Swork: Attitude & Style In Worping
Being a writer, editor and publisher for others public and private, from my experience of 20 years using many a word processor (worp), I know that people do not enjoy word processing (worping) in preparing letters, reports, brochures, newsletters, manuals, books. A self-appointed advocate, with ‘The Word Professor’ blogsite, I am finally campaigning in earnest for intelligent and inspired writing, editing and publishing using software – preferably Microsoft Word. I’m 66; what took me so long? Attitude.
Why Word? I’ll tell you why. Unlike most people, I enjoy worping. Notice that I have so far invented two words: worp and worping. Swork is another; I invented that word today as a shortcut or an acronym for this thought to encourage you, if you needed encouragement: Word processing is work, but it’s special. Swork is not only a thought; it is also an attitude between artist and his art, between the user and the software. Image from Carf who captions it ‘The Stronger Sex’ (flickr.com/) – I don’t necessarily agree, but that’s attitude! The girl has just the right expression: you look at her and you get the message.
Worping. Word processing started for me in 28 December of 1985, when I got acquainted with WordStar, and it was great. From typewriter to keyboard, that is a stunning paradigm shift which some writers have never gotten to make, like my favorite writer Ray Bradbury – he is still typing his stories with his typewriter. Worping was heaven-sent. Then along came Microsoft Word, and that was God-sent. Next came WordPerfect and that was devil-sent – it created the most beautiful documents but it was also the most difficult to learn among the word processors (worps) in the world.
I ran away from WordPerfect, sorry to say. Actually, Microsoft Word was almost as difficult as WordPerfect, but it was most full of shortcuts (macros) and mnemonic or memorable commands (like Ctrl+J for justified text, Ctrl+P for Print, Ctrl+B for bold etc), as well as programmable commands (you can make your own shortcuts). It still is, even more so. And Word has style, and now I can reprogram Word myself (see blogpost below for more on this subject). In Word, style is expressed through the stylesheet, now referred to as template. The template in Word is by far the best in the world, bar none.
I was already 45 years old, in 1985, when I started to learn worping all by myself, with a little help for a day from a reluctant someone. I didn’t mind her bad attitude of not wanting to share knowledge, because I wanted to learn, and she had to teach me because I asked our boss to ask her, tell her, and she couldn’t refuse: I had just published a book for the office using the IBM Selectric III typewriter. Anyway, I typed the whole WordStar manual (20 pages?) and memorized all the commands and manipulated them to make macros. I aimed at mastering WordStar; then I ran away several months later and aimed at mastering WordPerfect; then I ran away again after a month and aimed at mastering Word, and never left. I wanted to be the best I could be as a writer, editor and publisher, so I pushed myself learning the intricacies of writing, editing, publishing using the personal computer. WordPerfect would not allow me. Today, I am probably the most persistent writer, editor, publisher you can find who is hands-on on hardware and software. I worp, not run from anything that can be typed on the keyboard.
With intense study, about 5 years later, in 1990, I saw that I already knew about Microsoft Word more than anybody else; I already was in a position to share. But I did not share. My attitude was: You want to be good at worping, you study yourself. I didn’t learn to be good overnight.
A few years ago, I ran away from that selfish attitude. I have since changed my mind. And I have finally found my medium. Today, I want to share what I know with the many people in private homes, in schools and offices who would like to improve themselves as writers, editors, publishers using worping software. Share as in free. Just remember that I can’t give you the attitude of wanting to learn – you have to do it yourself!
In the first few years working with Word, I too found this software difficult to work with because the language is highly technical, most of the commands are not suggestive of what they do, and their groupings are either problematic or hard to understand or both. No matter the claim to the contrary, Microsoft Word is not intuitive. Not only that, except for Alpha (gone forever), the menu of the Word that I came to know in 1986 has hardly changed over the years; it’s been 20 years now. If there is any significant change, it’s the added layers of difficulty. But I can be a very stubborn student – intent on studying the impossible. My reward was that after laboring over those quaint commands, I have mastered Word like I have mastered typing: my fingers know which keys to strike for hundreds of commands automatically. (I’ll give you an idea how good I am at typing: Several years ago, someone saw me at the computer keyboard, and she asked: ‘Are you typing or are you playing?’ And I answered: ‘Both.’ And it’s true – Swork! Word processing is work but it’s special to me. I want nothing but to be the best.)
I’m not expecting you to master Word, but I’m expecting you to swork it. To be good at it, to be the best even, I’m expecting from you first and only one thing: Attitude.
You might ask if I’m trying to help Mr Bill Gates sell Microsoft Word. In a direct sense I am, but nobody is paying me. I don’t own a single Microsoft stock – I don’t even own a single Microsoft sock. But I’m the best example of you being able to learn good worping, because I was already 45 when I started, and I’m 99.7% self-taught – .3% of the time I ask. It’s all attitude, not age.
