I do so dearly love Stross’s books, and now he’s writing about writing on Reddit. I rather like his writing protocol.
I write exclusively using computers. Pens and typewriters can fsck right off — I wrote my first half million words in my teens on a manual typewriter (had to trade it for a new one due to keys snapping from metal fatigue) so I am not a pen or typewriter fetishist.
I write almost entlirely on Macs, because: Windows gives me hives. (I first ran into Windows as of Win 2.11/386, back in the eighties. It did not leave a good taste. I then became a happy UNIX bunny. Mac OSX is the last UNIX workstation class OS standing. So I’ve learned to put up with its other foibles.)
I have no set writing routine other than: plant bum in chair in front of keyboard/on sofa under laptop, and start going. Oh, and I drink tea pretty much continuously at a rate of around 1 imperial pint/hour, which sort of enforces screen/keyboard breaks.
Whoa, that sounds like my approach. I’m also sitting here with a cup of tea that I rise up regularly to refill, and also to, errm, release the Kraken. He must be a smart man.
19 comments
Skip to comment form ↓
PZ Myers
2 July 2012 at 12:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Yes, I say that every time I unzip my pants. Don’t you?
Rev. BigDumbChimp
2 July 2012 at 12:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Free willy.
Rev. BigDumbChimp
2 July 2012 at 12:09 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well the tone of this post and following comments changed before even one commenter added their 2 cents.
Moggie
2 July 2012 at 12:23 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
As a fellow BOFH, I’m pretty much required to like Charlie’s work.
sawells
2 July 2012 at 12:55 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Given the number of limbs on a Kraken… what the hell has PZ got in his pants? Is this the key to keeping the Trophy Wife happy? The mind boggles.
Zeno
2 July 2012 at 1:11 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Damn! I’m doing it wrong. I don’t drink tea.
Hey, PZ, when is your book coming out? Mine comes out next week!
Mobius 118
2 July 2012 at 2:32 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Bleed the lizard.
timgueguen
2 July 2012 at 2:39 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
And like Pharyngula his blog posts frequently generate 100+ post threads. Especially when he does something like note that no, despite being a science fiction writer he doesn’t assume humans will be building space colonies and conquering the Universe.
http://www.antipope.org/charlie/
Zeno
2 July 2012 at 2:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Stross is one of my favorite writers and his Laundry series seems to get better with each installment.
leonpeyre
2 July 2012 at 3:00 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
That’s a remarkable statement. Is he completely unaware of the dozens of Linux distros out there? I know Linux isn’t technically Unix, but it’s a very close relative.
ChasCPeterson
2 July 2012 at 4:01 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Excellent plan. Now that the TF/Griffith/Laden thing is dying down a bit and the pitizens are lying low? Stir up a good OS flamewar. Very shrewd indeed.
deee
2 July 2012 at 5:51 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“Mac OSX is the last UNIX workstation class OS standing.”
Oh my goggles, that is so wrong it gives me the hives.
cicely (WHAT sammich, Officer? I know nothing about no sammich.)
2 July 2012 at 7:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
“Dextrously Tentacled For Her Pleasure!”
Alethea H. "Crocoduck" Dundee
2 July 2012 at 10:52 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Well, I also like my Mac because it has unix under the hood. It’s BSD-based. Personally, I’ve never cared enough about exactly which flavour of unix I have to quibble over BSD vs Linux, though I understand many people do. As long as I have a sensible shell, I’m happy.
richardh
3 July 2012 at 4:04 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Someone asked him the same question (but I can’t find it again in Reddit’s insane non-expanding tree commenting system ;-( )
… in response to which he drew their attention to his previous career as a freelance journalist specialising in Linux and free software.
I think that means the answer is “yes, and he knows the difference”.
Icaarus
3 July 2012 at 9:35 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Solaris would be the last workstation class UNIX OS, as Mac is no longer workstation class, nor is it UNIX (as mentioned above it’s BSD which is a branch set from UNIX). Some of the various other *nix and BST OS’s meet POSIX compliance, so technically they may be workstation class too, but not strictly UNIX. Why am I so picky about this. Very intelligent people spent a lot of time developing the various branches, it’s a statement of history that we lump them together without concern for Richie or Torvalis.
That being said my macbook far outclasses a solaris machine .
tropp79
3 July 2012 at 12:08 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
OSX has same UNIX 03 certification Solaris has. So, technically, it’s just as much UNIX as Solaris, pedigree nonwithstanding.
In Charlie’s comment, I’d focus on the ‘standing’ part;)
GodotIsWaiting4U
4 July 2012 at 8:05 am (UTC -5) Link to this comment
I prefer to write with a glass of the Kraken while periodically getting up to release the tea, but to each his own.
Iain Walker
8 July 2012 at 12:12 pm (UTC -5) Link to this comment
Am I the only one now stuck with the image of PZ as Londo Mollari?