Modern reading and writing tools by Jerry Guin

     At a recent breakfast with friends, my wife and her friend’s discussion centered on the Kindles they had each received recently.   They compared and demonstrated what the Kindle could do.   A marvel indeed whereby you can receive low priced and some free books from favored authors with no shipping and handling fee.  The way we read books, as well as how authors write their stories have changed in modern times.

Let us step back to forty years ago.   In those days, I had access to a Smith Corona electric typewriter with a selective ball.  At the time, it worked pretty good compared to those old slap to advance manual machines that I learned to use in my high school typing class.  I had gotten up to 35 words a minute using all fingers on both hands and figured that was not bad. 

Years later when submitting an article to a magazine for consideration, I would do a rough draft first then edit with a pen or pencil.  The finished product needed to be clean and error free.  A punctuation error might possible be over looked but heaven forbid a typo error.  I remember placing a fresh sheet along with carbon paper and a second sheet for my copy into the machine.   Sometimes halfway through I would commit an error and have to start over again.   Afterwards I would do a quick checklist to insure everything was in order.  Re-read the cover letter, the article or story itself; envelope carefully addressed, including SASE for return of my treasure if it did not make the cut.  Sometimes I had to get the envelope weighed at the post office before affixing the correct postage on the SASE.  Once mailed it was just a matter of a waiting game to see if a favorable answer would come.  I toyed with writing and actually sold a few how-to articles before becoming interested in actual story telling.  I liked western movies so I naturally turned to reading a lot of Zane Grey, Louis L’Amour, Max Brand and others.   I credit them all for the entertainment as well as the inspiration to give western writing a shot myself.

I often wondered if the writing procedures I used differed that much from the way Louis, Zane, Max and others wrote.  All the writing, editing, typing and correcting they must have done, mostly by hand, is a marvel in itself.

I worked in a sales office back then, and one day the office supply house delivered our first copy machine.  You could make one copy at a time provided the fluid in the reservoir was not  used up.  It seemed to me that the machine swigged the fluid gluttonously and the container had needed replacement frequently.  The boss said the copy machine was invaluable as it eliminated the need for a full time typist who did endless copy work only.  That proved to be true.

A few years later while out on a sales call, one of my customers ushered me into a cubby-hole office where a youth of 18 or so, sat before a small TV screen and a keyboard.  “A personal computer,” the young man informed, then demonstrated how the computer kept track of the location and quantity of thousands of parts the company used in its production.

I thought it was innovative but could not see how I could possibly use the thing; after all, you would have to comprehend the instruction manual.  I had already been stung a few times with, “some assembly required” when putting together kid’s toys.

Sometime later I went to work for a sawmill that was loaded with computers that had programs performing various functions in the manufacturing end as well as keeping track of inventories of logs and lumber.  They had it programed so that the quantities added or subtracted themselves as logs moved into the mill and the lumber shipped out.  Since I was supervisor of a division, I had to learn how to use the blasted programs provided for my division’s use.  Thankfully, one of the secretaries tutored me enough to get me going.  I never envisioned someday owning a computer myself.  I mean, for what reason would I have the need?  I did not have a business and an inventory to monitor.  

I walked into Sears one day back in 1995 and walked out with a word processor with the intended use as a modern writing tool.  It had a screen, a keyboard and a printer all packaged into one unit.  I could write a page that displayed on the screen monitor.  I found that I could actually edit my work before hitting the “P” for printing and watch as the selectric ball danced out the words on a single sheet of paper.          

I wrote my first book with that little machine and to this day, I do not have a complaint about it.  It did the job that was assigned, slow as it was one page at a time.

My wife employed at a company office whereby she became quite proficient in the use of computers.  One day she informed me that we needed a computer at home.  I initially turned my nose up and was against it but in time, she hounded and convincingly made her case; “you can use it for your research and writing,” she said.   We bought our first computer from Costco.  My wife hooked it up, even over my grumbling; she got a server and tah dah we were able to use the internet.  It took a while to figure out the most elementary use of that computer but soon things began to come together. 

Now, for writing purposes, a computer word processor is an invaluable tool.  I mean this machine thinks on its own and alerts me of any misspelled words even if the vocabulary is understandable.  I have learned all kinds of things, of which I was happily ignorant of previously, but now understand their meaning and application.  Things such as fonts, headers, script, word count, page layout.  The information available on the internet is wondrous as well; particularly Wikipedia when in search of historical places and dates.  You want to know all about Billy the Kid, Wyatt Earp or the Pony Express?  Just ask the computer and it will give you more information instantly than if you spent a full day at the library. 

How did Zane, Louis and Max do it?  I mean those men wrote books, books, books and good ones too!  All I can say is that they were very talented and proficient in what they did with a minimum of writing tools.  Their books are still available new or used from bookstores or the internet, some converted to use by Kindle or Nook. 

As usual, I was reluctant to dive into electronic reading but my tenacious wife convinced me otherwise.  I still like in the hand paperbacks, but the books, apps and games at the touch of a finger on a kindle are a nice alternative. 

Do you want to give your kindle or nook a try?  Go over to High Noon Press and see the bargain priced stories, some @ .99 cents, and books that are available from some top-notch authors who use a computer to write their tales.  Join me along with fellow western authors Frank Roderus, James Griffin, Clay More and others for some good western yarns.