’s a lot to be thankful for in the world of tech!
Sandra Ardoin
Hi, Michelle.
I’m learning more and more about how to use technology.
I’ve waded into the “social” part of networking a step at a time. I have a blog. I now have Twitter. Facebook…eh…I know I’ll be urged to do it, but let me get calves wet before throwing me into the deep end and over my head.
I do love being able to use a computer instead of a typewriter. It’s so easy to make corrections without retyping EVERYTHING.
Caroline
I’m also a bit reserved when I first meet others, especially in large groups. Connecting with other writers and believers through social means of technology has been so encouraging. I’m also thankful for the ability to join an online critique group. To be able to type some thoughts, send it off through the internet, and receive a reply back with comments and suggestions – all so quickly and with use of just a little memory space! – is a wonder.
I also love being able to search and scan the Bible (like Lindsay said) with such rapid ease. I wonder what amazing things we’ll witness in the coming years!
Cheryl Malandrinos
I agree with the others, technology has made research so much easier. The Internet isn’t a perfect tool, but it’s a great place to start.
One of the things I’ve heard of is a speech to text tool. I would like to invest in that because if I type too much my tendonitis bothers me. Can you imagine what a difference that would have made for Mark Twain who suffered such pain in his arm he had to learn to write with the opposite hand?
The one downside to technology is that I don’t feel the need to leave my house much. There are days I wonder if I am becoming a hermit. 🙂 I need to plan more local events.
Peter DeHaan
I’ve recently discovered that the Google search engine is a great tool when I can’t correctly spell a word — which is too often.
Although I struggle to come up with a letter combination of sufficient proximity to my desired word for my word processor to correct, Google is amazing at divining my intended target, promptly giving me the correct spelling. Plus it is fast. My last effort only took .09 seconds!
Janet Ann Collins
As a student working in a library I became so good at mending books I was asked to mend a Gutenberg Bible. Now I’m the author of e-books. That’s a long way to come in one lifetime!
But I spend huge amounts of time doing social networking and reading and commenting on other people’s blogs, but can’t see if it has helped market my books. Is it worth all that time when I could be writing? How can I tell if it is?
Michelle Ule
You’ve asked the big questions, Janet, and I don’t know who knows the answer. Analytics may be able to help you assess who/what is driving people to your web site and you should be looking at those.
On my personal WordPress blog, I can click on analytics that tell me what sites people used to find my blog. It’s fascinating and amazing.
Some of our technie friends advise using Google Analytics. You might try “googling” that and see what they have to explain.
Only you can assess how much time you should spend on one place or another. At some point, too, you need to sit back–return to writing–and see just what comes of the time you’ve spent in social networking.
As I recall, you write children’s books. Kids obviously aren’t going to be headed to your website unless you are offering something their parents approve of or are looking for themselves.
Here’s Janet’s blog site: http://onwordsblog.blogspot.com/
An interesting question would be how to use social media to draw attention to your children’s books. I’m assuming you have to draw the adults.
Kate Barker
I find technology fascinating and I love connecting with people on the net… and in person. I especially love Facebook for keeping up with grown children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews, and re-connecting with “old” friends. I love blogging and twitter is fun, but am not sure I can measure the results, if we’re talking about sales.
Texting has been difficult since I am not inclined to carry my phone around the house with me…it works great when I am out though.
When I first went back to work in the late 1970’s we had a teleprinter machine (precursor to the fax machine). We were fascinated that you could type something to someone on the East Coast and they could answer you…in real time…and then we found out we could “message” internationally..thrilling. And now we have video streaming… and FaceTime on the iPhone….Ahhhh…I wonder what’s coming next…
David Todd
I took a typesetting class in junior highschool. Does that make me old enough to be your father? Probably. 🙂 Actually, my dad WAS a typesetter. His career (1936-1976) spanned the full width of California Job Case moveable type to linotype machine to computer typesetting, to which he couldn’t adapt. For 30 years he set type for the Providence Journal. I like to think that, as I type this or about anything, I’m sort of following in his footsteps.
Barbara
I am as technologically challenged as a person can be–I couldn’t figure out how to turn on my daughter’s Apple computer.
That’s why I delegate all things techie to my grown children. Need something done on my website or blog? I don’t ask anyone over the age of 33 to help!
Sarah Sundin
In my opinion, the single greatest piece of technology ever is the backspace button that ERASES. I wept for joy the first time I did this. Anyone who ever stayed up too late typing term papers (probably because she was too busy reading Michelle’s fake USC newspapers – I remember them fondly)- remembers the agony of having to type over an entire page because you misspelled a word. Or having to type over the entire paper because you left out a paragraph on the first page.
Cut & paste, how I love thee! Find & replace, you make me swoon! Track changes, you give me palpitations!
What I dislike about technology is how fast it changes and leaves you in the dust. And how it’s increased the demands on our free time, especially as writers. We “must” blog, follow blogs, tweet, Facebook, etc. – and the list keeps growing, not shrinking.