I wrote my first novel by hand, printing in a series of notebooks. After completing it I entered it into a 'word processor', which was a monstrosity that consisted of a keyboard/cpu unit and a separate printer connected by a cable as thick as a garden hose. My novel filled 15 (fifteen!) data cartridges, and to get everything to fit and print right I had to end pages precisely so they would start correctly on the next cartridge.

When I could afford my first real computer (a Zeos--remember them?), I paid my sister-in-law $500 to enter it into WordPerfect, giving her chapters in reverse order. She was the first person to read my book, just backwards. It was stored on the hard drive (20 whole megabytes!) and backed up on a single hard floppy.

When agents I had queried requested the manuscript, I had to pay for copies and then UPS them across the country to New York. To receive a response meant waiting for the mailman to bring a letter.

And now...

I'm writing this on a tiny netbook that cost less than $300. If needed I can send an electronic copy of a manuscript or screenplay to anyone with an e-mail address in seconds. I haven't printed a book or screenplay in years.

My needs have contracted as the world has expanded. That's a wonderful thing.