What will I do? Parade through downtown in the nude? Don a wingsuit and glide down to English Bay from Grouse Mountain? Attempt to lift five times my own body weight? Pull a fire truck with my teeth?
In a word, no. I will do none of these things, for the following reasons:
likely arrest and fine
probably not physically possible, likely to result in devastating injury or death or both before possibility can be verified
would result in arms popping out of sockets or other less entertaining permanent injury
teeth would be really sore, fire truck would remain unmoved
But what I am going to try to do is at least one of the following on a daily basis:
write something
take a photo of something
draw something
The “write something” I’ve been pretty good with for the last few years on this blog, though the daily part slips occasionally and the quality varies wildly. I am in no danger of writing a Pulitzer-nominated essay is what I’m saying. But This one I’ve mostly got down. (We won’t mention my fiction writing. That is a separate and semi-tragic discussion.)
Since my kidney infection–which is admittedly a curious trigger–I’ve been more interested in taking photos of flowers and things and often catch myself observing angles and shots, even when I’m not actually taking pictures. I find it relaxing, engaging and possibly a tiny bit therapeutic, though I’m a ways from writing the book How Taking Photos of Simple Things Changed My Life and Made Me A Better Person. Since I don’t always have a ready subject, I can’t rely on a photo a day, but this will encourage me to look for more opportunities. I now also want a phone with some kind of optical zoom. That costs less than a thousand dollars. Make my dream come true, Apple (ho ho, as if).
For the drawing, I’ve wanted to do this for awhile but never seem to find the inclination to just sit down and draw. Part of it is fear of mediocrity–I was never especially great at drawing, though not awful, either. But to improve would take the kind of dedicated practice I’m unlikely to engage in, so I may have to content myself with artfully arranged stick men or something. Still, I do not lack for media–I have pens, pencils, paint (sort of–some dried-up watercolors tucked away in a drawer), sketchpads, plus technology like a Surface Pro 3 with pen, an iPad Pro with pencil and also my own uncoordinated fingers and smartphone (which I used to produce an apple).
In the end I’ll mostly keep writing, but I’ll try to mix in some photos and drawings, something every day. And maybe I’ll post these things to some social media, though I generally think all social media is awful and truly one of current society’s ills. Facebook is terrible. Instagram is owned by Facebook. Twitter is largely a dumpster fire of hate and misinformation. Maybe I could lead a revival of Myspace. Or local BBSes. A man can dream.
The first result will come tomorrow. What will it be? I have no idea!
I decided to give voice dictation/speech recognition a serious try for my writing, to see if it actually works as well as its advocates suggest.
I didn’t want to use my gaming headset because I didn’t really want to wear a headset at all, if possible, so I looked into desktop mics.
I picked up a Blue Yeti USB microphone during Amazon’s Prime sale, both due to its sale price and its generally stellar reputation. I can use it for dictation, podcasts (if I had anything to talk about) and karaoke (if I want to annoy others and embarrass myself, or perhaps become the next Justin Bieber, except older, with better legs and fewer run-ins with the law).
This thing is gigantic. And it’s heavy enough to use as a weapon. A lethal weapon. But set up is dead (ho ho) simple and initial testing confirms it’s working just dandy. If I get some quality alone time this weekend (voice dictation is not something you want to do with others around, because it’s likely to bug them and make you look a little weird, to boot) I intend to give this thing a shot, probably starting off with Google Docs, as it has integrated speech. If I am convinced of its worth, I may move onto getting some flavor of Dragon Naturally Speaking (and how naturally does a dragon speak, anyway?)
From there I would also consider an app for the phone to record when I am out and aboot, or even get a digital voice recorder, which could later be played back into the appropriate software in order to transcribe my recordings.
It’s kind of exciting because it’s an approach I’ve never done before, but it could always be one of those crazy things that just doesn’t work for me, like touch typing, swimming or programming. I’ll find out soon.
I vowed to write at least 250 words of fiction every day this year, so here’s the first attempt. I tried scouring some writing prompt sites but they left me feeling despair, so I just mulled things over, remembered how much I hate snow and the results are below (352 words).
This is the first part of what could be a scene, a story or a big budget Hollywood production. I can’t say when I’ll write Part 2. Maybe tomorrow, maybe not. It’s a surprise.
A Walk in the Snow, Part 1
It is very quiet in the snow.
That’s how I hear the person walking behind me. I stop and a moment later the person stops. It is silent again.
I am walking down a service road that’s about two kilometers long. Its main function is to provide access to railway workers and park staff, but there’s little vehicle traffic on it most days. Tonight it’s covered in virgin snow and I’m up to my knees in the stuff after an early winter blast. My breath frosts in front of me, a steamy cloud that drifts up into a clear, dark sky and disappears.
I’m about halfway down the road, heading toward South Street, the main road that runs through my neighborhood. I live a few blocks east of South. I like telling people that, then watch their faces as they try to process it.
It’s bright enough to make my way without a flashlight. There is no artificial light here, just the stars dotting the black above and the snow shimmering around me.
I became aware of the footsteps–more the sound of someone pushing their way through the snow, really–a few minutes earlier. Twice I’ve tested by stopping and the person following has also stopped. It’s hard to escape the sensation that I am prey being stalked. The snow is just deep enough to make a quick escape impossible. The closest things to weapons I carry are my house keys and smartphone. I keep my breathing calm, knowing this person is probably close enough to see the puffs. Don’t show signs of panic. I gaze up at the sky, as if I’m looking for a constellation. Casual. Curious. Inconspicuous.
Maybe.
I resume walking and count one thousand one, one thousand two. The footsteps resume behind me, shushing through the snow. It will take at least fifteen minutes to reach South Street, where the road is plowed, the sidewalks shoveled and regular traffic passes by. It seems very far away. I strain to hear cars but it’s late and all I hear are my steps and the ones mirrored behind me.
This post was lovingly hand-written using my iPad Pro, Apple Pencil and the Nebo note-taking app.
Nebo converts the handwritten text to type on the fly and the accuracy seems pretty good considering l’m writing this in bed while the neighbors make strange thumping sounds upstairs.
All in all, I give the technology ten thumbs up and this post’s excitement level half a thumb up.
Yep, with today being the last day of the month, it’s time to summarize my National Novel Writing Month effort this year and LOL is a pretty good summary.
I wrote 2557 words a few days in…for a different novel. Then my keyboard was stilled as I was overwhelmed by events, ennui, personal drama and The Rains (I read today that this November is the fourth-wettest since they started keeping records. The forecast is for sun to return next month. Then probably blizzards for the next three months).
In all, my effort was so minimal it’s difficult to feel disappointed. It’s like scolding yourself for how you placed in a race you never actually participated in.
Apart from this blog, my writing in general has stalled, which is not good. I’ll be returning to The Other 11 Months writing group on Sunday and seeing how it goes there, but if I am to write more I need to do it more often than just on Sundays. It’s not like writing is a religious experience for me.
But perhaps I should pray to the spirit of Harlan Ellison. Except he’s still alive and would tell me to stop writing nonsense on a blog and start writing a ripping good yarn by grabbing legal pad and fountain pen.
Tomorrow I’ll unveil my newest and bestest writing plan.
Or what you do when your preferred writing application goes subscription-only.
I love playing around with software, so looking for a new writing program is kind of exciting in a geeky sort of way. At the same time it can be a convenient excuse for not actually writing, so I am determined to make a choice as soon as I can.
Now that I have eschewed Ulysses (see here for more) I need to pick another piece of writing software to use for all my writing needs and desires. The first thing I need to establish are the must-have features this software will have:
Must let you type words into a computer and save them to disk or “the cloud”
Must work on both a MacBook Pro and Windows 10 PC or more broadly speaking, it must work in both macOS and Windows environments *or* support a file format that is natively supported in both OSes without requiring magic or witchery to work properly.
Must please me in somewhat arbitrary and ill-defined ways
Must not require a subscription. Paid or donate to unlock all features is okay.
Now, let’s review the criteria:
1. Must let you type words into a computer and save them to disk or “the cloud”
This one is easy as literally any program except whimsical comp-sci projects will pretty much let you do this. This does not narrow the criteria down in any way whatsoever, so my inclusion of it here was simply to start the process with a little levity. A tiny smidgen, if you will. Moving on…
2. Must work on both a MacBook Pro and Windows 10 PC or more broadly speaking, it must work in both macOS and Windows environments *or* support a file format that is natively supported in both OSes without requiring magic or witchery to work properly.
This is where it gets trickier. There are some programs that work across both platforms and these are my preference. However, if I opt for a common file format such as text (.txt) then I can write in different programs and the actual work will be the same in each. The biggest downside to this approach is probably the mental shift required when switching off between programs that could potentially work very differently even as they ultimately accomplish the same thing.
3. Must please me in somewhat arbitrary and ill-defined ways
This category covers “nice to have features” that aren’t strictly required but in a way actually are. For example, the ability to set a writing goal is pretty essential for National Novel Writing Month and some of the major programs like Microsoft Word do not feature this, because they focus more on making the writing look pretty, rather than the actual process of putting the words down.
built-in support for cloud services like Dropbox, OneDrive or others
and other things
4. Must not require a subscription. Paid or donate to unlock all features is okay.
This is pretty straightforward, unless the chosen program does what effectively amounts to a bait-and-switch by changing their pay model after you purchase the software (as happened with Ulysses, which went from a traditional paid program to subscription). There is an increasing move toward subscriptions (boo) but enough options exist outside the model to allow me to steer clear of it for now.
With the criteria set, let’s look at the pros and cons of some candidates.
Microsoft Word
Pros:
supports Windows, macOS, iOS
integrates nicely with OneDrive
offers web version in a pinch
familiar
supports indents
.docx format is widely supported
has a full screen mode
Cons:
no options for setting goals
no focus mode
no easy way to move scenes or chapters (it can be done, just not easily)
the WYSIWYG approach can lead to fighting the formatting
no built-in support for markdown, though it will auto-convert some markdown to formatting, such as using asterisks for italics.
about the complete opposite of a Zen writing program
WriteMonkey
Pros:
supports Windows and macOS (Mac version is currently beta-only and not feature-complete)
supports cloud services for saving
supports indents (Windows version 2.7 only)
can auto-generate backup files to a specific location
supports distraction-free/full screen modes
has focus mode
allows you to set both overall and immediate goals, with visual aids
word count is always visible
many options to customize the look and feel, along with theme support
supports markdown and in version 3 offers good visualization of markdown in the editor
saves in simple .txt format, making it easy to load its files in other programs (this changes a bit in version 3 but is still possible there)
Cons:
Mac version is in beta and lacks some essential features, such as indents, meaning cross-platform support is not really there yet. The workaround for now is to use version 2.7 on a Mac running wither in Bootcamp or through a VM solution like Parallels.
UI is a bit fiddly and can be difficult to work around (I’ve gotten past this particular hump, though, having used the program for several years now)
FocusWriter
Pros:
supports Windows, macOS and Linux
clean interface without billions of distracting options
can save to .txt format for maximum flexibility
supports setting goals
supports indents
shows word count
customizable themes, including different wallpapers and sound effects for distraction-free mode
can save to cloud services without issue
will start up with the last opened document to allow you to jump right in
Cons:
no real markdown support, though it offers one tag as a divider to separate scenes or chapters
maybe a bit too Spartan
Typora
Pros:
supports Windows and macOS
supports indents (awkwardly, as it has to be implemented by editing a theme file)
Cons:
doesn’t offer anything that isn’t also available in FocusWriter or WriteMonkey
focus is clearly on technical writing, not fiction
Scrivener
Pros:
supports Windows, macOS, iOS
supports indents
supports goals
offers focus mode
offers distraction-free/full screen mode
shows word count
highly customizable
allows for easy shuffling of scenes or chapters
excellent community support
can easily handle large projects
Cons:
UI feels dated and can overwhelm with options
offers poor cloud support due to the way it saves projects as collections of files. This can lead to corrupt projects.
Windows version perpetually lags behind Mac version in development (though files always remain compatible between the two)
weirdly forces you to name your project before you can start writing
No indent support
As mentioned above, supporting indents is crucial for fiction writing because a dialog exchange between characters woulds requiring hitting the Enter or Return key all the time and looks weird, as illustrated below:
“Hi John.”
“Hello Sally.”
“How are you?”
“I am swell, how are you?”
“I broke the Enter key on my computer.”
“Oh, that sucks. How did it happen?”
“My preferred writing program doesn’t support indents.”
Both John and Sally cried and bonded over this horrible tragedy.
It turns out that a lot of markdown editors lack support for indents, which was one of the things that made Ulysses so nice.
Here are programs that might have been considered but are ruled out because they lack support for indents or are platform-specific or both:
iA Writer
Bear
Editorial
Pages
MacDown
plus about a billion more
The Big Decision
In the end there are only a few reasonable choices.
Choice 1: WriteMonkey
My preference is to use WriteMonkey because I am familiar with it and it has worked well for me in the past, despite some rough edges on the UI. The main issue here is the beta version works well but lacks any way to use indents, so if I’m writing on my MacBook Pro I need to use a different program that saves to .txt format or I have to use Parallels/Bootcamp.
As it turns out, I’ve actually set up Parallels and while the Windows 2.7 version of WriteMonkey works well enough in it, something about the arrangement makes me nervous. Still, this remains a viable option.
One workaround is to use FocusWriter when on the Mac, as it has a native version of the program. I’ve tested and haven’t noticed any weirdness when switching between files created in WriteMonkey and then edited in FocusWriter and sent back to WM again. FocusWriter doesn’t support markdown but it also doesn’t do anything with markdown in the body of the document, either, so it’s still there in WriteMonkey.
Once WriteMonkey 3 is out of beta this should be a much stronger choice but it’s being developed by a single person, so work is not surprisingly proceeding at a slower pace (the first public beta came out in September after a private beta that ran most of the year).
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 indents
Choice 2: FocusWriter
FocusWriter’s strength lies in its simplicity and its native support for both Mac and Windows platforms. It doesn’t support markdown but perhaps because of this, it offers more fiction writer-friendly features.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 indents
Choice 3: Scrivener
I spent enough time using Scrivener, including writing NaNo novels with it, to learn most of its quirks and workflow. Then I stopped using it for long enough that I’ve forgotten most of that.
If you are simply typing words into the editor it’s pretty easy to use. It gets complicated as soon as you do anything else. The UI is bad.
The good news is its getting a major revamp to version 3. The less good news is that it’s not out yet, though the Mac version is expected by the end of 2017, with the Windows version coming in early 2018.
My biggest issue with Scrivener, though, is the way it saves files. By default it saves after two seconds of inactivity, which is nuts. This can be changed, but still, it seems like a recipe for introducing file corruption by invoking near-perpetual writes.
Along with this, the cloud support is very bad. It can work decently with Dropbox but people are actively told to steer away from OneDrive, iCloud and Google Drive. OneDrive is my preferred place to save things in the ephemeral cloud, so being told it’s not a good idea is a bit of a put-off.
I also lost a large chunk of a NaNo novel a few years ago when I botched the local/cloud saves while using Dropbox. This is mainly on me, but I felt it likely wouldn’t have happened in a different program due to the way Scrivener bundles projects into a multitude of files.
Rating: 3 out of 5 indents
Choice 4: Microsoft Word
The ubiquity of Word is probably the best reason to pick it. Its supported everywhere. You can probably run Word on your toaster now. But it offers few features for a fiction writer that are very nice to have. It lets you write the words and make them look pretty. It doesn’t do much beyond that.
Rating: 3 out of 5 indents
Darkhorse possibilities
There are some web-based editors that can usually work in offline mode if you lose connection (your work is automatically synced when the connection is restored) but I’m very leery of going web-only for my writing.
I could also just use a typewriter. No one ever lost a save file on a typewriter. The trick would be to find one. Plus I hate using typewriters because I’m not Harlan Ellison.
Finally, there’s always a notepad and pen. The very thought is causing my hand to spontaneously cramp, so no.
In the end it looks like the best candidates are:
WriteMonkey
FocusWriter
Scrivener
My plan, then, is to do some testing as follows:
Write a small project in WriteMonkey 2.7 (Windows version) and edit it on the MacBook Pro using both the same version in Parallels and through FocusWriter and see if anything screws up and also if the workflow actually works. I’ll use OneDrive for saving in a specially made folder for testing.
Create a Scrivener project in Windows and make changes back and forth in Windows and Mac. I’ll save in a specially made Dropbox folder (in theory OneDrive should work if the folder/files are set to be available in offline mode but I can’t be bothered jumping through this many hoops. I’m not a good hoop-jumper).
After the week of testing I’ll commit to my decision and go on to great writing glory. Hooray!
I went to my second The Oher 11 Months write-in today and was better prepared for the weather, which was very wet (I say yes to this as I hope it can eradicate the last of the damn snow).
Once inside I asked for the same Chai tea I had last time. Every time I go to a coffee place and order a tea I always get asked if I want a tea latte and have to say no, just tea, with a teabag, in hot water, like people have enjoyed for thousands of years. If I wanted a tea latte I would order a tea latte, not a tea. But still they ask.
They asked again today. I confirmed I wanted tea, not a tea latte, but the girl at the counter was confused by my request for Chai, acting as if it never existed. Rather than go on about how I got it with no fuss last week, I just ordered English Breakfast and pretended I was in London.
When I went into the meeting room, a discussion took place over the various size cups we had, with the conclusion being that although only two sizes are listed on the menu (Regular and ‘Waves’–how twee) there are in fact more sizes and their purpose is to sow confusion, because we couldn’t come up with anything better.
When I settled in and opened the lid of my MacBook Pro I discovered the battery was at 68%. This was odd as I had left it plugged in and charging and I’m pretty sure the ten minutes to get to Waves would not drain 32% of the battery. I then remembered I had applied a hefty update and in moving the Mac to its usual spot I may have jiggled the USB-C cable just loose enough to have it stop feeding power. Even so, having it lose 32% of its battery over three days is not very reassuring. I easily got through the writing session, though, as the three hours only consumes about 25% battery.
I’m still not sold on the new low-travel keyboard, either. I’m close to saying Apple made a flat-out mistake with it. It’s simply not that comfortable to type on. It feels like banging your fingers on a table because there’s so little give. And it’s noisy for a laptop keyboard. Apple’s obsession with thin is starting to bump up against keeping things comfortable and practical.
As for my actual writing, I did a repeat of last week, bouncing between projects, re-reading and tweaking and moving a few more into Ulysses. I then wanted to look at the corkboard I made for Rainy Day. This is a feature of Scrivener, so I downloaded the program and was pleasantly surprised that it automatically registered and activated itself (kind of spooky, really). The pleasant surprise was replaced by an unpleasant one when the program kept repeatedly crashing, making it utterly useless. I didn’t want to waste my time troubleshooting at the write-in so I just left it.
This is far from the first time I’ve had issues with Scrivener and it’s not been platform-specific, either, as problems have happened in Windows and macOS, even when keeping the projects relegated to one platform to reduce the chance of error. I’m pretty close to being done with it. It’s a nice tool but seems in need of a complete rewrite (which sounds like it may be coming, more or less, though when is another question).
In the end I probably read more than I wrote and it’s been a bit frustrating to not fully commit to one thing to work on–a three-hour block is a huge amount of time to get a lot done–but I will keep going and hopefully something will stick. My goal in the next week is to resume doing prompts to help grease the writing wheels.
Yesterday I did something I would have done during National Novel Writing Month if my novel hadn’t stalled out after 10,000 words. I took part in a write-in, specifically one set up as an offshoot of the local NaNoWriMo group where people are invited during the NaNo off-months to write at Waves Coffee in New Westminster every Sunday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
There’s a reserved from at the back that conveniently has a door that can be closed, allowing writerly types to scribe with little interference from outside. Eight had officially signed up on the Facebook page but a total of 11 made it, which resulted in a rather crowded table. I almost felt like I was co-authoring the projects of those to my left and right through osmosis.
Still, it was useful to have that three-hour block of (mostly) quiet concentration and focus. While I didn’t work on a single project, I successfully bounced around several, including:
new material on my 2014 NaNo novel, Road Closed
going over 2016’s stalled project and fixing most of the tense problems (specifically I started writing in the present tense then switched to the past tense without consciously meaning to. I have managed to fix all but the final section of writing to align everything to the present tense).
I was hoping to do some work on the short story “The Box on the Bench” but am still mulling over how best to approach it. I’ll write more on the revival of this ten-year-old (!) project soon.
Apart from a slight crick in my neck, I found the experience useful and refreshing. I’ll definitely be returning. If I actually write straight through next time I should be able to get quite a bit done, a novel (ho ho) change from my progress of late.
Stop spending all your time reading “How to improve your writing” articles and just write instead.
More seriously, there is a certain seductiveness in constantly seeking advice, a kind of pleasure that comes from immersing yourself in writing without doing any actual writing. It also helps one neatly avoid failure, too, since zero production = zero chance of failure.
I have actually become worse with this in the last few months, spending far more time reading about writing than writing. On the plus side, I have gotten a lot better at determining quality tips from puff pieces (most articles are puff pieces).
Conveniently one of my resolutions–just three days away from being implemented–includes a concrete writing goal. I am further working on fleshing out specifics. For a change, I am going to plan everything out as much as possible and leave the spontaneity to whatever writing I produce. I expect this to yield fruitful results, especially if I write about fruit.
This article highlights a number of interesting and useful tools–I approve!
One of these is HubSpot’s Blog Topic Generator. I love generators because the results can sometimes work as intended, providing inspiration when you struggle to write anything, but more often they provide unintended amusement because they will happily interpret things literally or combine items in silly ways that are not meant to be silly
This leads to the results I got. As requested, I entered three nouns:
cat
future
writing
I was not advised to write about cats in the future…or was I? Here are my week’s worth of suggested topics:
10 Quick Tips About Cat
What Will Writing Be Like in 100 Years?
10 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Future
14 Common Misconceptions About Cat
10 Signs You Should Invest in Writing
First, I must admit I love the idea of this monolithic entity known as Cat. Cat is good. Cat is all. You will respect Cat. I am less convinced that I could come up with ten quick tips about Cat or 10 signs I should invest in writing. But I’m going to try, right now!
10 Quick Tips About Cat
Cat is furry
Cat has four legs
Cat has tail
Cat likes cat food
Cat will chase laser pointer light
Cat will sleep on your keyboard
Cat does not like Dog
Cat loves Mouse
Cat is smarter than you
Cat will come back the very next day
What Will Writing Be Like in 100 Years?
We’ll have fully switched over from fountain pens and foolscap to holo-typing machines that imprint the letters into a space slightly in front of and above our faces. Writing will be a holistic experience, one you share just by running up to someone and saying, “Watch this!” while you spew out words into the air between you and them. Then they will leave because you’re a bit of a freak. Writing will still be a very lonely thing.
10 Things Your Competitors Can Teach You About Future
The future is always just ahead
There’s no future in the past
Prices will be higher
That dude who is taller than you? In the future he’ll still be taller than you
Wait, who are my competitors, exactly?
If you don’t correctly anticipate future trends, you’ll never stop wearing those acid wash jeans
The future is so bright you will need to wear shades
Invest in sunglass manufacturing
What goes up must come down, so invest in elevator technology
Still not sure who my competitors are but they should watch out because I have read many books that predict the future using advanced math or something
14 Common Misconceptions About Cat
Cat is really Dog in disguise
Cat will never miss when jumping onto Couch
Cat likes cheese; it is Mouse that likes cheese, though Cat likes Mouse the way Mouse likes Cheese
Cat uses tail to communicate complex thoughts
Cat is alien species silently watching and judging us
Cat is spelled Kat in some countries; this is only done in cartoons for humorous effect, not in real life
Kit Kat contains real Cat (see above)
There are no cats with nine tails
Cat on a hot tin roof does not mean Cat likes being on a hot tin roof–do not put Cat on hot tin roof
Cat only speaks when it has something important to say (note: this may actually be true, Science has yet to prove one way or the other)
Cat likes taking many baths
Cat will never sleep on your keyboard
Cat will never come back the very next day
Cat enjoys long lists about misconceptions
10 Signs You Should Invest in Writing
You see a big sign that says “You Should Invest in Writing”
Your crazy but rich uncle says, “I’ll give you $100,000 if you write some stupid novel about anything.”
You have a vision of the future and it’s filled with blank pages–and only you have a working pen!
It’s better than investing in 8-track tape technology
Time magazine will one day make “Words” the Person of the Year, making writing hot and in demand
It’s like the lottery, someone’s going to strike it rich, so why not you? (Not applicable if you’re a hopeless hack.)
A typewriter can be used for writing, self-defense and as a door stop; to not invest in something so practical would be foolish
For #7 you may also want to invest in a time machine in order to acquire a typewriter
Darth Vader shows up at your place and says, “Invest in writing or I’ll force choke you where you stand.” It’s probably just another one of your kooky dreams but better to not take any chances
Because you saw it in a list
There, all done! Wait, that was supposed to be stretched over a week. I’ve done it all horribly wrong? Now what will I write about tomorrow?
Not to worry–there are plenty more great prompts just waiting to be used!
Today I did something I had never done before. Admittedly this could be one of billions of possible things, but in this case I am referring to using my Surface Pro 3 as an actual laptop.
By this, I mean that I propped myself up on the bed with some pillows so I was sitting fully upright and placed the SP3 on my lap and started typing (I wrote the previous running update this way). The experience went better than expected but was still unsatisfying for a few reasons.
First, the good news: the SP3 was far more stable than I expected with it resting on my legs. I suspect this was largely due to my legs being laid out perfectly straight on the bed, creating the flattest possible surface (pun not intended). Though there was some slight bounce with the keyboard (I normally lay it flat on desks/tables but on the lap it really needs to be kept up so the magnetic strip can better stabilize it) but it was perfectly manageable, if a bit odd-feeling.
The less-good news: The DPI scaling is such that the text was just slightly on the small side from where I was sitting in relation to the screen. This could be corrected a couple of ways: magnifying the Firefox window (obviously this only works in Firefox or other browsers) or by increasing the DPI scaling (not a great option as inevitably some things end up cartoonishly big and changing DPI obnoxiously requires a reboot) or putting on my glasses. The text wasn’t fuzzy or anything like that, it was just small enough to be annoying and unpleasant to work with.
The bad news: I tested with the lights off, to see how the keyboard’s backlight would fare. Unfortunately, the backlight would switch off after only a short period of inactivity, leaving the keyboard in darkness. This entirely defeats the point of having the backlight. Also, the light bled through sufficiently that it actually made the keys more difficult to see.
Overall the Surface Pro 3 worked better than expected but I can honestly say that typing out a blog post using the onscreen keyboard of my iPad Air is a more pleasant experience when blogging from bed. Granted I don’t often blog from bed–I prefer using the bed for more traditional purposes, such as sleeping and “I’m not sleeping, I’m just resting my eyes!”–but still, I am left with the feeling that an actual laptop would be notably superior, to a degree that I would switch over to one were I to suddenly blog from bed regularly.
The DPI scaling is an ongoing concern in general for Windows laptops as more of them are now shipping with beyond-HD displays (see the Surface Book and its otherwise gorgeous 13.5″ 3,000 x 2,000 screen), so if I do get another laptop, it may be a MacBook of some flavor. I’ll test drive a few possible options before making a final decision. Conveniently, Metrotown has both an Apple store and a Microsoft store near to each other. Plus a food court so I can get a taco when all the test driving leaves me hungry.
