How Technology Helps Our Writing by Sandi Somers

 

Years ago, David Suzuke spoke at our teachers’ convention. One statement has stayed with me. “When we get a new technology, we wonder how we got along without it,” he said. 

How true his statement has been as I prepared for this November blog. Technology has greatly changed and improved our writing life. 

Typing was among my earliest ventures into new technology. It was much easier than with a manual typewriter. I could move script around and didn’t have to retype everything for a new draft. I didn’t have to worry about spelling mistakes. 

Oh yes, then came spell check. It was helpful, but then not everything is corrected. I always have to go back and spell check the spell checker. 

Dictating. Several years ago, I began recording my writing into my cellphone. After handwriting a general outline, I dictate, which goes much faster. However, my current cellphone is not as accurate as my last one. Often it adds periods and doesn’t capitalize words such as “Bible”, “Jesus”, and even “God”! It doesn’t understand unusual words. For example, when I was dictating about our InScriber, Jack Popjes, a Wycliffe Bible translator with the Canela tribe in Brazil, I discovered this interpretation: “Pop the juice” was among the “vanilla tribe”. This was easy to correct, but sometimes I wonder what it is hearing! 

Researching using Google has been a great time saver. Years ago, I told a writer that there’s usually a library book on any given topic. Now all we need to do is click on Google, search, and confirm our sources, all within minutes as we sit at our computer. 

Bible references. The Lord often brings Scripture to mind, but I don't always remember the location. My go-to site now is Bible Hub where I find different versions of Scripture, including Greek and Hebrew, plus related verses, commentary selections, and Bible study questions. I was glad to give away my large concordance where I had to search under a key word—sometimes not finding the verse. 

Online courses, podcasts, webinars, and conferences. Contrast this with my first distance correspondence course years ago through Athabasca University. Each Tuesday evening we could phone the tutor with our questions or quizzes and hope we wouldn’t get a busy signal (which I sometimes did). We’d have to mail in our major assignments, making sure the university received them before the due date. How complicated it seems now! 

Executive and group meetings are so efficient with Zoom. In the early days of Teachers of ESL, provincial executive meetings were held in Red Deer, halfway between Edmonton and Calgary. Copies of agendas and minutes were mailed out to all the exec members. Later when I joined the executive, members of our Calgary chapter met at Mount Royal College where we had access to conference calling. Later on when part of the InScribe executive, we graduated to timesaving Zoom meetings where for an hour or two we sat in the comfort of our offices as we conducted our business. 

Submitting and publishing. In my first devotions to the Upper Room, I sent by mail and included a SASE (remember those? self-addressed, stamp envelopes?)  I even asked my friend who was working in the US to send me some American stamps and hoped I included enough postage to cover cost of returning them. What a difference email has made! 

Promoting our work through Facebook, Instagram, Substack and other formats. I’m just getting into this avenue, now that I’ve published my first book. It’s a steep learning curve. 

And now AI. If we choose, we can even have our work written for us. It can bring up needed information in seconds, although without human touch and emotion, writing can look sterile. 

Modern technology has opened these and many more doors of opportunity. My examples above are only a small portion of how technology has helped us in our writing careers. 

However, Kelly Kapik, writing in Christianity Today, reminds us that our relationship with God is rarely efficient. “Technology pulls us toward optimization, but God’s work in our lives takes a slower route”, he wrote.

"God is more interested in relationship than in the speed of our progress; he is more concerned with lifting our gaze, provoking our song, and stimulating our imaginations with his goodness and glory than in simply bringing us over the finish line. And as most artists or authors know, mechanistic efficiency is often the enemy of creativity…Instead of efficiency, God is interested in cultivating love, beauty, wonder, community, and worship."

Let us allow God’s values to shape ours and our writing as we engage in His “patient, deliberate, and faithful love.”[i]

Sandi Somers’ writing passion is to help readers grow their faith in Jesus, including their vision of what God wants them to be and do. She writes of her love of nature, gardening, travel, and family in several genres—devotionals, personal essays, and Biblical fiction. She has recently published her first book, Divine Encounters: 21 Stories of God’s Miraculous Ways.

Sandi lives in Calgary, Alberta, the delightful city between the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies. 

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[i] Kelly Kapic, “Unlearning the Gospel of Efficiency,” Christianity Today https://www.christianitytoday.com/2025/07/ai-technology-dependence-god-only-human-gospel-of-efficiency/

Learning Curves ~ Valerie Ronald

image by Pixabay

Perched on the edge of our chairs, hands poised over the keys, we waited for the timer to sound. Ding! And we were off, filling the classroom with the deafening clatter of multiple manual typewriters as we raced to type as many correctly spelled words as we could in the time given. Back then in high school I had no idea how useful the skill of touch typing would be in my future as a writer. Cursive writing is awkward for me as I am left-handed. Though many writers prefer the tactile process of handwriting, I still favour using a keyboard.

Keyboards and I go way back. From high school typing classes, to 1970s newspaper teletype machines and early personal computers, my fingers became an extension of my creative thought process. Standardized English alphabet keyboards mean I can write on most computers available to me. Many writers use the “hunt and peck” technique with some proficiency. I like the speed and smoothness of touch typing.

In fall of 2025 I embarked on a lifelong dream of writing my first book. Knowing I was a high school student back in the 1970s, you can assume my present age made improving my online technology skills a challenge. I needed to upgrade my computer in order to accommodate the word processing program required by my publisher. That meant two new systems to navigate. There were times when I shut down my computer and walked away in frustration. Often by the next day a solution to my digital dilemma would come to me and I forged ahead. My publishing editor was always available to help when I was really stuck.

Now that my book is published, I realize the importance of having a God-given calling and purpose in order to stay the course when things are difficult. Focusing on the end goal helps me persevere through the ongoing challenges of managing social media platforms and web-based tools as a means of promoting my book. Having learned what I did through the publishing process, I have confidence that I can master most of what I need to do.

The ethical quandary of promoting my own work is where I find it difficult to strike a balance. Before independent publishing became more accessible, mainline publishers did the job of promoting and selling the work of the authors they represented. I worked with a reputable publishing services provider that expertly guided me through every step of publication, including book marketing and promotion. They gave me the tools, yet I find it difficult to manage promotion of my own work without appearing self-important.

Initially I am using Facebook and Instagram to post quotes from my book and reviews from readers. As I become familiar with the elements of these tools, I hope to try new promotion techniques. By observing how more experienced authors handle social media, I can learn to do so tastefully. It will take a while for me to find an online promotion style suited to the book, and myself as an author. I welcome any helpful recommendations! 

Valerie Ronald writes from an old roll top desk in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba, with her tortoiseshell cat for a muse. A graduate of Langara College School of Journalism, she writes devotionals, fiction, and inspirational prose. Her purpose in writing is to encourage others to grow in their spiritual walk. She has recently published a devotional book, "Each Shining Moment - Lingering in God's Light." 

Technology or Analog? by Carol Harrison

                              

photo by Carol Harrison

Technology often scares me. Oh, I use my computer for word processing and Mr. Google to search for information. I have even shopped online from time to time. I’ve also wasted time scrolling through Facebook to procrastinate doing other things on my to do list. I used to always type my projects directly into the computer word document but over the last few years have picked up a pen and put the words on paper before typing them. Why? I’m not sure. I type faster than I can write longhand. Yet sitting in my big comfy chair with the sun shining in the large patio windows feels like a warm, safe space to journal or write blog posts in a notebook.

Maybe it would be clearer to say that using social media intimidates me. I don’t know the best way to use it to promote myself and my writing to potential readers. I do have a Facebook account and an Instagram one too. I even have a Twitter or X account but I don’t use it and rarely post on Instagram. My Facebook account started to keep in touch with friends and family. Some family posted news and photos on closed accounts and it helped keep us in touch.

When I began writing, I posted about any writing and even did several on line book launches that had a week of posts and photos along with an invite to a live video launch. The live part terrified me. I worried I couldn’t make it happen and yet I set myself a goal to try. I think they worked out.

Then a writer friend encouraged some of us to take one week and post something unrelated to selling our books. It should be fun and inspirational posts. She wanted us to try and connect with potential readers without a sales pitch. I took up her challenge. After the week finished, I continued posting three times a week. Monday I posted a photo and inspirational post to go with it. Wednesdays I posted creative endeavours of friends and family to encourage them and share their work with any followers I had. Finally, on Fridays I decided to try something fun. I began posting photos of my bear, Patches, doing different things and invited people to caption the photo or use it for a creative prompt or just enjoy it. I chose the teddy bear because I don’t have a pet that might offer a variety of poses.

As time passed, the Monday and Wednesday posts disappeared. Friday Patches posts have continued. Now when memories bring up some of the inspirational posts from back then, I share them again. Maybe it’s time to reinstate them and come up with some new ones.

But, although I do use Facebook a bit and word documents, updating and maintaining my own webpage is beyond my skill level. I need to have someone more tech savvy help me or rather implement the changes I need. Right now that hasn’t happened for way too long leaving an outdated web page.

Technology or analog? I wouldn’t want to give up my smartphone or laptop even though the computer at times frustrates or overwhelms me. I don’t use either to their full capacity. There is something about sitting with pen and paper to jot down thoughts. But to interact with more potential readers, Facebook has its place. Now I just need to get past my phobia surrounding using technology and surrounding myself with others who know more than me about using social media and updating my website.

 

Carol Harrison feels like social media and technology can be frightening things but necessary ones. She lives in Saskatoon, SK and is grateful for help from family unafraid of pushing a wrong button.

Technology by Lorilee Guenter

Mister Bert's Adventure by Lorilee Guenter

Technology offers many tools for writers and authors. I find it has many drawbacks as well. I choose between them based on a number of criteria, mostly though it comes down to preference. I prefer analog for some tasks, and I prefer digital for some tasks. Some things require technology.

I write 99% of my first draft long hand, including this post. The weight of the pen in hand and the sound of the nib travelling across the page are sensory details I don't want to give up. They tell my brain it's time to write. I also keep a journal, a prayer journal, and a travel journal. My travel journal is written from two points of view. I write my thoughts then I print an "Adventures Log" from the point of view of a small stuffed koala called Mister Bert. In this way my journal is both a record and a story prompt.

Subsequent drafts of writing are typed, printed and revised longhand. I just don't like staring at a screen for hours. I will edit small pieces without reprinting them but the majority of my work gets printed for revision and for a hard copy reference. 

Technology offers many tools for artists. I have scrapbooked parts of our family traditions, travels, and general life. Most often I used digital tools to create the pages, then print some of them. The key reason I create a scrapbook page is to tell the story with words and images. As long as they are accessible by family they can count as finished in digital form. I would like to print more of them so we can hold the books in hand, but for now I'm happy having them done

For my other art, I need physical tools: pens, pencils, and paint. I use a variety of materials as my base such as: wood, paper, tea bags, and canvases. There's no digital replacement for the art I create.

Digital or analog, I find a place for the tools offered by both mediums. Digital is easier to share. Analog gives tactile feedback. I don't want to pick just one. 

Lorilee Guenter is a Saskatoon, SK based writer and artist. She bridges the gap between Digital and analog technologies by using both. She writes a Substack each Friday.