Most of us have our own proofing and vetting processes. For me, as a sometimes writer of business proposals, sometimes writer of articles, fiction or whatever, the process involved a fair amount of paper and printer ink or toner, not to mention time and aggravation keeping up with it all. I just needed to see that hard copy paper printout totally removed from my computer screen and keyboard for a fresh perspective. Then I could  mark it up with notes and highlights before returning to the computer to implement the corrections and changes.

Enter two cloud computing solutions, Google Docs and Amazon Kindle. Now you can:

1Write your lengthy article or manuscript using a Google Docs document.

2Edit and do a preliminary proofread directly on my Google document on screen from home or work or anywhere there’s a web connection.

3Optionally share the document with someone else for another perspective and possible online continuing collaboration.

4Email (using Google Docs built in “share” capability) the almost finished document as a Microsoft Word attachment to my Kindle’s email address which automatically converts my Microsoft Word attachment for delivery to, and display on my Kindle.

5Read over the document during a leisurely lunch with my Kindle to get my fresh, out of the office perspective.

6Highlight any passages that need further attention using the Kindle’s highlight capability and, if needed, take a few notes on the small 5″x8″ paper notepad I keep alongside my Kindle. (That’s the first time any words have touched paper.)

7Once I’m back on any connected computer, I return to my Google document online and make any final adjustments and share the final version with the intended recipient in whatever form it is required, paper hard copy, PDF, email, shared online document, or even emailed as a Word document attachment to their Kindle if they own one. (Note: they must have my email address white-listed in their Kindle’s settings page at Amazon.)

This is essentially a paperless process. The only reason I use the paper notepad is because my Kindle’s keyboard is so clunky for inserting notes into the document. I’m looking forward to a possible future version of the Kindle which has the touchscreen virtual keyboard capabilities of the new Nook. And right now it’s a pain to access and/or extract the notes you take on the Kindle itself anyway. Are you listening Amazon??

All you need to access Google Docs is a gmail account. They are free, so if you don’t have one yet I’d recommend getting it even if you don’t plan to use the email address as your primary. The collaboration possibilities alone are worth it.

Of course the same techniques are available on other connected mobile devices like cell phones, tablets and such, but they just don’t give me the same relaxed perspective the Kindle brings to the party with its e-ink display which eliminates all the “busy-ness” associated with more complicated devices. It’s much more akin to a good old-fashioned paper page than a palm of your hand, techno wonder, do-everything gizmo that distracts you at every turn. For me writing needs to be a creative and sometimes contemplative process, not a distracted, reactive one. How about you?

“The effects of forgiveness reach far. They extend beyond us and our four walls, touching those around us, those we love and those with whom we seek to share our faith. Yes, forgiveness is that important …”

This is a wonderful book on the book of Philemon. It has a warmth about it for the characters in the story which brings them to life and easily lets us picture them as “people,” not just names in the Bible to read about.

Abshire brings Paul’s apostolic motives into full view as he gently guides Philemon, in the spirit of Jesus’ teachings, toward an attitude of genuine forgiveness for his runaway slave Onesimus. He also backs up every word and phrase of the book with the full throated Scripture references expected in a commentary.

You’ll also hear Abshire’s heart here, the heart of a disciple yearning to tell the world about what he’s discovered about forgiveness in the Gospel:

“… Like a ripple in the water, forgiveness changes those around us. In particular, it refreshes the hearts of those involved – especially those who have spent time and energy building up our lives at their own expense. Forgiveness refreshes the hearts of our family.”

Jacob Abshire (2009), Forgiveness: A Commentary on Philemon

It’s pretty small as gadgets go. About a half pound of plastic with a 6″ black and white screen set above a small clunky keyboard with some switches along either side of the screen to turn pages. That pretty sums up the appearance of the thing. That’s not much of a first impression by today’s standard of electronic gee-gaws ranging from 60″ 3-D web surfing televisions to iPads and tiny do-everything Android cell phones.

It’s just you and the author sharing ideas. It’s the antithesis of today’s chaotic world.

Little did I know how this modest little charcoal gray piece of plastic was going to, shall I say, re-“Kindle” my reading habits. There’s a quiet, seductive quality to reading on what they call an “e-ink” screen. The first thing you notice (or more accurately DON’T notice) is that there are none of the distractions you find on a computer. There’s only one window here. And that window is for READING! You can’t click on an icon and instantly check your email. You won’t get text messages here. There’s no flashy color image or inviting YouTube link to distract you away from the plot of the story. It’s just you and the author sharing ideas. It’s the antithesis of today’s typical chaotic world. In a quiet place under a tree it can be downright contemplative!

You quietly re-discover that reading without distractions fully engages your imagination. Descriptions of sight, sound, smell and textures described by the author force us to conjure places, characters, and mood out of our very own unique soul. Of course a good old fashioned book accomplishes almost the same imaginative experience, so what’s all the excitement about this new technological version of a traditional paper book?… how does technology enhance our reading experience?

1 Miniaturization of our personal library: Portable eReaders give us the ability to keep an almost unlimited personal library with us almost anywhere. Right now my Kindle library consists of between 30 and 40 books ranging from bibles to novels to reference books.

2 Choice of type size: On most eReaders you can change to a larger or smaller type size to suit your own tastes or purpose. I regularly change the type size while reading bible passages depending on whether I’m reading something like the Psalms in poetic form where I want to see all the line endings by switching to a smaller type size, or reading a long passage in story form where I prefer to see less text on the page at one glance. This is especially important when my eyes are tired or there is limited light in the room. I can also make the type bigger if I want to share a passage with someone sitting beside me by tilting the screen toward them a little.

3 Automated, unlimited bookmarks: bookmarking specific pages for future use is easy and neat, unlike dog-earing pages or putting scraps of paper between pages to keep our place.

4 Book highlights are re-usable: by highlighting a passage in a book I make it accessible for use in other places like book reviews, articles, email, and social media. This is a very handy feature and eliminates the need to underline a passage, then re-type while clumsily holding a paperback book open on my lap.

5 Ease and economy in book shopping: You can purchase a book directly from your eReader, download it and be reading it in a matter of seconds, or at most minutes. And, if you regularly buy new books, you’ll find eBooks are generally (but not always) priced cheaper than their conventionally printed counterparts. Used books are quite another matter, and as far as I know there is no way to buy USED eBooks.

These five points are just the beginning of the many reasons for my paradigm shift in reading habits as a result of using my recently acquired Kindle. For me the biggest change is the ease with which I now read. There are no more partially read lost books. They are still waiting patiently on the Kindle until I’m ready to continue. And it is now much easier to have multiple books on my “currently reading” list because any time I sit down to read they are all available to me. If I’m in a technical mood I may choose to read a book on best formatting practices for producing eBooks. If I’m in a contemplative mood I’ll often turn to the bible or a book on Christian spirituality.

My favorite bible is the Study Bible-ESV. But in it’s leather covered, conventionally bound form with over 2 million words plus charts and graphs it weighs a few pounds.  Also, I’d never carry around a near $100 leather bound volume with me to read over a lunchtime hamburger while turning pages after eating a few greasy fries! And, would you want mustard with that? But, with my “plastic” Kindle ESV Study Bible most finger prints wipe off pretty easily — as long as I don’t spill my drink on it. And the Kindle version of the ESV only cost me about $10 for the entire 2 million+ words, fully indexed with all references and charts. That’s a bargain!

The most enjoyable result of all this is that I’m reading more and enjoying it more. In my pre-K (Kindle) days I averaged less than one average sized book a month. Post-K I have read over a dozen books in the first two and a half months.