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What I need to write are ergonomic keyboards, mice, chairs, and creativity.

SusanJillParker

SusanJillParker

I'm 100% woman
Joined
Oct 29, 2011
Posts
2,155
I know there are lots of Apple fans but I was raised with IBM clones. Sorry. Yes, I admit that Apple computers are better. Okay?

Yet, I was the first one in my family to use a computer and IBM clones were cheap. I've had every variation of IBM clones from an 8088, 286, 386, 486, and Pentiums with more RAM more memory and more speed.

Now, I have the latest Dell desktop with 4.2 ghz speed, 2 teradyne storage, solid state hard drive, whisper quiet, and 16 gigs of RAM, plenty powerful enough, overkill actually, for writing stories. The computer is blindingly fast and starts in 12 seconds. I timed it (lol). I also have Microsoft Office 2016. This is the best Word ever and I've had them all.

I always use Microsoft keyboards. I started with the Wave and have used every variation of that, 3000, 4000 (which I loved) and the 7000 (which I loved even more). Writing more than 20 million characters yearly, I wore them out literary.

I was the same way with adding machines. My fingers were so fast that the adding machine would continue to spit out tape after I stopped importing numbers. It must have been from my strong fingers from playing music.

Unable to find a new 7000, I've been using Microsoft's latest sculpted ergonomic keyboard. At first I hated it. I didn't think that I could pound the keys as I did with the 7000. Now, I love it. It's so small. It's so light. I hate the keyboards on laptops. I can't use them, even though the keyboard on my latest Dell XPS 15 laptop (another gift from one of my fans) that I have is the best.

I also have Microsoft's 2.2 ghz ergonomic mouse. Actually, I have three of their keyboards and mice, one for each computer, more gifts from fans.

Oddly enough and strange to some but when I approach my keyboard in the morning to write a story, it's as if I'm about to play a song on a piano. Being that I played the piano and still play the accordion (another gift from a fan), something taught to me by my brothers, they all played the accordion, my keyboard is my musical instrument that emits letters instead of notes.

Another one of my most favorite things necessary for me to write are my chairs. I have a brown, Herman Miller Areon, C chair with brown leather arms and a headrest and I also have a Herman Miller Embody chair. I use them both. I love them. I can sit in them 12 hours a day without getting a backache, ass ache, or getting tired. Yeah, they're expensive but they were both gifts from fans.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I can't write a word unless I have 4 big cups of Starbucks French Roast coffee, black with no sugar. I grind my own beans.

So, there you have it. The secrets behind my writing.

So, tell me. There's no one here but you and me. What must you have to create and write your stories? What are your necessary tools needed for you to create, develop, write, read, edit, rewrite, reread, and reedit over and over again?
 
OmnislashXX said:
Time and energy.
Click to expand...

Fortunately, I not only have the time to write but also I have the discipline.

I write from 4:30 am until 11:30 am every day, 7 days a week. A day without writing is a day without breathing.

Yet, over the years, I've discovered things that not so much make me a better writer but a more comfortable writer.

With me writing 1 million to 1 and a half million words a year, every year, for the past ten years, not including the thousands of e-mails that I answer, if I didn't have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, I'd have carpel tunnel.

If I didn't have a comfortable chair with lumbar support and a wealth of other adjustments, I'd be an invalid.

If I didn't have the latest and fastest computer with a 32" monitor, I'd be frustrated.

Curious enough, when I first started writing and didn't have the time, being that writing is what I wanted to do, I made the time. My personal cycle, writing gave me the energy to write more.

Even now, it doesn't feel as if I write 7 hours a day. The time goes by so fast that I feel as if I've been writing for an hour. I'm lucky to be doing what I love to do.

Thank you for your post.
 
I love the idea of ergonomic creativity. I could certainly do with some of that! ;)

I don't worry about having a computer with 85 kilo-gigy-whizzybangs. I used to; always had to have the latest and the fastest, even if my cheque to Apple earned me an appointment with the bank manager to discuss the state of my finances. Then I discovered that while the bastards at Apple were assuring me that I was buying the best and the fastest, they knew that sitting in their warehouses across the world were boxes containing even better and faster machines that only awaited the big marketing launch.

So for three months, I had the latest and the best – and for ever after, or until I could get my overdraft down, I had to make do with second or third best and be the butt of all my friends' jokes about using ancient technology.

Seriously, almost any machine is capable of running word processing software. I still use Word 2010 because I like the look and feel of it (I hate the current trend for pastel colours and grey text, both of which do my eyes in), 2010 works (as well as any MS product) and I only use 10 per cent of its features – and I'm a fairly advanced user. It doesn't, of course, do half the things I'd like it to but nor does Word 2013 or 2016. I used to do a lot of Photoshopping and that really needed power if it wasn't to become extraordinarily tedious but I rarely do it these days. I do need a machine, though, that won't crash when I have up to 100 Firefox tabs open at a time. I have no idea how long it takes to fire up; I turn it on before I go to pour my orange juice and get the coffee on. By the time that's out of the way, 100 Firefox tabs are demanding my attention.

I bought voice recognition software when there was a risk that my hands and keyboard might become incompatible for health reasons – my hands, it seems, are USB 0.5 – but I never got on with it. I foolishly believed the advertising that suggested I'd be able to sit down at the computer and dictate my next masterpiece in an afternoon and have it word and comma perfect by nightfall. It didn't work. My thinking speed and writing speed are completely at variance as it is and the voice recognition simply added another out of tune variable. Nor did it cope well with my habit of mid-sentence editing.

I have a 15-inch laptop but sitting alongside it I have a cheap TV that serves as a second monitor.

With my passing years taking their toll on my bladder, I try to restrict coffee to a couple of mugs of strong Italian blend in the morning. It's not that pee breaks aren't useful – I do my best thinking in breaks but it's a nuisance when they become too frequent, too pressing, and uncoordinated with my need to think. Besides, I have enough trouble getting to sleep anyway, for various reasons, so coffee after mid-morning is a bad idea.

Breaks are important, though, so I'm less fussed about ergonomics than I should be. It sounds silly to say so but I do most of my writing in my head away from the computer. I mean that I will think something out, edit it, re-edit it and polish it before my fingers even touch the keyboard. The penultimate edit takes place as I type.

I must have research tools. Typically, for every hour I spend writing (other than for Lit), I'll spend ten hours on research – or more – but then I love learning new things even more than writing and the creativity that flows from it is amazing. You never know what you're going to turn up that will send your work off in a fantastic new direction. And when you find something that fleshes out the barest bones of an idea...

I also keep the Oxford Style Manual (both latest and previous versions) next to me, along with dictionary, thesaurus, and other relevant reference books. For the period piece I'm writing at the moment, Google Books is amazing. I even have an eighteenth-century dictionary open on my screen but I still have to get used to the fact that, back then, U and V were treated as the same as far as alphabetical order was concerned, so 'vascular'appears before 'uncle'.

The neighbour's cat pops in most mornings to both distract and give inspiration but I've not yet been able to source any purr recognition software.
 
Green_Knight said:
I love the idea of ergonomic creativity. I could certainly do with some of that! ;)

I don't worry about having a computer with 85 kilo-gigy-whizzybangs. I used to; always had to have the latest and the fastest, even if my cheque to Apple earned me an appointment with the bank manager to discuss the state of my finances. Then I discovered that while the bastards at Apple were assuring me that I was buying the best and the fastest, they knew that sitting in their warehouses across the world were boxes containing even better and faster machines that only awaited the big marketing launch.

So for three months, I had the latest and the best – and for ever after, or until I could get my overdraft down, I had to make do with second or third best and be the butt of all my friends' jokes about using ancient technology.

Seriously, almost any machine is capable of running word processing software. I still use Word 2010 because I like the look and feel of it (I hate the current trend for pastel colours and grey text, both of which do my eyes in), 2010 works (as well as any MS product) and I only use 10 per cent of its features – and I'm a fairly advanced user. It doesn't, of course, do half the things I'd like it to but nor does Word 2013 or 2016. I used to do a lot of Photoshopping and that really needed power if it wasn't to become extraordinarily tedious but I rarely do it these days. I do need a machine, though, that won't crash when I have up to 100 Firefox tabs open at a time. I have no idea how long it takes to fire up; I turn it on before I go to pour my orange juice and get the coffee on. By the time that's out of the way, 100 Firefox tabs are demanding my attention.

I bought voice recognition software when there was a risk that my hands and keyboard might become incompatible for health reasons – my hands, it seems, are USB 0.5 – but I never got on with it. I foolishly believed the advertising that suggested I'd be able to sit down at the computer and dictate my next masterpiece in an afternoon and have it word and comma perfect by nightfall. It didn't work. My thinking speed and writing speed are completely at variance as it is and the voice recognition simply added another out of tune variable. Nor did it cope well with my habit of mid-sentence editing.

I have a 15-inch laptop but sitting alongside it I have a cheap TV that serves as a second monitor.

With my passing years taking their toll on my bladder, I try to restrict coffee to a couple of mugs of strong Italian blend in the morning. It's not that pee breaks aren't useful – I do my best thinking in breaks but it's a nuisance when they become too frequent, too pressing, and uncoordinated with my need to think. Besides, I have enough trouble getting to sleep anyway, for various reasons, so coffee after mid-morning is a bad idea.

Breaks are important, though, so I'm less fussed about ergonomics than I should be. It sounds silly to say so but I do most of my writing in my head away from the computer. I mean that I will think something out, edit it, re-edit it and polish it before my fingers even touch the keyboard. The penultimate edit takes place as I type.

I must have research tools. Typically, for every hour I spend writing (other than for Lit), I'll spend ten hours on research – or more – but then I love learning new things even more than writing and the creativity that flows from it is amazing. You never know what you're going to turn up that will send your work off in a fantastic new direction. And when you find something that fleshes out the barest bones of an idea...

I also keep the Oxford Style Manual (both latest and previous versions) next to me, along with dictionary, thesaurus, and other relevant reference books. For the period piece I'm writing at the moment, Google Books is amazing. I even have an eighteenth-century dictionary open on my screen but I still have to get used to the fact that, back then, U and V were treated as the same as far as alphabetical order was concerned, so 'vascular'appears before 'uncle'.

The neighbour's cat pops in most mornings to both distract and give inspiration but I've not yet been able to source any purr recognition software.
Click to expand...

Awesome post. Thank you so very much for this and allowing me a glimpse into your writing practices.

Even though I don't need the fastest computer, I love how fast my computer is with updates and instant downloads. Instead of taking minutes of my time waiting for my computer to return, it literally takes seconds. I like how I can keep a multitude of screens open at the same time and how fast search engines can find what I want and need researched.

What I like about Word 2016 is the grammar and spell checks. The latest version is by far better than the older versions of words. Phrases and/or words, as well as passive writing verses active writing that passed older versions of word, are flagged for me to change them or ignore them.

With me sitting and staring at a screen for hours, I bought the biggest and the best quality monitor that I could afford to save my eyes.

I tried the voice recognition software but don't like it. In the way that I could only write with a blue medium pen when I first started writing and moved to a Smith Corona typewriter, now I can't write unless I feel my fingers on the Microsoft ergonomic keyboard. As if the keyboard is my musical instrument, the keyboard makes me feel more connected to the computer than my voice talking into a microphone.

I believe Italian coffee (being that I'm Czech, English, and Italian) is the only brew stronger than French roast, unless, of course, you drink that wicked expensive beetle dung coffee (lol).

Even with my comfortable Herman Miller chairs, I get up and walk around every one to two hours to stretch my legs, remove the blood clots, and to prove to anyone watching me that I'm still alive and not dead. It's amazing how we writers can get lost in writing our stories and motionlessly sit there hour after hour with only our fingers moving.

That's interesting about your research. I only use us research to look up names, dates, and facts, such as books, movies, and quotes. Nearly everything that I write is created from my head and from the brain tumor that I have long suspected that I have (lol).

I can't read when I write. Reading stops my creativity. When I was in college earning my degree in English, I didn't write a damn thing other than term papers. I was reading two books a day, every day, just to keep up with my coursework.

Sometimes, while taking a shower, a story will flash before my eyes. As if I'm watching a fast forward movie, I know the character names, the title of the story, and the plot. Then, when I get dressed, I can't type fast enough.

I write 2,000 to 4,000 words a day, some days more, some days less. My best writing is inspired writing and it has taken me years to be able to leave the window of inspiration open for hours at will. I never stare at a blank screen. If ever I get stuck. If I get stuck on a story, I take my story with me to bed and allow my brain to percolate the story for me. Then, when I awaken, I continue with my story as if I was never stuck.

Every morning, I'm excited about writing. I can't wait to sit in my chair and turn on my computer. I normally work on six to twelve stories at a time. When the inspiration stops on one story, I'll move to the next story.

Writing is the most fun that I'm having...for free.


 
SusanJillParker said:
Fortunately, I not only have the time to write but also I have the discipline.

I write from 4:30 am until 11:30 am every day, 7 days a week. A day without writing is a day without breathing.

Yet, over the years, I've discovered things that not so much make me a better writer but a more comfortable writer.

With me writing 1 million to 1 and a half million words a year, every year, for the past ten years, not including the thousands of e-mails that I answer, if I didn't have an ergonomic keyboard and mouse, I'd have carpel tunnel.

If I didn't have a comfortable chair with lumbar support and a wealth of other adjustments, I'd be an invalid.

If I didn't have the latest and fastest computer with a 32" monitor, I'd be frustrated.

Curious enough, when I first started writing and didn't have the time, being that writing is what I wanted to do, I made the time. My personal cycle, writing gave me the energy to write more.

Even now, it doesn't feel as if I write 7 hours a day. The time goes by so fast that I feel as if I've been writing for an hour. I'm lucky to be doing what I love to do.

Thank you for your post.
Click to expand...

Well Susan, I'm glad you have all that time because I certainly do not. The perks of working a night job include coming home pretty damn tired and actually working during those hours you like to write. Fortunately I do have some days off, but since I like to dabble in other things like Board Gaming, Mario Maker and what not, I don't always get around to it.

Luckily I've found myself writing more and more, though I used to write more in the past. Maybe I'll actually get around to releasing a new story here on Lit. I certainly have many ideas cropping up.

I have a comfortable chair, a Razer Naga Keyboard and mouse, and a comp I actually built myself after buying all the parts at Micro Center. I also have a nice screen, which is also useful.
 
SusanJillParker said:
...
What I like about Word 2016 is the grammar and spell checks. The latest version is by far better than the older versions of words. Phrases and/or words, as well as passive writing verses active writing that passed older versions of word, are flagged for me to change them or ignore them.
Click to expand...

I agree that's handy, though Word infuriates me with its pickiness. None of these rule-based things handle grammar at all well. (Grammarly doesn't even like the phrase 'handle grammar well'.) And when they start asking if I really intended to use a particular word, I turn into Humpty Dumpty: 'When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'

SusanJillParker said:
...
That's interesting about your research. I only use us research to look up names, dates, and facts, such as books, movies, and quotes. Nearly everything that I write is created from my head and from the brain tumor that I have long suspected that I have (lol).
Click to expand...

My need for research arises mostly from my historical writing, though I also research for Lit stories. For non-fiction, of course, the need goes without saying. I like to get immersed in the situation I'm writing about. I need to be able to imagine that I could be sitting round the table with those involved, knowing what makes each of them tick. Handling documents that the people you're writing about wrote or handled themselves brings you amazingly in touch with long ago events.

However, the same is true for historical fiction. You can't write a good historical novel if you haven't lived, in your mind at least, in the period in question. It's largely the way you have to look at the world. For example, in the late 18th-century – the setting for my latest book – you would have thought about travel and communication in a way we can hardly imagine. If you sent a letter from England to America, the reply wouldn't arrive for three months and would be totally out of date by that time. Seventy miles was a good day's journey. The fastest a message could be sent was by a rider on a fast horse and a fugitive on a very fast horse could get away scot-free. Once away from your home town or village there was almost nothing to stop you assuming a completely different identity. There was no way of checking. The population was far smaller – England had about 6 million people, roughly one-tenth of today's population. Much of the difference was in towns and cities, which were vastly smaller than now. Foods eaten were different – huge amounts of meat and very few vegetables – and even mealtimes were different. Things also smelled different – very different.

When you read one of Patrick O'Brian's books (Master & Commander) you can almost smell the sea air and hear the creaking of the ship and the wind in the rigging. I would never think of myself as being in his class but it's what I aspire to. One of my characters meets King George III and for that I had to understand exactly how such an occasion would work.

I've studied histories of the period (my, how they vary!), biographies of the main characters, period travelogues and diaries, newspapers, and maps. Fortunately, the Royal Archives are starting to put documents of the period on-line so it's now possible to read the actual words written by the King, his leading ministers, and other key people. Fantastic!

SusanJillParker said:
...Sometimes, while taking a shower, a story will flash before my eyes. As if I'm watching a fast forward movie, I know the character names, the title of the story, and the plot. Then, when I get dressed, I can't type fast enough.

I write 2,000 to 4,000 words a day, some days more, some days less. My best writing is inspired writing and it has taken me years to be able to leave the window of inspiration open for hours at will. I never stare at a blank screen. If ever I get stuck. If I get stuck on a story, I take my story with me to bed and allow my brain to percolate the story for me. Then, when I awaken, I continue with my story as if I was never stuck.

Every morning, I'm excited about writing. I can't wait to sit in my chair and turn on my computer. I normally work on six to twelve stories at a time. When the inspiration stops on one story, I'll move to the next story.

Writing is the most fun that I'm having...for free.
Click to expand...

A lot of this sounds so familiar.
 
Last edited:
Ergonomic coffee cup - more important than any other writing artifact.

ultimate-coffee-cup-by-david-pier-xl.jpg


The form flows from the shape of hand and mouth, the weight and volume of the contained fluid, and the relations between these. The undulating rim fits the lips better and prevents spills on the side opposite the handle. A level rim would be easy for the factory but would lessen the user’s experience. The design no longer is dictated by the manufacturing process. The oval body brings the center of gravity closer to the hand. The shape helps make the strong porcelain even more resistant to breakage. The shape is attractive and interesting from any angle. The handle and body can be held in several ways, all more comfortable than traditional mugs. The shape breaks free of a nearly universal design constraint of cups, the linear vertical axis, which is dictated by the starting point for most designs being a blank made on a lathe or other such device.
 
ChloeTzang said:
Ergonomic coffee cup - more important than any other writing artifact.

ultimate-coffee-cup-by-david-pier-xl.jpg


The form flows from the shape of hand and mouth, the weight and volume of the contained fluid, and the relations between these. The undulating rim fits the lips better and prevents spills on the side opposite the handle. A level rim would be easy for the factory but would lessen the user’s experience. The design no longer is dictated by the manufacturing process. The oval body brings the center of gravity closer to the hand. The shape helps make the strong porcelain even more resistant to breakage. The shape is attractive and interesting from any angle. The handle and body can be held in several ways, all more comfortable than traditional mugs. The shape breaks free of a nearly universal design constraint of cups, the linear vertical axis, which is dictated by the starting point for most designs being a blank made on a lathe or other such device.
Click to expand...

Ah Chloe, the way you write those curves, damn girl, that's sensual.... Functional also, mind :)
 
ChloeTzang said:
Thankyou. A nice one is good for ones writing morale. My old one got too many comments I didn't like plus a lit story I did.....this one is very me...
Click to expand...

It's sort of similar to one of the playmats I use for card gaming.
 
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