Old Fashioned? Maybe. #mfrwauthor

Welcome to Week 43 of the MFRW 52-week challenge. The topic is "Ebook reader or must have a book in your hand?" If you look at my office and its bookshelves, it is apparent that I like books. The units are loaded with paperback and hard cover books for reading and research.

I have a confession to make. Although I have authored ebooks, I only recently came into possession of a tablet. Before that I read ebooks (both my own and those of other authors) using apps on my laptop. It isn't really a very comfortable method as the laptop weighs enough that the pressure on my legs gets uncomfortable very quickly.

It's not that I'm anti-technology. Not to tell my age, but I remember electric typewriters replacing old manual Remington ones--and the introduction of the then 'new-fangled' word processor. They were not like the modern software versions of today with spell check and the bane to some of us fantasy writers, auto-correct. The word processors were not much more than electric typewriters outfitted with either a magnetic tape reader/writer or a card reader/writer.

Now that might not seem that groundbreaking an invention, but consider this. Not having to retype an entire page of manuscript because of a mis-spelled word or two, or to change a phrase. Secretaries fought over the machines, especially at review time.  Despite having taken hours to type (no corrections were allowed), each step in the chain of command always changed something. Even what today would be a simple word replacement back then could mean hours typing to get the 20 plus pages of the 8-carbon form ready for the next review. With a mag-tape machine, you could correct the one or two pages that needed it, and reprint out the entire form in minutes rather than hours or sometimes even days.

I do see one advantage to the tablet as opposed to the laptop. I am a full-time caregiver and am often up late at night. With no light, reading a paperback isn't practical. With the tablet I can read and not have to worry about waking anyone up. Of course, you might say that the laptop would do the same. However, the labtop is a lot heavier and the keyboard is not backlit. 

There is also a disadvantage to a tablet as evidenced by a cartoon I recently saw on social media where the paperback hit the tablet's off button. Like any electronic device the tablet can die at a moment's notice. In fact, mine (whose popular manufacturer will remain unmentioned) decided to stop working for three works, before it decided to return from its vacation.

While I now have a tablet, one thing I don't see in the foreseeable future? Getting rid of my shelves of to-be-read, read but want to read again, and reference books.

~till next time, Helen