Speare word processor

Posted by Amontillado
Dec 6, 2017 at 01:54 AM

It’s an interesting catchphrase for software to make writing fun. Fun with writing starts with a Big Chief tablet and a pencil. I obsess over writing tools, but that’s the baseline requirement for getting a kick out of writing.

My grandpa gave me a portable Smith Corona when I was still in elementary school. That was life-changing. Sitting in the back seat of the family Rambler on the road, typing stuff. Whatever came to mind. Stories. Letters. Great fun.

Then came the day my Dad bought a Selectric. I’ll never forget rolling a sheet of paper into it one day and thinking it wasn’t the same thing as my S-C portable. That Selectric was a mighty engine of communication. That I couldn’t influence the course of starships in the galaxy wasn’t the Selectric’s fault. If the starships had been there, that electric typewriter and a first class stamp would have done fine.

Fortunately, for whatever subscription bubble may burst, open source projects will never disappear.

I like my pretty tools. Emacs works, too. With a spoon I can tunnel out of Alcatraz, and with that Big Chief tablet I can tell the story.