 | The day job requires me to travel UK wide with the occasional European trip and I found it very difficult to keep on top of my writing using a combination of my home PC, works laptop and various storage options, physical and cloud based. I kept finding pieces of work spread across all of these devices and storage locations that I had started and forgotten about. |
Add to this the nightmare of coming up with the perfect prose for a particular piece only to find I had left it on my home PC and I was in an Amsterdam hotel with dodgy wireless access. OK, so I get out my works laptop, wait for it to boot up from standby, forcefully make the laptop forget the local office wireless and make it connect to the hotel wireless, dig out that piece of paper with the access details that they gave me when I checked in, now fire up remote desktop and connect to my home PC login and start Word, now what was that I had in my head 10 minutes ago?
After trying to write short stories for the last eight months under these conditions I decided that there has got to be a better way. So after a long hard look at what technology was out there I settled on the following combination:
- · iPad
- · Docs2Go
- · Dropbox
- · Splashtop Remote
Why iPad?
Instant on, hang on that really doesn’t do it justice, let’s try this: INSTANT ON! Seriously you just lift the clever cover (why did they call it smart?) and its on, tap your finger on the Notes icon and you’re writing. Well that’s the moments of inspiration taken care of, but write a whole novel using the onscreen keyboard? No not ideal so I bought the excellent Bluetooth keyboard from Apple that is a little cramped but is more than up to the task when it comes to lengthy typing sessions.
Why Docs2Go?
I use the ubiquitous Word for my writing on my home PC and I use Excel to plan my novels, record character details and their surroundings. So I needed a product that would allow me to edit both of these file types on the iPad and a key requirement was support for cloud storage. Although Docs2Go has some limitations it does everything that I need and it does it well. If you want a fully featured Office application then you will have to lug a laptop around.
Why Dropbox?
I had been looking at cloud storage for a while and I had used a couple of these solutions in an exploratory manner before and I really liked the concept. Dropbox was the easiest to get started with and has a clear and intuitive interface. Couple this with easy synchronisation, automatic storage of previous file versions and straight forward integration with Docs2Go the decision became obvious. Now I write on my iPad when and where I want then save the document on Dropbox and when I logon to my PC I can review and edit the same document with ease.
‘Keep all my work on a collection of unknown hardware held in a data centre located who knows where?’ I hear you cry, well I would have to agree and so I have a written a script that backs up the Dropbox folders to two external hard disks just in case the cloud dissipates.
Why Splashtop Remote?
When I absolutely have to view a website that uses flash, then a remote desktop is a good option and having remote access to your desktop is a useful tool to have. Also it is always good to have a fallback solution. Splashtop Remote works well with the iPad touch interface and was such good value compared to the competion that I could not justify any other product.
So I have started the first chapter of my first novel using the products mention above, I will post an update in a few months and let you know how I get on.
