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Technophobes and Luddites, This Is for You
By Peter Basch
In case you are completely computer phobic let’s discuss – the PENCIL. Ellen likes to mock me for my addiction to gadgets by pointing out that fabulous new invention – takes no batteries, lasts for weeks, can survive dropping, highly portable, leaves an erasable mark on paper… But it is worth at least contemplating. A pencil and a legal pad insulate you from a host of expensive technical difficulties associated with computers. Not only that, it is actually way cooler to be seen in a coffee shop with a pencil and legal pad than with even the latest slickest MacBook or ThinkPad. And you won’t be caught idiotically squatting in the corner like early man looking for an AC outlet when the battery inevitably fails to retain a charge, eighteen months after you have spent two grand on the damned machine.
But then you then have to hire someone to type it up, and that will probably cost you more than a computer software program.
Another technique that holds out the false promise of making the writing life easier is that same one Edison tried to give to Tolstoy: a voice recorder. But as with the pencil, transcription can be expensive and time-consuming. Unlike the pencil, it is highly uncool to do this in a coffee shop. I have tried various transcription programs for the computer, such as Dragon Naturally Speaking and IBM Via Voice. When I see them demonstrated at trade shows, they are like magic. When I try them myself, well… it is not a technique I find useful. Your results may vary.
Ellen adds:
As efficient as the pencil is, especially for spontaneous moments of inspiration, thoughts in the middle of the night, or musings during tedious theatrical events, eventually you have to also be fluent in a formatting program to work as a professional. It’s simply too much of a handicap not to. If you can’t decipher the manual, and aren’t working comfortably with your computer program, hire someone to teach you or take a class at your local community college.
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