Dependence and Other Woes

by Janis Patterson

Hello - my name is Janis and I am a computer dependent.

One of the glories of being a writer is that you can work anywhere.

One of the horrors of being a writer is that you can work anywhere.

My Mac laptop (my writing computer) has become my security object. I take it everywhere. Almost everywhere. I have so far resisted carrying it along when I go to the grocery store or the dry cleaners, but fatalistically I know it's coming.

I mean, what happens when I have this marvelous idea for a scene for my work-in-progress which has a deadline approaching as quickly as a speeding freight train? What happens if I have a superb idea for the next book in my somewhat stalled series? It's nothing to pull over to the side of the road or park in a handy lot and type away for a few minutes and I feel virtuous, satisfied and relieved.

But what about a notebook and pen, you ask, or a voice recorder? Surely those would be easier?

For some. Not for me. My dad taught me to type the summer before I entered the fourth grade, and from that first night's lesson I was entranced. How much easier, how much more legible, how much better typing was than handwriting. I vowed to use it all the time - which caused me no end of trouble. Do you have any idea of how difficult it was to get typed homework accepted in the early 50s? I remember having to prove my ability by typing in front of the principal - which I aced - but they still refused to allow me to type my assignments. For what it's worth I still hate and try my best to avoid handwriting anything to this day. At first it was just personal preference, but lately my increasingly arthritic hands have excitedly seconded that choice.

As for using a recording device, I worked too long as a voice talent to make that a viable option. When the recorder clicks on I immediately begin to think of my breathing, the pitch, tenor and resonance of my voice, my phrasing... everything except what I am talking about and - POOF! - the idea is gone, sacrificed on the altar of professionalism.

Now you see why my laptop is my security object. My last computer - a huge old (one of the first) 17 inch screen laptop - was great on the eyes, hard on the fingers and about as portable as a concrete block. Still, I carried it on every trip The Husband and I took, including tucking it into my backpack for several weeks traveling in Egypt. Believe me, my shoulder muscles prospered with the exercise - the rest of me, not so much.

When The Husband gifted me with my choice of Mac computers two years ago, weight was a decided consideration; so was battery life, as my previous one had a battery life of about 35 minutes. I settled on a medium-priced one, a 13 inch MacBook Pro - which still cost about the same as my first new car. I kind of worried that after a big 17 inch a 13 inch would be too small, too difficult to type on, and I'd have to get an external ergonomic keyboard, but I was wrong. I don't how they worked this magic, but the 13 incher's keyboard is so much easier to type on than the 17 incher's. My wrists don't hurt, I don't get stiff (in the arms and shoulders - back and legs are different) and after the first day or two on Mac (my singularly unimaginative name for the new computer) all thoughts of an external ergonomic keyboard just faded away. Like I said, magic.

However - such ease of use and light weight have their downside. I've had to buy new, larger purses which will accommodate Mac when I leave the house for anything longer than a quick grocery run - just in case. My calendar and my address book are on Mac, which means I don't have to write anything down by hand (yea!) and ideas and whatever which were once inscribed on unfortunately easily losable scraps of paper can be safely relegated to pixels. The only downside to this is that larger purses tend to accumulate larger amounts of stuff, and unless I watch my pack-rat self with care, I'll be weighted down with unimaginable amounts of (un)necessary things, a tendency which my uncertain back vociferously deplores. And sadly the problem only gets worse when The Husband hands me something and says, "Honey, stick this in your purse, will you?" Now we know why men's clothing only has a few meagre pockets - it's because their wives carry shoulder-strap suitcases! But we have to - how else could we carry our security-computers?

Yes, I am Janis and I am most definitely a computer dependent.