Simon and Shuster have a great website which includes a library of Videos from their authors, and I found the latest from Phillipa Gregory very interesting. Go HERE. and HERE for more on writing about Witchcraft in history.
Phillipa has a new book out at the moment – The White Queen, set around the time of the War of the Roses, which has clearly been brilliantly researched.
There is one thing that Phillipa and I both share – I am now the proud owner of a small Netbook laptop!
Two days in and I am loving it.
I have always been a pen and paper girl when it comes to notes and ideas and planning – but now that summer is sprung I am determined to work more efficiently so my Netbook is going to be a constant companion while I enjoy my garden writing space. The LED display and up to 12 hrs battery means that I can see the matt screen even in sunshine and the keyboard is excellent.
One great tekkie tool? The virtual Briefcase tool in Windows, where you can download the contents of your master book file onto your memory stick on your desktop, pop it into your netbook, work on the files, then when you pop it back into your desktop the files in your Briefcase are uploaded onto your master.
One master file. All up to date. No worries about having different versions with the same name and different content.
I actually prefer this to the WiFi uploading option, since I specifically do not want to be using my Netbook for Internet or Email work. WAY too tempting – LOL. But the option is there and the WiFi does work well.
E-books have been whispered.
Have a great weekend everyone.
Great stuff.
5 thoughts on “Tips on Writing from Phillipa Gregory”
Thanks, Nina and Nell. I was umming and ahhing over a Toshiba. (My desktop is custom built by my local tecchie shop but the monitor’s a Samsung and has been excellent over the last year).
I do prefer typing on a desktop (laptop makes my wrists ache). And, as I work from home and don’t go out that often, can I really justify a netbook?
Hmm…
LOL You are quite right Nell. This model came in white as well and it looked spiffy but I knew that I would work better on the black for some reason. Some of the other brands have some amazing colours!
we use dell for all of our desktops and no problems.
Go for it, bestselling award winning authors deserve treats!
I was looking at Samsung. I tend to kill laptops so I keep wandering into PC World and testing them out. Most of my household is Dell and La’s netbook is quite a cute Dell which I quite like. I also saw a nice pink sony vaio too. Maybe I should stop being distracted by the colours.
Hi Kate. of course. I went for the Samsung N210 netbook which runs Windows 7 – and all of the software is preloaded. You can download Office etc through the internet/bluetooth – or through an external DVD drive which you plug in.
During research I also liked the Toshibas [ mr nina has used them for years] and there were lots of options for software and many came with XP – which is not being supported for long apparently, so I went for windows 7 which my desktop runs.
The battery life varies from manufacturer as does the bluetooth etc.
This netbook comes with a 60 day trial of Microsoft Office 2007 home and student edn which works fine and takes 5 mins to download from the internet.
When I changed desktops from XP to windows 7 last year I don’t recall any problems at all.
so far I am loving the flexibility and the keyboard is fine.
TIP – make sure you test the keyboard out in a shop if you can.
do let me know how you get on!
I’m quite tempted by a netbook. Dot you need a DVD drive as well, so you can download Office etc? (Or does it come pre-loaded and you don’t have to faff about?)
And, assuming netbooks all come with Windows 7 now, are the Word files still compatible with say XP?
My laptop appears to have been commandeered by the junior members of the household, and the senior member of the household is trying to commandeer my PC (so he can load his iPod with millions of tracks, sigh), so I’m beginning to think I need something… and something NOT connected to the net would probably be a good idea because then I won’t get sidetracked.
May I ask what sort you went for?
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