Office or similar?
Discussion
After some help/recommendations. Started writing my book last year, but like many I guess I quickly got derailed 
Managed to get 10000 words done but it was on a very old laptop and was doing it on a very old version of windows office. Of late I seem to have a fair bit of free time on my hands and rather than sit here looking at rubbish on tv and internet all day I really would like to get back into the book. Its not for financial gain, I really would just like to get it all wrote down. The problem is I am using somebody elses laptop currently and due to circumstances finances are really, really tight. Does anyone know of something I can download onto windows that is along the lines of an office type program that would be ideal for book writing needs and that I can easily save onto a memory stick as i go? TIA.
PS, needs to be fairly user friendly as i'm no tech wizz kid
Managed to get 10000 words done but it was on a very old laptop and was doing it on a very old version of windows office. Of late I seem to have a fair bit of free time on my hands and rather than sit here looking at rubbish on tv and internet all day I really would like to get back into the book. Its not for financial gain, I really would just like to get it all wrote down. The problem is I am using somebody elses laptop currently and due to circumstances finances are really, really tight. Does anyone know of something I can download onto windows that is along the lines of an office type program that would be ideal for book writing needs and that I can easily save onto a memory stick as i go? TIA.
PS, needs to be fairly user friendly as i'm no tech wizz kid
http://portableapps.com/apps/office/libreoffice_po... should run from a USB stick as well so you can have your software with your data, take it wherever you go and lose it all at once 
(get a dropbox account or a google account and keep a copy there - but don't rely on it as your only copy).
(get a dropbox account or a google account and keep a copy there - but don't rely on it as your only copy).
Thanks for that, I did try and download it but it needs a password to open, and as this isn't my laptop I don't have access to it, never mind.
I don't know what happened but have just seen the other replies.
Thanks I will have a look into these ideas in a little while. Google Docs sounds ideal and I can always be online when writing so no issue there
I don't know what happened but have just seen the other replies.
Thanks I will have a look into these ideas in a little while. Google Docs sounds ideal and I can always be online when writing so no issue there
Edited by chilistrucker on Saturday 30th April 15:58
Thanks all, I've just had a very quick play with Google Docs and it looks like exactly what I am after. I like the ease of use, and for somebody that has never really used computers much in the past, (other than surfing the net) it seems ideal.
Right idiot alert!!!!!!!
Would I be right in assuming that as it is "Google" I am never at risk from losing anything that I write whilst using it?
Do i just dip in and out at my leisure and carry on from where I left off next time I go back to it? Is it just floating around in cyberspace all the time. This would be an added bonus for an idiot like myself. It would be bad enough losing the 1 chapter I have wrote, let alone getting 20 chapters in and losing the lot.
Right idiot alert!!!!!!!
Would I be right in assuming that as it is "Google" I am never at risk from losing anything that I write whilst using it?
Do i just dip in and out at my leisure and carry on from where I left off next time I go back to it? Is it just floating around in cyberspace all the time. This would be an added bonus for an idiot like myself. It would be bad enough losing the 1 chapter I have wrote, let alone getting 20 chapters in and losing the lot.
chilistrucker said:
Would I be right in assuming that as it is "Google" I am never at risk from losing anything that I write whilst using it?
Do i just dip in and out at my leisure and carry on from where I left off next time I go back to it? Is it just floating around in cyberspace all the time. This would be an added bonus for an idiot like myself. It would be bad enough losing the 1 chapter I have wrote, let alone getting 20 chapters in and losing the lot.
Mostly. Do i just dip in and out at my leisure and carry on from where I left off next time I go back to it? Is it just floating around in cyberspace all the time. This would be an added bonus for an idiot like myself. It would be bad enough losing the 1 chapter I have wrote, let alone getting 20 chapters in and losing the lot.
They haven't lost any of my files yet, but there's no absolute guarantee.
If it matters to you - download a copy to some storage that you control, as a backup.
And if you haven't found it yet - have a look at the View Revision History option on the File menu - it's wonderful!
marshalla said:
Mostly.
They haven't lost any of my files yet, but there's no absolute guarantee.
If it matters to you - download a copy to some storage that you control, as a backup.
And if you haven't found it yet - have a look at the View Revision History option on the File menu - it's wonderful!
Thanks They haven't lost any of my files yet, but there's no absolute guarantee.
If it matters to you - download a copy to some storage that you control, as a backup.
And if you haven't found it yet - have a look at the View Revision History option on the File menu - it's wonderful!
Just had a look at that, and the other tools on there that should come in handy for me. It's a bit of a learning curve because as I stated I've never really had to, or ever really made use of other things other than purely surfing the net and going on a couple of forums. At least I have now sussed out the paragraph, dictionary, capital letter tools etc.
I've also got a memory stick, so will get in the habit of downloading every time I add stuff and then save that onto the stick as backup just to be on the safe side.
mybrainhurts said:
chilistrucker said:
Started writing my book last year.... I really would just like to get it all wrote down.
:cough:
I've just about finished the 2nd chapter now.
I got derailed after the 1st chapter which i found reasonably easy to write, then life and staying afloat took over, (but I guess that happens a lot.) At the start I was worried if i'd have enough to fill a book and if anyone would actually be interested in reading it? After reading stuff here though I decided I would do it no matter what, even if it was just for my own benefit to put it all down in words.
In my head the original plan was just to put 20 years of work and life on the road down on paper and attempt to try and make it entertaining and hopefully a bit informative without being dull. There are so many things that I think are interesting from the job I did, I just have to hope they will be of interest to others.
Again thanks to some posts on here I got over the over analyzing thing, and just decided to go with the just write attitude, everything else can be sorted once there is finally a completed book there to look at.
I was hoping that 20 years would equate to approx 20 chapters and x amount of words and i'd planned to write it in a timeline sort of fashion from 1993-2014. For some reason I have started the book at what would have been June 2006 as this to me was a very interesting time in so many different ways. I have now covered a week time wise from that period. That week is now the nearly complete 2 chapters and 15000 words. Still have 1 final day to get in from that week to complete that chapter, but it is a very big day that I want to do justice. I like to think I will be close to 20000 words by the end of the chapter.
I've gone from thinking have i got enough, to now thinking how do I narrow it all down? But I'll just keep going with the flow and see where it finishes up.
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