Home ➲ good things & web ➲ mini Interview with Writer Tina Gasperson
MacHappens . Tina Gasperson
1. How do you tackle a deadline?
I think it’s more like the deadline tackles me. On rare occasion I will work on something well before it is due, but most of the time if it weren’t for some kind of deadline I would probably just keep procrastinating forever. One of my main writing gigs for a long time has been Linux.com / Newsforge.com. They’ve never given me a deadline, so I made my own up just to keep myself straight. Besides, you don’t get paid if you never turn in a story – so I guess you could say an empty refrigerator is a universal deadline.
2. Give us a brief breakdown of your workflow on a given project.
For a while I was writing a lot of case studies for Linux.com, and really got into a nice groove with that. At the beginning of the week I send out queries to find companies using open source or producing it, or both. As the responses come in, I schedule telephone appointments to talk to the CEO or the director of IT or both, usually on Tuesdays or Wednesdays. Once I get my notes from the interviews, it’s just a matter of setting aside a day to write. I can write two stories in a morning or afternoon, and that’s usually all I have the energy for. After that, I have to go outside and do something else.
3. Your favorite OS and why?
It depends on what I’m doing, really. If I’m getting online to do research and to write, there’s no doubt that Linux is my favorite. It is faster, more reliable and more secure than anything else out there. And it keeps getting better and better. I like to use Ubuntu lately. It tells me when there are updates ready, and it makes it really idiot-proof to update and to find and install new applications. Plus, it is free. However, if I’m going to be working with video or editing photos, I still prefer Windows. I know that Linux has made great strides in working with digital photos and cameras, but I still find that it is easier with Windows. I don’t want to spend any time at all configuring my operating system when what I really want to do is color correct some photos and print them, or pull some of the best clips out of that birthday video I took and add a soundtrack. I’ve never used MacIntosh but I would really love to one day when I come into some money. 
4. What applications do you use primarily to create your work?
If I’m in Linux I use whatever text editor is on hand. In Windows I use Notepad or Word. I haven’t been a big fan of OpenOffice.org (am I allowed to say that?), but I haven’t tried it recently so it may be much less clunky now. (I’m pretty sure I’m not allowed to say that.) And that’s about it.
5. What hardware do you use primarily to create your work?
People may disparage the emachines brand, but I’ll tell you that this computer has been the longest lasting I’ve ever had (the hard drive will probably fail tonight because I am foolhardy enough to say how great it is). I’ve been using this refurbished desktop system that I bought from TigerDirect for several years now. I’ve partitioned and re-partitioned the drive, formatted it, reinstalled various iterations of Windows and Linux, and it is still going. I’ve been through three monitors with this computer and probably just as many printers.
6. Your thoughts on resolution independence?
I had to go look this up, I confess. What I gathered is that with resolution independence I might increase the resolution on my display without the corresponding decrease in font and image sizes. It sounds great to me, although sometimes I like having more text displayed on the screen. If I had the option to adjust font and image size according to my preferences that would be ideal.
7. How do you contribute/share with your community?
I guess my community is the community of IT writers and journalists with whom I interact on a daily basis through the Internet Press Guild. We share ideas, jokes, and insults and support each other through our various layoffs, and lend a shoulder to cry on when our editors get particularly testy. Not everyone on the list is a free software advocate, so those of us who do use and write about Linux get to boast and say “I told you so” when the others have virus problems and things like that.
8. Who would you like to work/collaborate with?
I really enjoy working with my colleagues at Linux.com. I’ve been working with a number of them since 1999, when we wrote columns and news pieces for Andover.net, and then Newsforge.com. Robin Miller gave me my first break at IT writing, and I’ve been working with him ever since. You get to the place where it feels like family.
9. When did you justify to yourself that you could make a living off what you do?
That happened around the same time I first met Robin and he asked me to get on board at Andover as a contract writer. I was astounded that I could ply my trade as a writer and actually make enough money to work from home, be with my kids, and pay the bills.
10. Your favorite creation?
That depends on the day. With all the hundreds and hundreds of tech related stories I’ve written over the years, it’s not the story that glean satisfaction from. As a writer, it’s still that particular sentence, or that beguiling lead paragraph, or that special quote at the end of the story, or that clever alliteration in the headline. These are the things that satisfy and propel me onward. The paradox is that I cannot hold on to my creations – I birth them and then surrender them to the editor. It is a transitory pleasure.
Thanks for your consideration, and your work.
Thanks for asking me.
MacHappens, Mac Happens
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