Reinventing WOYP10 February 2003 The idea of using mobile technology for writing isn't as "out there" today as it was when I started over three years ago. In order to keep this column relevant, maybe it's time for a change. In the beginning, I thought pen computing was a dumb idea. It was 1995, and I got my first look at "Microsoft Windows CE for Pen Computing" in PC Magazine. This was the first generation of pen devices like the Philips Velo, and it just didn't look right. The keyboards were too small, the black and white screens were pretty pathetic compared to my desktop, and the software was anemic. I just didn't see the point. The rest of the industry seemed to share my perspective, as the first pen devices flopped in the marketplace. The next year I started working on my first full-length novel. I honestly didn't even think of using mobile computing for this. I had tried using a laptop for writing back in the early 90s, a hideous black and white screen, DOS-based thing only slightly smaller and lighter than a cinder block. I was in my final year of service in the Air Force, and didn't really have enough money to buy a new Windows-based laptop, either. That said, I definitely wanted the ability to write anytime, anywhere. I know lots of writers that can get up in the morning, write for an hour or two, and then go on with their days. I have never been able to do that. I have always found that great stretches of dialogue hits me when I'm away from the PC. Writing fiction is very much about letting the people in your head do their thing while you write it down. And the people in my head don't shut up just because I don't have a computer keyboard handy. I needed a mobile writing solution. That solution was a five inch by seven vinyl DayTimer-style organizer. I had bought one a few months before I started writing to keep track of all things I needed to do for my transition from military to civilian life. I had a lot of appointments, people to call, things I had to do by specific dates. I also noticed that I could put loose-leaf paper behind the calendar sections and write whatever I wanted on them. For the next year, this was how I wrote my first novel. I wrote longhand wherever and whenever I could, then transcribed the written pages into my PC when I got home. Not only did this give me the ability to write whenever the muse whacked me in the head, but it gave me a "built in" second draft as I tweaked and improved stuff as I typed it in. I wrote all but the last few chapters of Between Heaven and Hell this way, and the only reason I wrote the last few entirely on a desktop PC was that by that point I was a civilian with no job, had a lot of time on my hands, and the story was just racing out of me. The last three chapters of the book flowed out at the rate of about 2,000 words per day, just about quadruple what I'd achieved writing longhand (and typing it in after the fact). That's when it hit me. What if I could write anytime, anywhere, but still record the words digitally and cut out the transcription step? Since I'd just written a book nearly entirely longhand, I started looking anew at pen-based mobile computers. I saw a Palm Pilot Professional in Office Max, and I was hooked. I knew this was the solution I was looking for. I may have known that, but at the time, early to mid 1997, everyone else thought I was crazy. When I bought my first Palm, Memo Pad was the only way to record text into the device. I was writing until I filled up 4k memo records, then starting new ones. When I got home, I copied and pasted from Palm Desktop into Microsoft Word. It was cumbersome, but it worked, and it was far faster than the paper system I'd used with my first book. Things got a little better with the release of QED, the very first PalmDOC editor. I distinctly remember raving about it in the office and my boss looking at me like I was completely barking mad. Obviously I saw something here that no one else saw. It got me thinking, though it was a long thought process. I became a fixture on Usenet talking about using Palms for writing, and started assembling a massive array of tools for my new craft. I was one of the first users of SmartDoc, a rival to QED that eventually became QuickWord. I found uses for Olive Branch Software's Arranger that the developers had never even considered. I pushed the software I could find on PalmGear and PalmOS in general as far as I could. And every step of the way I had two thoughts. The first was that I couldn't be the only person that wanted to use a Palm Pilot (as they were still then known) as a writer's tool. The second was that if I could get that first idea taken seriously, developers would be more inclined to produce more powerful tools for me to use. In November of 1999, I decided to put my mouth where my money was. I had written a general computing column for Reno.net back in '96-97, and I decided that another column dedicated to using mobile technology for writing might be a good idea. I didn't know how many people would read it, but if it got more people around to my way of thinking and established a customer base for developers to write the tools I wanted, it would all be worth it. And just like that, Writing On Your Palm was born. That was over three years ago. Three years in the computer industry is an eternity. In the last three years, my idea of using mobile technology for writing more than just short memos has gone from oddball to mainstream. Today foldable keyboards are among the most popular PDA accessories. Today there are at least three full-featured office suites for PalmOS, and every Pocket PC comes with Pocket Office. WordSmith on PalmOS and TextMaker on the Pocket PC are just about everyone one could ask from word processors, the latter matching the desktop version of Word 95 just about feature for feature. Over the past three years, the need for my advocacy of mobile computing for writing has diminished to just about nothing. I don't have to sell people on the idea of writing with PDAs anymore. What good is this column? In a very real sense, my mission is already accomplished, and continuing on this path is just staying too long at the party. I've already said just about everything I really need to say about PDAs in general, and as some have pointed out, I've even become repetitive on some points. I should also note that while I've kept up with the demands of a weekly column for over three years, I haven't written much fiction in the last year. I'm spending too much time tracking the mobile computing industry in general and not enough time thinking about my own stories. On the other hand, I really like writing this column. I don't want to quit. So rather than retire, I'm going to refocus, reinvent what Writing On Your Palm means. It's time for a change. Does this mean I'm going to stop covering devices, or stop reviewing software? No, not really. But it does mean I'm going to change my focus to make this more of a writer's site and less a PDA site. Expect articles that might fit better in the pages of Writer's Digest than Pen Computing. I'm going to focus less on the tools and more on the techniques. Now that it's not such a goofy idea to use a PDA for writing, maybe I can make myself useful by talking about how to use a PDA most effectively for the task. So that's the idea. There're lots of PDA sites out there for PDA news. This site is for writers. Going forward we'll explore how to use mobile technology for writers, the impacts of changing intellectual property laws for writers and the constantly evolving publishing industry. Sound fun? Then stick around, the best is yet to come! Jeff Kirvin
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