The Suspense Is Killing Me

Software review: FocusWriter

2011-09-21T17:25:00.000-07:00

For years, I've been a fan of distraction-free word processing software.

These are word processors that block everything on your computer screen except your words. This helps reduce distractions to the writing process -- distractions like Facebook, Google and CNN.com. When I see only my words, I tend to concentrate just a little more on the task at hand.

The best such programs allow the user to customize the experience at least by setting text and background color, perhaps also font and type size. Those are the basic requirements for me.
My favorite program of this type for the last couple of years has been Q10. It functions admirably, it's small, stable and does the job.

But I recently stumbled on an even better program: FocusWriter.
Compared to Q10, FocusWriter takes up more disk space. But that's the only down side, and it really doesn't matter.

What sold me on the program (well, like Q10, it is freeware, so I didn't actually pay for it) are two excellent features. First, it can open several documents simultaneously, each accessible by a click on a tab. Second, the menus are easily accessible simply by moving the mouse to the edges of the screen.
Q10 was good, but you had to remember a function key combination in order to get to the menu -- maddening if you forgot which key it was.

FocusWriter solves that issue. When you're writing, all you see is words on a plain background. Lime green on black has been my color scheme of choice forever. But if you want access the menus, just move the mouse to the top of the screen and the menu bar appears. Want to scroll down a long document? Just move the mouse to the right edge of the screen and a scroll bar appears. Want to switch to one of the other documents you have open? Move the mouse to the bottom of the screen and a tab bar appears. Makes perfect sense.

Even better, when you close FocusWriter, then open it later, it remembers all your open documents, so they're all still there in the tab bar. Even better -- it works not in TXT, but in RTF file format, so you can bold and italicize. Perfect!

And the topping bonus is that it is available as a portable application, at PortableApps.com. So I can keep it on a USB memory stick, take it and all my text with me and work anywhere there's a Windows computer (or a Linux machine with the excellent WINE addition, which lets you run a lot of Windows software).
FocusWriter also allows you to add a graphical background image and play background audio. But those would only distract me.

Check it out:
http://gottcode.org/focuswriter/
http://portableapps.com/apps/office/focuswriter_portable

Randy Wayne White

2011-09-10T05:09:00.000-07:00

Author Randy Wayne White is about a dozen books into a series about retired Florida assassin Marion (Doc) Ford.

It's a terrific series about a memorable character. A one-time government assassin, Ford has left his former career and set up shop as a self-employed marine biologist. He lives in a unique house on Florida's Gulf coast, has a couple of boats, and spends a lot of his time with a lovable hippie drug addict. But each book in the series revolves around a problem that ends up requiring Doc to use his dormant skills.

If you're new to author White, start with one of the earlier books in the series. They're all great. But I was disappointed in the last two books about Ford; they lacked the spark that got me hooked on the Doc Ford books.

Doc Ford shares a few obvious similarities to old standby Travis McGee, the well-known white knight created by John D. MacDonald. Both characters live in Florida, hang around boats, are pretty much loners who have a single good friend. And both frequently get into trouble while helping acquaintances out of sticky situations. But Doc has interesting quirks that are all his own, and the series is well worth exploring.

Tony Hillerman

2008-10-29T06:15:00.000-07:00

Tony Hillerman's passing marks the end of a long string of excellent fiction books.

I fell in love with Hillerman's Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn novels back in the 1980s. I read every one of them as soon as I could get my hands on them. I enjoyed them all, though I think his last couple of stories didn't measure up to his earlier works.

I enjoyed Hillerman's works for two main reasons.

First, he created characters that were likeable and believable. Leaphorn and Chee both are honest, upright lawmen. But both have personal foibles and imperfections that make them human. They react to situations just as I suspect real people would. I believe them.

Second, Hillerman set his stories in the American Southwest, a region that fascinates me. He was good at describing the terrain, the foliage, the weather, everything that I find interesting about the desert.

My favorite titles by Hillerman are Listening Woman and The Dance Hall of the Dead.

Aimee and David Thurlo: The Ella Clah series

2008-10-02T13:30:00.000-07:00

Changing Woman was the second Ella Clah mystery I've read. I honest don't remember what the other one was, though I read it less than a year ago. There are eight or so books in the series about a Navajo tribal police officer. I guess I must have enjoyed the first one I picked up, because when I saw this title on the shelf, I grabbed it.

This one held my interest.

Let me back up a moment and admit that I'm a big fan of Tony Hillerman's series set on the Navajo reservation. I love his characters, adore his descriptions of the southwest desert, and mostly appreciate his plots. (Though his latest efforts don't measure up to his earlier stories, in my opinion.)

Changing Woman didn't light my fire. It was okay. The plot was interesting, though not inspired. The main character is fairly well developed, though I never really empathized with her. The other characters were bit players, none of them really feeling like real people to me.

I was rather put off by the authors' direct copy of one of the idiosynchrocies of one Hillerman's primary characters, the device of an investigator putting colored pushpins into a map to mark the locations of criminal acts. Perhaps the authors meant that as a tribute to Hillerman, but to me it came off as cheap mimicry.

The Thurlos just didn't offer the snap of local color and description that mesmerized me in the Hillerman books, either.

Mary Daheim: Mysteries featuring a small town newspaper editor

2008-10-02T13:16:00.000-07:00

Last week, I picked up The Alpine Betrayal by Mary Daheim at a used book store. There are about 10 books in the series, which features Emma Lord, the editor of a small town in northern California.

I've read through Chapter 7, about 80 pages. So far, I am enjoying it. The local color is interesting. The main character is fleshed out well. There is a cast of secondary characters, some of whom are described in detail and some of whom get only passing notice.

I just waded through a two-page scene in which the author introduced more than a dozen new characters by name and terse description. There's no way I can keep track of that many characters, particularly when they're thrown at me like bullets from a machine gun.

But I still like the author and look forward to exploring more of the series.

Archer Mayor: Vermont mysteries

2008-06-20T13:16:00.001-07:00

I recently discovered a mystery writer named Archer Mayor.

I read The Skeleton's Knee and enjoyed it so much I went out and picked up Bellows Falls.

Both books feature a Vermont police detective. The books are well written procedurals. They have a realistic feel. The main character stands out as a real human being, and he's surrounded by believeable secondary characters.

Check one of 'em out.

Books flow past in a river of words

2008-05-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

The library of memory is that most treasured.

I enjoy my bookshelves at home as much as the next reader. They're filled with some of my favorite authors - Richard Brautigan, Donald Hamilton, Ernest Hemingway, John MacDonald, Steve Hamilton, Natalie Goldberg. It's nice to have them around to talk to now and then, to read their words.

But even when I'm away from the shelves, they're with me all the time. A line from one of their books might suddenly pop into my head. A scene may remind me of a story.

The library in my head is most valuable to me. And nothing can ever take it away.