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Writing on the Run Tip of the Week, 1-14-07, "The Big Hard Drive in the
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Allen Anderson
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Jan 15, 2007 21:24 PST
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Writing on the Run Tip of the Week
January 14, 2007
Visit us at www.writingontherun.com
A "101 Best Websites for Writers"
Choice by Writer's Digest, May 2005
Dear Writing Friends,
Welcome to Writing on the Run Tip of the Week. We made good use of the
time away from publishing this newsletter and hope all of you had an
enjoyable holiday season. Happy 2007!
It is not new to have rules within which fictional characters work.
Isaac Asimov developed the Three Laws because he was tired of science
fiction stories in the 1920s and
1930s in which the robots, like Frankenstein's creation, turned on their
creators and became dangerous monsters. His laws/rules were simple, but
there were enough ambiguities in the Three Laws to make for interesting
stories and character development.
Asimov's three laws of robotics are:
1. A robot may not injure a human being, or, through inaction, allow a
human being to come to harm.
2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where
such orders would conflict with the First Law.
3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection
does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
Would you want to develop a framework or ground rules, maybe internal
laws, for your characters to abide by? Then see what is possible.
Remember, life is your page.
Today's Tip of the Week shares a technology tip that makes it easier to
revise drafts of your writing.
We hope these tips bring you closer to achieving your writing goals and
inspire you to share your own great ideas for how to enjoy writing, even
when life gets busy. Send us your timesaving and inspiring tips for
writing on the run.
We invite you to e-mail this week's tip in its entirety to, other
writers who might benefit from it.
Sincerely,
Allen and Linda Anderson
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TIP OF THE WEEK
THE BIG HARD DRIVE IN THE SKY
By Bernard Glassman
Although the PalmOne Treo is my constant writing-on-the-run companion,
supplemented by a BlueTooth keyboard, it's of little value for
collaborative writing projects. Yes, the Treo can send, receive, and
edit Word attachments. But you know what happens -- you make all the
usual solemn resolutions about carefully monitoring version numbers,
inserting a "last-saved" field in the document footer, sorting by date,
etc., and you still end up entering changes into a
one-or-two-generations-old drafts.
So what to do? Enter Writely.com, now owned by Google.
You and your collaborators can work on the same document from almost any
contemporary browser. Even if you have no collaborators, working on a
document that is on Google's servers means that if, heaven forbid, your
laptop tanks, your up-to-date draft is still out there on The Big Hard
Drive in the Sky -- accessible from anywhere and downloadable as a Word
file when you are ready for it.
There are a ton of other features and benefits, not least of which is
that it is free to Google subscribers, which is also free. Take a look
at www.writely.com.
BIO:
Bernard Glassman is a social entrepreneur with a fascination, and talent
for making new technologies work on behalf of public health
communicators.
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:
What new technologies and innovations would help you to be better at
writing on the run?
* * * * *
WRITING ON THE RUN QUOTES OF THE WEEK
"Fiction is the most joyous, beautiful, sophisticated, wonderful thing
in the world."
--Arundhati Roy
"If you write fiction you are, in a sense, corrupted. There's a
tremendous corruptibility for the fiction writer because you're dealing
mainly with sex and violence. These remain the basic themes; they're
the basic themes of Shakespeare whether you like it or not."
--Anthony Burgess
"It seems that the fiction writer has a revolting attachment to the
poor, for even when he writes about the rich, he is more concerned with
what they lack than with what they have."
--Flannery O'Connor
According to an article by Peter Carlson of THE WASHINGTON POST, Matthew
Diffee, a cartoonist for the New Yorker, "is practically punch-drunk
from repeated rejection.
"Every Tuesday, like most the NEW YORKER'S four dozen regular
cartoonists, Diffee submits a batch of about 10 cartoons.
"'And if you're really, really funny that week,' he says, 'you'll sell.
. .one cartoon! That's a 90 percent rejection rate.'
"On a bad week, the rejection rate is 100 percent."
--Peter Carlson, THE WASHINGTON POST, "Drawing Conclusions," MINNEAPOLIS
STAR-TRIBUNE, Sunday, January 14, 2007
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ANNOUNCEMENT:
Allen and Linda Anderson will discuss heart-rending and inspiring rescue
stories of animal survivors of Hurricane Katrina. They will also
provide suggestions on how to keep your pets safe from natural
disasters. As founders of the Angel Animals Network, the Anderson's have
written numerous books on the deep connection between humans and
animals.
A Hot Reads for Cold Nights event:
Date & Time: February 13, Tuesday, 7:00 - 8:00 pm
Location: Galaxie Library, 14955 Galaxie Avenue,
Apple Valley, MN, Info: 952-891-7050
* * * * *
BOOKS by Allen and Linda Anderson
RESCUED: Saving Animals from Disaster, (www.rescuedsavinganimals.net)
ANGEL HORSES: Divine Messengers Hope
ANGEL DOGS: Divine Messengers of Love
RAINBOWS & BRIDGES: An Animal Companion Memorial Kit
ANGEL CATS: Divine Messengers of Comfort
GOD'S MESSENGERS: What Animals Teach Us about the Divine
ANGEL ANIMALS: Exploring Our Spiritual Connection with Animals.
All of Allen and Linda's books are available at online or regular
bookstores, some Costco stores, and at many gift shops that sell animal
books, and through www.newworldlibrary.com, which offers discounts for
purchasing multiple books. Angel Horses, Angel Dogs, and Angel Cats are
also available at One Spirit Book Club.
* * * * *
OTHER INFORMATION
Writing on the Run is devoted to collecting and disseminating ideas and
inspiration to help people keep writing, as a vital part of their lives.
You can learn more about Writing on the Run by visiting
www.writingontherun.com.
If you send this newsletter to others (and we hope that you will),
please don't change it in any way and include the information above
about Writing on the Run (TM) Website.
We'd appreciate it if you would encourage others to subscribe. The more
ideas, the better for all of us. Thank you.
This newsletter is sent to you by Writing on the Run (TM) Copyright
2007, Allen and Linda Anderson. All rights reserved. Nothing in this
newsletter may be reproduced or published without the written permission
of the individual authors and/or copyright owners. Writing on the Run
(TM) is a trademarked name.
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