Fair Well MS DOS - Bruce Atchison

Like many older folks, I began using MS DOS back in the early nineties. Learning its commands was difficult but I managed to do so. At the time, I bought WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS because my IBM clone didn't have enough memory to run Windows 3.1. There also weren't screen readers capable of operating in Windows at that time.

My old PCs and WordPerfect served me well for more than fifteen years. With both tools, I wrote many freelance articles and my three books.

Until XP, I felt that Windows was too unstable to rely upon, especially Windows 98. It was the worst operating system I ever used.

Recently, I find myself relying more on Windows-based programs for my writing. This is because converting from ASCII text to .DOC or .RTF files is a bit of a chore. I had to spend time tidying up improper carriage returns and line breaks. Even WordPerfect 12 for Home was somewhat clunky, in my estimation of course.

As time goes by, I find myself using old technology less and less. I now write with a Windows-based program called Jarte and I store files on USB drives rather than floppy disks. Since the new PCs come without floppy drives, I use an external drive if I do need to read from that old format.

In a similar way, I'm learning new things about our Lord. I've unlearned old ideas which I was taught at a toxic house church. I now know the heavenly Father much better than I once did. This has made a powerful difference in how I pray and study. God isn't the miserly being I once assumed he was. The Holy Spirit is a person and not, as the wicked house church leader taught, composed of departed saints. And Jesus isn't alone in the Godhead as that blasphemous leader claimed.

I now understand that  providence is far more miraculous than the miracles Jesus and his followers performed. So many divergent factors must line up in order for God's will to be done.

Though I still love MS DOS and WordPerfect 5.1, I have grown to enjoy the new technology. In the same way, I no longer view God as somebody to whom I must beg for blessings. Neither do I worry about having enough faith power to satisfy him. Just knowing the real characters of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is a blessing.

"Me! I Disconnect from You" - Bruce Atchison

What's this title from a Gary Numan song doing here? One of my New Year's resolutions is to "disconnect" from my Internet-equipped PC when I'm doing serious writing. I'll still use it for e-mail and research but its easy access to the Internet is hampering my productivity.

Why such an extreme measure? First of all, it's too easy for me to goof off while using my main computer. The posts from the lists I belong to are so alluring. After all, they're more fun to read than sitting in front of a blank word processor screen and pondering what to write next.

Likewise, social media sites tempt me away from productive work. Even writing sites get me exploring rabbit-trail links instead of doing solid research.

Then there's all the maintenance I need to do with antivirus, spyware, and malware programs. Those activities, added to defragmenting and cleaning up junk files steal so much of my day. I'll leave those activities for the evening.Some folks might think I'm being extreme when I use a PC which isn't connected to the Internet. In fact, I find that my productivity increases with the use of older machines which don't nag me every few minutes to update this or that program. I can just hunker down in my front office, formerly a bedroom, and write.


By the way, I wrote my first three memoirs and scores of freelance articles on a DOS computer using WordPerfect 5.1. In spite of it's antiquity, the PC and program produced excellent results for me. I also made good use of the Lord's provision of older computers instead of junking them.

Whatever your writing goals are, I hope you take this advice to heart. Disconnecting from the Web for a time can be a great boost to your productivity. It also helps repurpose older computers or laptops.

WRITING IN THE SUNLIT LAND - Bruce Atchison

It has been a dream of mine for years. As I sat indoors on many beautiful days, I wished I could sit in my yard and write. At long last, I bought a laptop.

I must admit that it's difficult for me to get used to a laptop. Having began my computer experience with MS DOS, typing in commands seems more convenient than moving a mouse pointer around.

I eventually surrendered to Windows in 2000 when I bought a new computer. It had Windows 98, an operating system designed by a masochist. Freezes and crashes were a common occurrence as I struggled to learn this new system.

How I wish I'd switched to Windows XP sooner than 2008. It worked much better than 98 for starters. Though the command prompt was hidden in a nested directory, I made a shortcut to the desktop so I could have easy access  to it. It was most useful for scrounging files from old CD-ROMs which a friend sent me. I've now amassed a large folder of images for my blog. I also found other useful file types.

Now I'm exploring Windows 8.1 and my new laptop. Though I'm slow when it comes to adopting new technology, like the cell phone a friend gave me last year, I expect to find many new features which I should have availed myself of years ago.

My computer experiences have also given me an understanding of people who feel reluctant to become a Christian. After all, it's a totally different operating system from that of the world.  My hope is that God will work through me to help those reluctant souls to see the benefits of being a follower of Christ.

My Electronic Doorway To The World Of Writing - Bruce Atchison

Though I've always loved making up stories and telling people about what I discovered, converting those ideas into print was a tedious process for me. My vision is so poor that I have to write with my nose almost touching the page. Typing was also labourious since I couldn't see what I had typed. Worse yet, my mind tends to race ahead of my fingers so that I often end up typing letters of the next word instead of those I had begun to write. My spelling was terrible too. English has so many illogical conventions regarding the way words are spelled  so it was no wonder I made mistakes.

I found the solution to these problems in 1993. Personal computers had been around for a decade but they couldn't read the screen text aloud to me without special, and expensive, equipment. Those green CRT monitors were very hard for me to read as well, even with a strong magnifying glass. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB) awarded me a screen reader program and voice synthesizer module so that I could now hear what I typed and make corrections. Though I had to pay one quarter of the price of the equipment, it was well worth it. I still have the voice synthesizer, though the software won't work on PCs newer than the 486 series.

Now that I had a screen reader, I bought a second-hand IBM clone for $700.00 and WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. What a world of writing those tools opened for me. I could type, edit, and format my work without straining to see the typewriter paper or the dim text on a monitor. The spell check function saved me from many embarrassing typos, though homophones still tripped me up. Additionally, I could listen to what I'd typed and hear grammatical mistakes.

The electronic door opened even wider for me in 1995. I took a business writing course from Athabasca University and learned to use bulletin board services. I also accessed the local public library and researched assignment topics with it.

By the end of that year, I joined the growing crowd of Internet users. News groups, web sites, and e-mail all helped me to research freelance writing opportunities. Additionally, I made many good friends online.

Though technology moved ahead, I felt reluctant to give up my 386SX computer and WordPerfect 5.1. When I bought a new computer in 2000, I still used my old faithful PC for writing articles. That lasted until the autumn of 2005 when it finally died on me. Having acquired second hand computers, I continued to use my old software on them. My three paperbacks were written with WordPerfect 5.1, as were most of my freelance articles.

My first two books are featured on the Bruce Atchison's books page. How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity (My most recent memoir) is distributed through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Virtual Bookworm Publishers.

I'm Glad I Learned MS DOS - Bruce Atchison

Why should anybody, particularly a writer, continue to use an operating system that was on its way out twenty years ago? With Microsoft Windows securely-established as the world's leading program platform, using DOS seems like going back to writing on clay tablets.

Two decades ago, I took an MS DOS and WordPerfect class at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). At the time, I believed both programs would serve me well for many years. Learning the commands of each was difficult, but I felt determined to master them all.

I bought my first DOS-based computer a year later and immediately realized the advantage of using it. Since my vision has always been very poor, writing felt like an irksome chore. WordPerfect 5.1 opened up the wonderful world of writing for me. When I began accessing the BBS at the public library and ventured onto the Internet in 1995, whole new vistas of research and writing opportunities presented themselves on my amber monochrome monitor.

I still do my serious writing with a DOS-based PC. Additionally, I've discovered that many commands work in Windows' Command Prompt. One of my favourites is the CHKDSK C:/F/R command. This tells the computer to check the drive and fix any errors. Even better, it works on floppy disks and flash drives. Just type the appropriate drive letter, such as A, E, or whatever My Computer reports as the drive letter for whichever storage device you wish to check. I've rescued many ailing floppies and disorganized flash drives by using this command.

Another example is a command that transfers types of files. , I found some cool clip art on old CD-ROMs that a friend sent me. Instead of laboriously dragging and dropping each image, I typed the following command.

XCOPY D:\*.JPG/S E:\JPG

When I pressed "ENTER," the computer copied all the JPG picture files on the disks to my JPG folder on drive E. I did the same with the BMP, GIF, PIF, PCX, PNG, and similar image formats. By the way, you can also click "START," "RUN," and type both of these commands in the edit box that appears.

Now I can dress up my blog posts with appropriate artwork. Every Tuesday and Friday, I post excerpts from my books at the Bruce Atchison - author page. Please check it out, especially if you enjoy memoirs.

WordPerfect and the Perfect Word -- Bruce Atchison

Acquaintances periodically ask, "How can you write when you can't see well?" This question is easily answered, though it does take a bit of explaining.

I use a screen reader, a program that converts the text on the computer monitor, as well as the keystrokes the user types, into synthetic speech. Thirty years ago, various developers made voice synthesizer hardware that either plugged into a serial port on the computer or fitted into one of its expansion slots. Modern screen reader programs use the computer's sound card and speakers to inform the user of what is happening on the screen.

I was introduced to the world of synthetic speech and screen readers in January of 1993. The Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB), paid for three-quarters of the expensive hardware/software package, allowing me to use a computer for writing my articles and music reviews.

WordPerfect 5.1, difficult though it was to learn, opened the way to my future writing career. With it, I could write, edit, and overcome my chronic spelling problem. This MS DOS program gave me the additional ability to format my writing in an acceptable way for editors and readers alike.

I still use WordPerfect 5.1 today because it works reliably . With obsolete computers (which I choose to use), I wrote a variety of freelance articles, beginning in 1996, as well as two books. I have written a third one but it's only in manuscript form. By the grace of God, I hope to have it published this year.

Though I have done a fair amount of secular writing, my heart's desire is to glorify our heavenly Father through my craft. Having always had the desire to tell stories, I believe the Lord gave me the talent for communicating ideas. With his help, I hope to bring him glory through my upcoming How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity memoir. I also post excerpts of my books and relevant stories about them on my blog. My books can also be purchased there.

Llet There Be Stories - Bruce Atchison

Blasphemous though this may sound to some, storytelling gives us godlike powers. I discovered this when I told my school mates and my sister, Diane, side-splitting tales that I made up. As they gathered around me each day during recess, they eagerly listened and laughed. For a few brief moments, I was the hero who lead them out of their mundane surroundings and into wondrous imaginary worlds.

Writing down my stories was a different matter. Being born legally blind, I had to hold the paper an inch away from my face as I scribbled my essays and assignments. Touch typing was equally irksome as I couldn't see what I had just written unless I used a powerful magnifying glass. My back and head often hurt after an hour.

Expressing myself in print became much easier when in 1993, the Canadian National Institute for the Blind helped me pay for a speech synthesizer for my computer. Installing and using WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS made spelling and editing a breeze. Two years later, the Internet opened up a world of research and freelancing opportunities. After taking a magazine writing course, I pitched numerous ideas for articles to publications and sold some.

I also discovered the therapeutic benefits of the craft when I self-published a memoir called Deliverance from Jericho (Six Years in a Blind School) in 2007. Today, memories from that part of my childhood no longer sting as they once did.

After I finish editing my memoir called How I Was Razed: A Journey from Cultism to Christianity, I hope to return to my first love. Creating my own worlds and characters is something that has and always will give me my deepest satisfaction. My hope is that readers of my stories will sense that in the words I use.