Somewhere in the Southeast I am being unusually low tech. And probably feeling a little anxious.
I’m on the Christmas tour—seeing friends and family before heading back home for the big day.
My cell phone? It’s broken. Verizon Wireless has ordered a part for it. I won’t be able to get this part until Christmas Eve. I have a feeling that the Verizon Wireless store is going to be nuts on Christmas Eve, but I will be there, broken cell phone in hand.
I hate phones. But I love texting. I’m much better with words than I am in conversation…and texting means that I’ve avoided having a phone conversation.
On my Christmas tour I will frequently be internet-free.
It’ll be an adjustment. :)
It’s amazing how quickly technology has become important to me. I still remember the old typewriter days (I typed papers in college, even.)
Writing can be low-tech. That’s the amazing thing about it. You can write on old notebooks or even receipts (I’ve done that when really desperate before.)
But high-tech stuff for writers is fun, too. My favorite tools for writing:
Google: I love Google. I may love Google too much—I can get distracted when researching something. Nowadays I just mark the spot in my manuscript that needs researching and keep on writing.
Check out the Google Guide. Here are some of the more-useful search tips (excerpted right from the guide):
salsa –dance
the word salsa but NOT the word dance (that’s a minus sign before the ‘dance.’)
castle ~glossary
glossaries about castles, as well as dictionaries, lists of terms, terminology
define:imbroglio
definitions of the word imbroglio (or whatever word you’re looking up) from the Web
site:
Search only one website or domain.
Halloween site:www.census.gov
(Search for information on Halloween gathered by the US Census Bureau.)
link:
Find linked pages, i.e., show pages that point to the URL.
link:warriorlibrarian.com
(Find pages that link to Warrior Librarian‘s website.)
phonebook:
Show all phonebook listings.
phonebook: Disney CA
(Search for Disney’s phone numbers in California – CA.)
info:
(or id:)
Find info about a page.
info:www.theonion.com
(Find information about The Onion website.)
related:
List web pages that are similar or related to the URL.
related:www.healthfinder.gov
(Find websites related to the Healthfinder website.)
intitle:
The terms must appear in the title of the page.
movies comedy intitle:top ten
(Search for pages with the words movie and comedy that include top ten in the title of the page.)
I also am a big Microsoft Word fan. Their word processing program beats the typewriter all to pieces.
Need some shortcuts to work through your manuscript quicker?
Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Microsoft Word:
CTRL N :quickly opens a new document (great for those times you want to jot down a note, but keep writing on your current scene.)
CTRL end :moves the cursor to the end of a document (when you suddenly want to change your ending)
CTRL home :moves the cursor to the beginning of a document (when you suddenly want to change your beginning.)
CTRL E :Center a paragraph
CTRL Z : Undo (I use that one a LOT.)
CTRL 2 : Double space lines
CTRL 1 : Single space
These are shortcuts that I find the most useful for me, but there are many more. If you’re interested, there’s a shortcut list for Word and one for Windows in general. If you’re on a Mac, their website lists some helpful shortcuts, too.
Do you go through technology withdrawal? Have any techie tips and tricks for us?
You are a Google Master. I will try some of those fancy search modifiers soon, but I’m already there with you when it comes to Word and ctrl-z. Yay ctl-z! Enjoy your Christmas tour!
Great post! What did we ever do without Google, huh? But I never knew about all these Google tricks – thank you for sharing!
As for technology withdrawal – oh yes, I am guilty of that. So guilty, in fact, that I’m about to upgrade my phone to a smart phone. I’ve been trying to resist, telling myself that it’s not healthy to want internet access at all times, but I’m losing the battle. So for those of you with smart phones – iPhone or Blackberry?
Enjoy your Christmas tour!
What helpful and informative tips. You rock, Elizabeth. The only tip of those I knew – you guessed it, the ctrl-z. Wonderful helper.
Hope they have the part for your phone on time. Have a safe and happy tour.
Well…technology is my life (job). Even though I say constantly that I need a break from all the technology in my life, this is a difficult thing to do…nearly impossible…because I have withdrawal symptoms, shaking… sweating…wild eye darting. Maybe, I should go get a cup of coffee and then Google something.
Really great tips and resources. Have a wonderful Christmas with your family!!!
I didn’t know about some of those Google tricks & I love Google :)
I use the CTRL + home or end for websites too – much quicker than scrolling to the end/beginning of a long site.
Have fun on your low-tech tour :)
Elizabeth – It really is interesting to think about how dependent we are on modern technology, and Google is a great example. I’ve found so many little Google tools to be helpful, not only in my fiction writing, but also in other things I do, too. I use Googlescholar for my scholarly research, Google Books when I need a reminder of a book I haven’t read in a while, and a lot of other tools, too.
I really enjoy thinking about how we as writers do what we do, and how we communicate with our readers and with each other. It’s fascinating, too, as a liniguist, to think about how people’s interactions with each other have been revolutionized by technology. Thanks for a fascinating and helpful post : ).
Thanks for the Google tips. I’m pretty much a trial and error searcher.
I got a smart phone because I was traveling, and a quick email check via phone is often cheaper than what a hotel charges for Internet access. But I prefer the familiarity and speed of working on a PC. Even working on my laptop, using webmail instead of my normal programs, is a stumbling block.
A Word ‘tip’, FWIW: You can use the Zoom feature on the top toolbar to enlarge the text without changing pagination. I set mine at 125% and it allows my sorry old eyes a break.
For web browsing, it’s ctrl + to enlarge the page. I wish there was a way to reverse colors for all those blogs and sites that think it’s cool to have a black/dark background and white/light text. I can’t read them. An automatic click away unless it’s of vital importance (and then I do the ctrl + thing.)
I am printing this out and pasting it somewhere I’ll see it! Thank you, Elizabeth!
I prefer texting too (I HATE phones), but my plan doesn’t allow for texting. :(
Woa – TONS of useful stuff in this post! Got it bookmarked. I’m not a major techie when it comes to writing, but oh. my. god. I could not IMAGINE writing without word processing anymore. I remember the old typewriters – one goof at the end of the page and you either live with white out and retyping (which never looked right) or start the whole frickin’ page over!
Marvin D Wilson
Thanks for the Google search tips!
And I use Ctrl-Z a lot, too.
Never texted though. Ever. And I hate phone calls with a passion.
Wow… and I thought I was google savvy. These are great little shortcuts that I will write out and save.
Thanks.
ann
My daughter installed Word on my computer when she was in college for homework. However sharing a laptop with a 19 year old is the same as not having one. Thankfully it was only for a few weeks at a time. These days she has her own.
In the end it’s the most useful tool I could ask for with my writing.
As for research – I’ll keep folders in my sidebar, do a quick search and tab all the ones that might work. Later on I’ll go back and fill in the pertinent information. This way I don’t forget what it was I wanted to research and I continue writing.
Thanks for all the new tools to work with. (Hugs)Indigo
I hate phones, but I hate texting even more – but perhaps that is because I need new glasses?
I love my computer and my internet, and I also google a lot. I try to teach my students that if they are not sure what they have written in a translation is ´proper English´ they can just google the phrase. If they get one million hits, well, the phrase exists. If they only get four, those are probably written by ignorant foreigners :D
Fabulous tips. I’m saving them so I can practice them all.
People like my own kids who don’t remember the typewriter days have no clue how really earth moving the computer was when it came on scene.
Helen
Straight From Hel
After reading your post I feel like a google invalid, lol. Those are great search tips for research. They will save me time. It’s like being able to refine your search from the very beginning. Thanks!
I wish I had some tech tips to offer but I’m on a steep learning curve w/technology. Writer walks out of cave and tries rubbing two usb memory sticks together to start a fire.
I’m so tech-dependent that I was reading a non-fiction book some months back, and when I read something that reminded me of an earlier passage, my brain immediately thought “Ctrl-F.” Find? In a paper book. It ain’t Adobe Acrobat, dummy…
Thanks for the tips, good lady. :)
I agree with you about phones! There’s something about talking into a phone-it’s unnatural! I like writing as well, not so much texting as emails! Hope you’re enjoying your holiday!
Wow, I don’t think I’ve ever feltso technologically incompetent until now. You are a true master. Bravo! I will be sure to bookmark this one. Thank you!
BTW, I’m much better with writing than conversations. I’ve only recently discovered texting, but it’s like a miracle to me. Has saved me from many awkward phone conversations ;)
Lorel–I may have to have Google Master after my name now as a signature. :)
Ingrid–My phone is dumb, I’m afraid. I’m using a texting phone…the Samsung Alias. I like it a lot. Well, except for the charging port part breaking off.
Mason–Ctrl Z is the best!
Marvin–Ohhhh…that correction tape. And then we felt all modern with the White-Out. Sighhh. It was so bad…
Diane–Texting is a REALLY nice shortcut instead of a phone call. Believe me…sooo much quicker.
Teresa–We’re like addicts, aren’t we? We only *think* we want a break!
Ann–Hope it helps!
Jemi–I haven’t used it for websites yet…what a good idea!
Margot–What do you think of texting? So many bad abbreviations, etc.
Terry–My eyes are worn out…thanks for the zoom tip. I’m going to need reading glasses really, really soon.
The black/white background switch would be great, wouldn’t it?
Kristen–With Verizon, they had a $5 a month plan for texting, so I grabbed it! I think I’d text everybody, if given a chance.
Indigo–You know, I’ve never put subfolders in my Word sidebar. That’s a great idea!
Helen–My daugther asked me recently to pull out my old typewriter. I think she wants to give it away to a museum. :) Really, it was a NICE typewriter. It was one of those Brother typewriters where you could type one line on a screen, then it would type it out on the page. Line by line word processing!
Dorte–That’s a great idea for using Google. If they get a handful of results…well, it might be Southern dialect, too! :)
Simon–That is GREAT! I’ve been soooo close to that point…but never quite crossed the line. Glad to hear others are having the problem, too!
I have no techie tips as I seem to do everything the slow way. :)
Love all the Google info! I had no idea we could search like that!!
I can’t stand talking on the phone but love blog/email/text conversation. Must be a writer thing.
Merry Christmas, Elizabeth! (And all)
:)
I never knew google was that smart. Shall try out all your tips pretty soon. Thanks