Why Would I Write

  • FocusWriter

    You know what’s better than owning a nice keyboard? Having things to type on it. Something about hitting keys and watching characters appear on the screen is so satisfying. It also helps that both my hobbies and work requires me to type.

    These days I write my blog posts in a program called FocusWriter (btw when did the term app come to replace programs? I use it to differentiate programs on phones/tablets with desktop programs but I believe they are interchangeable now). I discovered it a few years ago when I saw it being recommended for writers to use during Nanowrimo. It has a handy wordcount feature at the bottom which helps you mark your progress for the day (you can decide what your daily goal is).

    It is extremely customizable in terms of looks – it even comes with some preset themes for you to use (I created a blank one for myself and increased the font size due to the default size being too small on a high-resolution display). Other than the basic dictionary and chapter dividers, it’s a pretty barebones writing program that gets the job done. It maximizes itself (you can’t change this) so it completely covers your desktop, including your taskbar; to keep you free from distractions. No more blinking icons or pop ups on your screen until you alt+tab away from the software. I guess it is named FocusWriter for a reason.

    However, it’s not magic. It won’t make you write better or suddenly fill your head with ideas. No program can do that. But for what it sets out to accomplish, it gets the job done. Since I learned how useful it was to have a distraction-free workspace to get my writing done for my first Nanowrimo, I’ve been using it to write everything else (except those days when I felt like writing directly into WordPress’ editor. It’s now one of the programs I need installed on any computer I use to write.

    It’s free (donations are encouraged) with no adverts, stable and bug-free. It’s definitely not for everyone – if you need to have multiple windows side by side while you write, FocusWriter isn’t for you. But if you just want a blank space while you transfer all your ideas from your head to the screen, you should check it out.

    FocusWriter is available now for Windows, Mac, and Linux.
    [Official Site]

  • My Shell

    I’m not sure if it’s because of past experiences, but today I reminded myself of my hatred for being in extremely crowded places.

    I was walking around Chinatown today, and felt extremely uncomfortable being surrounded by so many people. There was a fear of being pick pocketed, being the victim of a random slashing incident and even being hit by a passing vehicle. It was mostly irrational, and I can’t really explain why I felt that way, but it was just what my mind was going through as I walked through the crowded streets.

    If it wasn’t a fear of something bad happening, there was the annoyance of having to slow down my walk when there were too many people standing in my way. I don’t know why people aren’t more considerate in public. Please don’t hog walkways. It’s like people standing on the walking side of escalators, and acting oblivious to people who would like to get to their destinations quicker. Is it so hard to a considerate human being?

    Maybe it was because of the weather. The stink of rubbish and sweaty people amplified by the scorching sun wasn’t helping alleviate my irrational thoughts.

    I like cities. But I hate crowds. I enjoy KL when everyone’s gone for the holidays. I stand at the back at gigs instead of participating in the mosh pit. I love being by myself. Am I turning into a hermit or a paranoid? Hmm.

  • The File

    “Holy shit! Did you hear that?”

    “My screams of agony?”

    “No! The computer, it beeped!”

    “You must be hearing things, now come on, get this cord out of me before the wound gets infected and I get poisoned.”

    “No, I’m serious, George! Look! she said as she turned the laptop to my face.”

    “New device found. What would you like to do with it?”

    “No fucking way! What the hell?”

    “Exactly, we’ve got to check it out!”

    “Please hurry up, it really hurts.”

    She moved the cursor onto open drive and there was a single executable file on the drive. George.exe.

    “Is that it?”

    “Uh huh,” she nodded.

    “Should we be running untrusted executables on your laptop?” I asked.

    “What the hell does that mean?”

    “No wonder your computer’s always full of malware..”

    She slapped me on my arm.

    “Hey!”

    Before I could object, she double clicked the file.

    A little window popped up with a list of options that would normally be found on a computer.

    Explore, run, shut down, restart, sleep, and update.

    “Let’s see what’s in explore,” without giving me a chance to object, she clicked it which and a gallery popped up, showing tons of folders named and sorted by dates. She clicked the folder at the top of the screen and a video clip popped up. It was a point of view video clip, showing me waking up, brushing my teeth, taking a leak and getting dressed before leaving the house this morning. Basically everything that I had been doing until I was at her house where we were wrestled on her bed and the USB cord pierced into my back.

    “Holy shit. What the hell is this shit?”

    She closed the video and selected another date at random, it was a few days earlier. It started off the same way, me waking up, heading to the toilet to wash up, taking a dump, getting dressed and heading to work.

    “You spend a lot of time on Facebook in the office,” she remarked.

    I laughed. “Alright, that’s enough of going through my memories. Let’s try plugging the cord into you.”

    “No way, I haven’t had enough yet!” she responded.

    “Come on, this is way too much, you can’t spend the whole day going through what’s in my head!”

    An evil grin appeared on her face.

    “Don’t tell me, you’re thinking of what I think you’re going to do.”

    Without saying a word, she exited to the main menu and clicked on sleep. I immediately blacked out.

    I don’t know what happened next.

    Writing Prompt from Reddit: While wrestling around on the ground with your girlfriend, you accidentally roll over onto your USB cord and it pierces into your back. You reach around to pull it out, your girlfriend screams and points at the computer where a small window says “New Drive (Q:) Recognized”