Sandy asked Lois McMaster Bujold:

Do you favor any particular tech for writing stories or keeping notes? There are so many different types of paper-like writing tablets, writing apps, and so forth available these days. I wondered what you as an author use for getting ideas written down, organized, and eventually sent out. Any recommendations of what to use or perhaps avoid? Has tech changed your process over the years?

Lois McMaster Bujold
Since I wrote the first drafts of my first 10 published novels in pencil in a 3-ring binder, I am unimpressed by all the futzing over writing paraphernalia. The penciled drafts were subsequently transcribed for submission drafts onto a succession of other tools over time -- typewriter, Coleco Adam, KayPro II, whatever came after that in the way of desktops, couple of Dell laptops, and now, my nice compact Lenovo Thinkpad. I gradually graduated to writing first drafts from the penciled notes/outlines directly on my computer when I first got my own writing space, a little computer stand in my bedroom. Around 1993.

Environment's improved, step by step and move by move over the years, but I still do my prelim notes in pencil in a binder. College-ruled punched paper bought, usually, in the grocery store.

So no, tech has not changed my process much, although I make happy and heavy use of the built-in spelling check and thesaurus Word comes with. My first drafts go down faster -- though in the same chunks, scene or part-scene spurts -- but I do (and need) a lot more micro-editing, so no time is saved overall. I almost never make printouts anymore. I'm very happy not to have to mail manuscripts. After the notes (still in pencil in a 3-ring binder) it's pixels all the way to publication now.

Ta, L.

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