4 ms·

Anecdote: Richard Dawkins -- not being happy with Apple Writer that came with the Apple II -- ended up spending a lot of time programming his own word processor

by xjay 10y ago

Anecdote: Richard Dawkins -- not being happy with Apple Writer that came with the Apple II -- ended up spending a lot of time programming his own word processor [1] which he then used to write one book -- The Blind Watchmaker. In response to a question, commenting on him writing ten books at the time, Dawkins interjects to say he could have written 20 books if he hadn't taken up computer programming. [2] [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DEe4QEuOSw&t=1074 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9DEe4QEuOSw&t=1074 [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQp1QaW_onk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gQp1QaW_onk

roryisok 10y ago
This is very relevant to me. I'm a struggling, unpublished novelist with a handful of half finished books and a moderately successful writing app in the windows store, which I use myself. Every time I sit down to write I find myself making notes on how to improve things or sometimes fixing bugs and deploying new versions instead of writing. As a writer, it's probably the worst decision I ever made. As a developer, it's the thing in most proud of (which is also kind of sad since its so very basic)
- ycombinete 10y ago
  What is your app called?
  - roryisok 10y ago
    It's called Poe, available on the windows store, and there's more info on http://getpoe.com http://getpoe.com Written in WinJS. I'm working on v2 at the moment which is a complete rewrite and brings in rich-text and a bunch of other things. Then I'm going to port that to electron to go cross platform. Yeah then I'll totally write a book
    - ycombinete 10y ago
      Hey, Constructive Procrastination is a useful thing.
    - wsc981 10y ago
      Well, I am sure you could write a nice book on how to write software to write books with.
    - richardboegli 10y ago
      WOW! I actually remember trying Poe! Not sure why I stopped? I was trying to write on my phone as well, so that could have been the reason at the time... Having a working draft of your books on your phone is great. When you have any down time, you can open it up and write, proof read, rewrite, plan etc...
      - roryisok 10y ago
        You've just made my day - discovering someone on HN actually used my app is a nice achievement, even if it didn't take =) The version I'm working on now is going to be a universal app, available both on Windows 8/10 and on Windows Phone (which I still use myself) and will hopefully have sync between devices using Dropbox or OneDrive. The end goal is to have it syncing across devices, across platforms. I want to be able to outline a document on my phone while out walking, and then have that outline pop up on the desktop the next time I use it, either on Windows, Mac or Linux
        richardboegli 10y ago
        > You've just made my day - discovering someone on HN actually used my app is a nice achievement, even if it didn't take =) Glad to read that :) > The end goal... End goal sounds AWESOME. Microsoft's decision to provide cut down versions of their office suite on mobile would have me a lot more interested in Poe. Given Microsoft's purchase of Xamarin it might be a lot easier to port to Android and iOS.
- david-given 10y ago
  I did almost exactly the same thing! And yeah, it's the app I'm most proud of, and for which I have the most users --- some of them disturbingly enthusiastic, too.
  - roryisok 10y ago
    What's yours called? We should form a club! I suppose every developer of writing software must start out as a writer.
    - david-given 10y ago
      WordGrinder --- http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/ http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/. I actually wasn't thinking of WordStar when I wrote it, because I've never used WordStar; I was thinking of Word 5 for DOS (the last great Microsoft application), and also InterWord for the BBC Micro. Its main distinguishing feature is that it'll run in a terminal (although it also has raw Xlib and Windows support). It started out at about 6000 loc, written in C and Lua, but has been slowly creeping up. The biggest bit of code is, I think, the Windows GDI front-end, which is a bit horrifying.
      - roryisok 10y ago
        I love the idea of a command line based writing app, I'm going to try it out
- shakna 10y ago
  I always get frustrated with the tools for writing. I like using details in my writing, little things like specific symbols around print numbers, or being able to ensure a particular event takes place on a certain page number... But producing the end files is hell. Some printers take the edge of the page in their own files, the EPUB spec is excruciating at times, without full support in any reader, mobi is a worse thing because it's so proprietary. I've extended Markdown, reStructured Text and Scribble in pursuit of WYSIWYM, and written four or five build tools. But I still feel like writing in the modern world for modern devices is like slowly drowning. Being both a programmer and a writer is a curse.
  - roryisok 10y ago
    > or being able to ensure a particular event takes place on a certain page number... I find your level of organisation intimidating
    - shakna 10y ago
      Don't you always want a towel reference on page 42? Sometimes it makes sense, when you have symbols and stuff. Buried meanings are great little nods to the audience... But not many people would notice if it got pushed to page 43.
      - roryisok 10y ago
        > Don't you always want a towel reference on page 42? Well NOW I do...
  - criddell 10y ago
    Mathew Butterick also wrote a publishing system so that he could write books: http://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/ http://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/
  - richardboegli 10y ago
    > Being both a programmer and a writer is a curse. So true. You have the "know how" to scratch the itch. Microsoft Word ended up being the software I used in the end. It provided the least amount of friction for the full life cycle.
- richardboegli 10y ago
  I too used a handful of different programs while writing my book (including emacs) and ALMOST wrote my own software too, as there was nothing that "just worked" the way I wanted. In the end, I looked at what was the easiest way to get it published onto Kindle and stuck with that. This ended up being Microsoft Word. On a side note, have you had your drafts proof read by anyone? Getting feedback on your writing can help you get to the next draft. Keep doing this process until you publish.
  - roryisok 10y ago
    > On a side note, have you had your drafts proof read by anyone? Getting feedback on your writing can help you get to the next draft. Keep doing this process until you publish. I've had them read by friends, but not professionally. Might take the plunge this year

by xjay 10y ago

roryisok 10y ago

This is very relevant to me. I'm a struggling, unpublished novelist with a handful of half finished books and a moderately successful writing app in the windows store, which I use myself. Every time I sit down to write I find myself making notes on how to improve things or sometimes fixing bugs and deploying new versions instead of writing. As a writer, it's probably the worst decision I ever made. As a developer, it's the thing in most proud of (which is also kind of sad since its so very basic)

ycombinete 10y ago
What is your app called?
- roryisok 10y ago
  It's called Poe, available on the windows store, and there's more info on http://getpoe.com http://getpoe.com Written in WinJS. I'm working on v2 at the moment which is a complete rewrite and brings in rich-text and a bunch of other things. Then I'm going to port that to electron to go cross platform. Yeah then I'll totally write a book
  - ycombinete 10y ago
    Hey, Constructive Procrastination is a useful thing.
  - wsc981 10y ago
    Well, I am sure you could write a nice book on how to write software to write books with.
  - richardboegli 10y ago
    WOW! I actually remember trying Poe! Not sure why I stopped? I was trying to write on my phone as well, so that could have been the reason at the time... Having a working draft of your books on your phone is great. When you have any down time, you can open it up and write, proof read, rewrite, plan etc...
    - roryisok 10y ago
      You've just made my day - discovering someone on HN actually used my app is a nice achievement, even if it didn't take =) The version I'm working on now is going to be a universal app, available both on Windows 8/10 and on Windows Phone (which I still use myself) and will hopefully have sync between devices using Dropbox or OneDrive. The end goal is to have it syncing across devices, across platforms. I want to be able to outline a document on my phone while out walking, and then have that outline pop up on the desktop the next time I use it, either on Windows, Mac or Linux
      - richardboegli 10y ago
        > You've just made my day - discovering someone on HN actually used my app is a nice achievement, even if it didn't take =) Glad to read that :) > The end goal... End goal sounds AWESOME. Microsoft's decision to provide cut down versions of their office suite on mobile would have me a lot more interested in Poe. Given Microsoft's purchase of Xamarin it might be a lot easier to port to Android and iOS.
david-given 10y ago
I did almost exactly the same thing! And yeah, it's the app I'm most proud of, and for which I have the most users --- some of them disturbingly enthusiastic, too.
- roryisok 10y ago
  What's yours called? We should form a club! I suppose every developer of writing software must start out as a writer.
  - david-given 10y ago
    WordGrinder --- http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/ http://cowlark.com/wordgrinder/. I actually wasn't thinking of WordStar when I wrote it, because I've never used WordStar; I was thinking of Word 5 for DOS (the last great Microsoft application), and also InterWord for the BBC Micro. Its main distinguishing feature is that it'll run in a terminal (although it also has raw Xlib and Windows support). It started out at about 6000 loc, written in C and Lua, but has been slowly creeping up. The biggest bit of code is, I think, the Windows GDI front-end, which is a bit horrifying.
    - roryisok 10y ago
      I love the idea of a command line based writing app, I'm going to try it out
shakna 10y ago
I always get frustrated with the tools for writing. I like using details in my writing, little things like specific symbols around print numbers, or being able to ensure a particular event takes place on a certain page number... But producing the end files is hell. Some printers take the edge of the page in their own files, the EPUB spec is excruciating at times, without full support in any reader, mobi is a worse thing because it's so proprietary. I've extended Markdown, reStructured Text and Scribble in pursuit of WYSIWYM, and written four or five build tools. But I still feel like writing in the modern world for modern devices is like slowly drowning. Being both a programmer and a writer is a curse.
- roryisok 10y ago
  > or being able to ensure a particular event takes place on a certain page number... I find your level of organisation intimidating
  - shakna 10y ago
    Don't you always want a towel reference on page 42? Sometimes it makes sense, when you have symbols and stuff. Buried meanings are great little nods to the audience... But not many people would notice if it got pushed to page 43.
    - roryisok 10y ago
      > Don't you always want a towel reference on page 42? Well NOW I do...
- criddell 10y ago
  Mathew Butterick also wrote a publishing system so that he could write books: http://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/ http://docs.racket-lang.org/pollen/
- richardboegli 10y ago
  > Being both a programmer and a writer is a curse. So true. You have the "know how" to scratch the itch. Microsoft Word ended up being the software I used in the end. It provided the least amount of friction for the full life cycle.
richardboegli 10y ago
I too used a handful of different programs while writing my book (including emacs) and ALMOST wrote my own software too, as there was nothing that "just worked" the way I wanted. In the end, I looked at what was the easiest way to get it published onto Kindle and stuck with that. This ended up being Microsoft Word. On a side note, have you had your drafts proof read by anyone? Getting feedback on your writing can help you get to the next draft. Keep doing this process until you publish.
- roryisok 10y ago
  > On a side note, have you had your drafts proof read by anyone? Getting feedback on your writing can help you get to the next draft. Keep doing this process until you publish. I've had them read by friends, but not professionally. Might take the plunge this year