My biggest disappointment with Siri is that she won't launch the Voice Memo app! And she's not that great a note-taker. I was riding my bike yesterday and had to stop three times to dictate notes for three different scenes for a screenplay I'm working on. They kept popping into my head at a very inconvenient time. I am hopeless when it comes to remembering things that come to mind when I'm half-asleep or busy with something else. I also carry a little spiral notebook with me. But I'm a also a big fan of voice memo on my phone!

Margaret Atwood is, to my mind, one of the world's greatest living authors. I love this: "She starts with a rough notion of how the story will develop, “which usually turns out to be wrong,” she says." I think many writers start out this way. I know I do. But without that starting point, the story simply can't develop. I used to write longhand as I had nothing else but I found it far too slow. My first typewriter was an old ribbon clunker I found in/liberated from the attic of a hotel. There was no "h" key and if I typed too fast, the keys would jam. I got an electronic typewriter in 1998 but that was good only for typing out drafts to send out as the ribbons were far too expensive for rewrites. It was only when I got a computer that I was able to do what I really wanted to do. As for taking notes while out and about, I don't do it. I might photograph an interesting building or a funny dog and store it in a folder on my laptop for future reference, but I find writing down notes to be counter-productive.

I still need to write on paper from time to time. When I need to organize my ideas, I think the paper is better.

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