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| From typewrite to iPad--What an evolution and journey! |
I've been running columns in Zambian national weekly
newspapers non-stop since 1990, i.e. for twenty-four years. At one time I was
writing three per week. In two of them I have used a pseudonym to hide my
identity but in one of them I have used my real name.
As I have thought about this, I have been
gripped by the changes that have taken place between 1990 and today. If they
had taken place overnight, they would have been shocking but they took place
slowly. So, it is the panoramic view that is breathtaking.
The
Typewriter
When I began writing for the National Mirror newspaper
in 1990, I was using a typewriter. For my younger readers, a typewriter was a
machine we once used for producing print-like characters on paper. It has since
been buried with the dinosaur.
Apart from the energy one exerted to push the
mechanical keys and to push back the paper roller after every line, the
challenge was that you could not squeeze in thoughts into your composition that
occurred to you afterwards. Often I also had to re-type the whole article
because of some errors made while typing.
After typing the article, I used to get on my
bicycle and ride across town to take it to the newspaper offices in time for my
weekly deadline. At that time I was running two columns concurrently—one in my
own name and the other in a pseudonym.
Being an itinerant preacher meant that
sometimes I would have to consider the fact that the articles would be needed
while I was away. Thankfully, there was the facsimile (shortened to fax)
machine. If you are wondering what that is, it was a machine that scanned
documents and transmitted them. It has also been buried with the dinosaur.
The fax machine was wonderful if I was
travelling to foreign countries that were developed enough to have them.
However, often my ministry took me to rural Zambia where they were rare. In
such cases, I would write and deliver a number of articles to cover the period
of my absence. This really stretched my creative capacity.
When all was done, the final agony was when I
would read the article in the newspaper only to find serious typographical
errors. This was because in those days the newspaper copy typists had to copy
word-for-word and they were not impeccable. Sometimes the sentences would say
the exact opposite of what I wanted to say. It was agony, I tell you!
The
Personal Computer
Then the personal computer came to Zambia and
I bade farewell to the typewriter. What a change this brought to my life! One
of our deacons was running a project at the University of Zambia and had some
five or six desktop computers in his office. He offered me the use of one at
any time I wanted to use it.
This solved the problem of energy lost
pushing the mechanical keys and the paper roller. It also solved the problem of
failure to squeeze in thoughts and correct errors as I typed. At least now I
could print only when the whole job was done.
However, it now meant that each time I needed
to work on the columns I would cycle to the office of the deacon, work on my
articles, and print them out. Then I would cycle to the newspaper premises to
drop off the script before cycling back home. It was an agonizing triangle
across town. At least it kept me healthy.
You can well understand how delighted I was
when I bought my first personal computer in 1993. Its total hard drive was 24Mb
and it cost me an arm and a leg. It took very serious master bedroom
negotiations to finally clinch the deal to get a slice from our savings as a family
in order to purchase one. Felistas told me afterwards that she thought I was
being extravagant. A pastor with a personal computer!
Well, one of the main reasons for my
"extravagance" was that I wanted to do my work as a columnist from my
own home. So, I was now back to the situation where I could write the articles
as soon as I was inspired. Sometimes inspiration came in the middle of the
night. Also, now I only needed to cycle one way when delivering the articles.
Thankfully, before long, software for
computers became available that enabled one to send a document from the
computer using a telephone line and it arrived at its destination through the
fax machine. That spelt the end of my cycling to the newspaper offices. I would
only call to find out if the article had “arrived”. At that time, I thought
that this was a great technological achievement.
The
Electronic Mail
The next major blessing was the introduction
of the electronic mail (shortened to email) in Zambia. At the touch of a button
on my computer, my article could now arrive at the newspaper offices without me
even leaving my seat. Although the fax machine did this, this time the sub-editors
only needed to “cut and paste” my articles when they arrived in their inbox. That
spelt the end of the typographical errors caused by copy typists.
At one time the editor for the newspaper with
whom I was writing the two columns said to me, "You should see the
difficulties we have in re-writing some of the articles we get from our
columnists. But for you, even when I'm going away, I just tell the sub-editors,
'When Pastor Mbewe's articles come, just cut and paste!'"
My itinerant ministry still presented a
challenge because up to that point my computer was a desktop. You can well
understand my joy when the laptop computer became an option. I did not hesitate
to begin bedroom negotiations and before long I had bought my first laptop,
which weighed a ton but was at least portable.
Since then, I have worked on reducing the
weight of my laptop so that I can carry it around more easily and write my
articles at the moment of inspiration. I now carry an iPad with me. My
wife—yes, you read it correctly—recently urged me to buy one. It took one year of persuasion before I finally yielded in March 2012. Now, I am very glad I did.
So, as I pause on the eve of a quarter of a
century of being a weekly columnist in my country, almost all my initial challenges are
behind me. I can now compose my articles anywhere, even while on a queue in the
bank. And I can now do it without exerting any physical energy and without
re-writing the whole article. I can now send my articles from the comfort of my
home or wherever I am on the planet at the touch of a button, and it will be
published as it was written. Let’s face it, compared to the early nineties, this
is paradise!
