The Dark Ages (Before the Web)

I remember my first computer – a Commodore 64 back in the 1980s – that I used to write my second book. There wasn’t an Internet back then. I purchased the computer[image error] simply to use as a word processor because it was somewhat more efficient than the Smith-Corona portable electric typewriter I used in college and for writing my first book.
I will say that that I never lost copy while using the typewriter (something that happened with regularity with the Commodore 64) and I was much more careful while writing because I didn’t want to spend a lot of time in rewrites. Back then, of course, I used copyediting marks during the rewrite process. I kept a Thesaurus, Webster’s dictionary, and Associated Press Stylebook on my desk as my primary reference tools. I also had a set of the World Book Encyclopedia that I used for research. And I spent a lot of time in libraries, using their vast resources on the shelves and microfilm.My, how times have changed. Everything is practically at our fingertips while writing. Of course there is a downside to that as well. It's awfully easy to get distracted from writing when you find yourself checking and sending e-mails and going beyond research into aimless surfing.And I know a few folks who decide to take a break from the writing and play an online game -- just one or two times -- and end up playing countless times.Sometimes the pre-Internet days sound pretty good. Until the next time...