Computers and Creativity

        I have two computers, both IBM ThinkPads, both set up so I can boot either Windows or Linux.

        I have five different web browsers, three different office suites, three text editors, three e-mail programs and a bunch of other stuff, including an encyclopedia, two or three dictionaries and a thesaurus or two. (I structured that last sentence that way because I was too lazy to open the dictionary and find out what the plural of "thesaurus" might be.)

        I think computers are great.

        I use computers on a daily basis.

        However ....

        My big aid to creativity is a notebook which I carry around in my pocket.

        (Actually, I'm writing this in winter, and the notebook is spending the winter living in the pocket of my outdoor coat, so it is always readily available when I am on the move.)

        Having done most of my writing on computers since the 1980s, I still believe that, for the initial act of capturing the idea that is spinning in your imagination, nothing can really improve on pen and paper.