Kill any trees lately?

I try not to think about it. I like trees.

I used to do a lot more editing on paper, now I do most of mine on the computer with only a final editing draft printed out which I then enter into the computer. Oh and then ther is the very final draft that I print out, but I recycle the draft ones, print on the back for other work that is only for me.

Speaking as a lawyer, a contested divorce can go through an entire stand of Douglas fir just like that! So dobn't feel too badly.

saving trees

I sympathize. I like to edit on paper, too, although like SRHowen I've gotten used to doing more of it on the screen.

I print copies of my work for my writers group; they write notes on their copies and I incorporate them (or not), and then that makes more copies to deal with/recycle.

One thing I do is print in draft mode to use less ink. Another is to print single-spaced or one and a half-spaced copies instead of double-spaced. Saves a few pages.

I understand computers were supposed to eliminate paper waste... but I am sure it has been quite the opposite. And that's too bad. I am very much a tree hugger.

But I am old enough to date back to using typewriters. I also find a sensual pleasure in writing longhand. Perfect pen in hand, just so paper, and the stroke and swirl of shaping letters... it unearths a creativity in my mind that tapping on a keyboard does not always access. I write poetry as well as prose, and I have yet to write a first draft of a poem on a screen. I don't believe it will ever happen.

From those typewriter days, I remember preparing a book manuscript, and oh, what a grueling task! I am just "OCD" enough to abhor White-Out corrections (for those of you who recall this smelly white stuff that was intended to blotch out errors while leaving an obvious white splot in their place), and so with every typo, out came the paper, in went a new sheet, and I began from Word One. Needless to say, forests fell and frustation percolated.

The many features of word processors today are a joy to me. Delete and cut and paste are bliss. But am I using less paper? It's probably a neck and neck race. I print off many pages as background research (and use the library less) so that a paper effluvium spreads about me in a ripple effect as I work.

I plant trees whenever I can.

Zee

When I was in grad school, I think I destroyed about 25 acres of prime woodlands with all my papers and sundry revisions.


Brady H.

aertep said:

One thing I do is print in draft mode to use less ink. Another is to print single-spaced or one and a half-spaced copies instead of double-spaced. Saves a few pages.

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I use draft mode, but I triple or even quad space in my print draft for editing by hand--so I have room to write. That's why if I need to do another edit draft I print on the back of the pages.

I also have an old dot matrix printer--that was once the high point of them, prints pretty good copy, it is a lot cheaper to use ribbons for it and I have several boxes of tractor paper left to use up. That way I have a huge running page. LOL Can't lose pages that way or get them mixed up--which I have done.

I rarely print out my stories for my own use. Usually I print them only when I'm getting ready to submit to agents/editors. I worked as a tech writer for seven years, and as a software engineer for the last eight years, so I'm very much used to editing onscreen. My current novel is 310 pages, printed out double-spaced. I don't want to waste that much paper until someone tells me they want to see it.

Trees

Nateskate said:

I pity the forests. My current WIP has had so many alterations and re-writes, I think I must have used more reams of paper than you can shake a tree trunk at.

I can't edit unless I print my files, and I'm a tweakaholic. First revision is primarily changing the structure, do I want to keep a character or change them- and such. The second is "prose", changing wording and sentence structures where they are too wordy. And although each time I intend to avoid obvious mistakes, there is often a third revision to correct obvious grammar errors.

How many trees gave their lives for your cause?

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Well, I look at it this way. If what I'm writing is good, and if it's successful, the publisher will, with luck, kill every damn tree on the planet printing enough copies to fill the demand. So I don't worry about killing half a dozen or so trees in the wriitng process.

I do all of my editing on the computer (or rather, computers--I write/edit on my laptop or on my desktop, depending on where I feel like sitting). The only time I actually print anything is when someone wants to read it, I'm sending it out, or I've completed a draft and want a hard copy backup.

When I'm writing, I use TNR and single-space. I print completed drafts like that too. Using a font other than courier and single-spacing can cut down the number of pages required to print by more than half.

My ancient laser printer has an option for printing in "econo-mode" which means it uses much less ink, so I also use that when printing complete drafts for backup purposes. I had to replace the toner cartridge this year for the first time, 6 years after I bought the thing.

For people who don't want to feel bad about the amount of paper they use, here's a link that'll help you ease your conscience.

http://www.tappi.org/paperu/all_about_paper/earth_answers/GrowTree1.htm

I edit on paper. The last draft of the work-in-process ate up over a ream and a half.

Just call me Ms. Envirofriendly.

I edit on paper, too. I don't see typoes on the screen, missing punctuation, things like that. If it's on paper, I'm tempted less to move whole chunks and read it for what it is, which can be really valuable. I also have a habit of printing out single scenes or chapters, to force me to focus on only those things. It works for me.

I brought home stacks of "one side good" paper from an agency where I volunteered. I got free usable paper, and they got a reduction in their trash removal/recycling costs. I also use the backs of form letters that come in the mail.

Copy shops might let you fish in their wastebaskets.

For those worried about the trees with their drafts: Use recycled paper?

recycle the recycled

JohnLynch said:

For those worried about the trees with their drafts: Use recycled paper?

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Excellent idea. If you use Fedex Kinko's for copying, most of their shops have at least one copier that uses recycled paper. Look for the sign over it that says "green machine."

JohnLynch said:

For those worried about the trees with their drafts: Use recycled paper?

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Yes, that helps, but more at the other end of the process: it keeps material from previous users out of the landfills. Trees are a renewable resource. Wood-products companies can grow enough trees to keep the paper industry supplied with pulp. Another question is, what happens to the paper we as consumers use when we're through with it? Will it become garbage or egg cartons? So use recycled paper and recycle your used paper.

I can't edit on paper, so I've probably saved a few trees for everyone here. I just tweak and shuffle and move the words around so much it's pointless to do it on paper. Once I'm done with a page, I'd have to reprint it and start the next round of editing...

Then again, when I think how much money I save not using the printer and ink, or even a pen and paper... these computers are real money-savers, you only pay for the electricity. I'd be broke by now if I printed out everything I had to edit.

Some people say writing looks different on the screen, but I don't seem to have this problem. It makes no difference to me. But it definitely saves time, money and Xmas trees.

I print out the first pass to edit, put it in the computer, then wont print again until the final draft.

I try not to think about it. When it comes down to it, I am writing so that the book will eventually get published (and it'll be printed on thousands of sheets of paper anyway). So, even though I know it's wrong to use as much paper as I do, it's not like we're "wasting" it. It's our career and we couldn't write without it. (Plus, the cheap paper I buy, it's probably the scraps of bark picked up off the floor and all the leaves, too).

Paper

I'm happy so many look for ways to save paper. It helps make up for my decidedly non-environmental friendly habits. I write the first draft of pretty much everything in longhand, and I have hundreds of notebooks in all sorts of sizes, for all sorts of uses, none of which contain recycled paper.

The paper I use depends largely on where I'm writing that day. In my easy chair, my favorite is probably the Ampad Gold Fibre spiral bound legal pad. Three bucks for a seventy sheet legal pad, which ain't bad, and I go through a couple each week. I also really like Northbound spiral bound notebooks because of how sturdy they are. These are my outdoor notebooks. For any indoor writing away from home, I almost always use Cambridge legal pads, which also are not made from recycled paper. I just wish they were cheaper.

This doesn't count all the various notebooks I use for all sorts of purposes outside of actually writing text. Nor does it count my daybook or my journals.

I have to do a fair amount of copying and printing for others in the family, and much of this requires good paper. Because it's easier and faster to use just one kind of paper in my printer, everything here, theirs or mine, gets printed out on Hammermill acid free archive quality paper. For my fiction, I print one copy for copyediting in case I missed anything on the screen, one copy for submission, and one copy for storage. I'd probably use this paper even if no one else here did. I've simply never found recycled paper of this quality.

Generally speaking, I just don't like the look or feel of recycled paper. Even if I know I'm going to throw the paper away, as I throw away my longhand writing after it's entered into the computer, I simply love the look and feel of quality paper. It matters to me when I'm writing.

Back when I wrote on a manual typewriter, I used 100% parchment just because I loved the look and feel of it so much, even though, at the time, it cost almost twenty bucks per ream, which would be like paying fifty bucks today. I just love good paper, good pens, and good pencils. They all play a part in making writing fun for me. Sometimes I think writing is just an excuse to buy good paper, good pens, and good pencils.

About the only place I save on trees is in the area of query letters where I use either cotton or linen paper and matching envelopes.

And I don't recycle paper, either. The closest recycling center is more than twenty miles from where I live, and I'm not about to make that drive, especially when I just don't have enough room to store trashed paper until the trip is worthwhile.

JohnLynch said:

For those worried about the trees with their drafts: Use recycled paper?

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I was wondering if anyone was going to suggest that.

Wow, 18 posts before it showed up!

And #17 had the "one side good" suggestion. Both are very eco-friendly.