Zen Desktop: Writing on a Windows laptop is not easy; modern operating systems do everything in their power to interrupt the writing processes with annoying popups, system-procedures and menus that just always manage to get in the way. Eventually, breaking the concentration needed to get on and actually write something! Moreover, the internet is always right around the corner, tempting you to check up on Facebook, ping your blogs, pop up the RSS feeds, the list is endless. Many professional writers have come up with somewhat drastic methods to beat this syndrome. Terry Pratchett, apparently, writes in his local library, Douglas Adams (may he rest in peace) used to lock himself in a hotel in Brighton with his copy editor for two weeks at a time. They unplugged from the net and from the world to write. I can’t do that. Cesca and I have been away for 7 months now, travelling the East. We have visited many countries and have had to write in some very funny places such as on bumpy Vietnam buses at midnight, fast moving Thai ferries, atop cold New Zealand mountains and (in the case of what I am writing now) in an Indian 2nd class train carriage. There are hundreds packed in here today and all the windows are open due to the oppressive heat and the plastic seating. Moreover, thanks to the economic meltdown and the Mumbai terror attacks, tourists are a little rare around here right now and subsequently we are getting a lot more looks than white folk would normally encounter. On top of this, every two seconds, someone tries to sell me something. With so many distractions around me, my Windows Desktop needs to be on my side! It needs to be the place I escape to, not from. Thus with the dint of much effort I have come up with a Zen Desktop that has improved my concentration immeasurably. It has toned down Windows by moving icons out of the way, it uses simple additional programs to display the important information without requiring me to reach for the mouse and all are chosen for their speed and lightweight footprint. It also has a background image of the greatest concentrator of all time, a man who is a lesson to us all of what humans can achieve if they could only get some peace! I want to share a little of that peace with you. Continue reading here: www.outsidecontext.com/2009/02/16/zen-and-the-writers-des…
