IT plays havoc with creative process

From the moment I announced my career change from full-time bond person to full-time writing person I was inundated by people ready to offer me advice.

The advice was mainly of the "you'll have to be very disciplined in the future, get into a set routine, don't spend all day lying in bed" variety which I can't help feeling smacked more of wishful thinking than of practicality. But I can assure all those who obviously have visions of me propped up on the pillows of the bed, eating chocolates and drinking wine that it hasn't happened yet.

However, I am pleased to report that I haven't bothered to get up at six in the morning either and the world still continues to turn despite me sleeping through it.

There's a definite view that writing is some kind of mystical craft and that words appear on the page by a process of osmosis. The reality is that - leaving aside the inevitable amount of time that you spend thinking about writing something - actually typing everything down is as hard work as anything. So I have changed my job description to self-employed rather than the infinitely more nebulous writer.

There are, though, serious disadvantages to being self-employed, all of which stem from the lack of support function in the office. Which means, basically, that you have to do everything yourself! I thought that I'd be spending a lot of time cut off from the business world but, of course, that's not the case when you don't have an IT department or an administration department or an accounts department to look after things for you.

I have to confess to having had relatively little sympathy for small companies which didn't get themselves geared up for potential Y2K problems before the new year, on the basis that they had plenty of time to do it.

Since Y2K turned out to be the damp squib of the millennium celebrations nobody did badly out of it. But I can understand now why so many companies responded to surveys by saying that they hadn't done anything because they hadn't got the time. When your business is doing one particular thing or providing one particular service, it's not easy to switch off and devote a chunk of valuable time to something else. I speak from wretched experience as you may gather. I have had an IT nightmare which meant that the creative process was turned to junk as I struggled with technology instead.

I bought a new computer as you may remember but needed to buy a new printer and new zip drive and new scanner because none of the old stuff was compatible with it. This is why, presumably, the technology sector is trading at such insane multiples. Its sales increase regardless, since each time something new comes out none of the old peripherals work with it.

This is supposed to be progress. Anyway, the new printer wasn't in stock so I had to keep the old computer, transfer info to it by zip and use it for printing. (Which meant desk space, already limited, has been minimal for the past few weeks.) The printer arrived yesterday and I tidied away the old computer to make room to set it up. Then I discovered that there was no lead from printer to computer. I had a slight case of hysterics. It was nine o'clock at that stage (I had authorised overtime for myself). I then decided that, what the hell, I'd connect up the scanner which I hadn't bothered to do before now. I inserted the CD into the drive to install the software, the computer told me to restart which I did and then - nothing.

And still nothing. The CD won't eject. The computer kept trying to read it as the hard drive, got itself stuck in an internal loop and my hysteria attack was worsening. I did what all good IT departments tell you to do and pulled the plug but to no avail. The CD is still sitting in the computer, the printer doesn't work, the scanner doesn't work and my files are now inaccessible.

So the technological make-up of my home office is now: one computer (disconnected) that can print but can't send or receive email; an e-computer (laptop) that can't print but can send and receive e-mail; one computer that has moved onto an existential-type plane that won't do anything except contemplate its own innards. And that's progress?

Nevertheless, the technological end of the market is the one which keeps moving ahead and despite the tightening interest-rate cycle, the Nasdaq continues to bounce back. Investors still flock into technology shares from the more traditional industries. In fact, these days, if you say you work in manufacturing, people look at you as though you're a complete relic whereas if you mutter something about wireless application protocols you're right up there with the best. The media has to take some of the blame - the dot.com stories are moving from the business pages to the front pages as they continue breathless reports on telecom or Internet instant millionaires.

The flotation of lastminute.com which turned twenty-something Martha Lane Fox into someone who could throw a recalcitrant computer out the window and not worry about the cost was almost a headline story. It's impossible to believe that everyone you meet isn't, in fact, just about to float a company and make their fortune. I have a horrible feeling that I've chosen the wrong self-employed career - and despite what you might read about massive advances for Irish authors these days, Denis O'Brien wouldn't even get out of bed for the kind of money we're talking about!

Mind you, the publishing industry has had some headlines of its own in recent weeks with the news that publisher Dorling Kindersley was left with 10 million unsold Star Wars books causing the MD to resign and the share price to halve.

Like the current technology fever, publishers can look at "tiein" books as a sure-fire thing but obviously not sure-fire all the time. Presumably the people who are Star Wars freaks bought the books but a younger generation wasn't enthused enough to do so. Much as I love to see any book selling well, I also have a feeling of relief that not everyone gets suckered into buying every available piece of merchandising all of the time. However, Freeserve is considering buying DK, which has led to an improvement in the share price to around 397p sterling (€6.45). It's ironic to think of a publisher being rescued by a technology company.

I could do with one of those light-sword things at the moment myself. I'm off to phone a technical person to see if I can bring the computer back to earth and I know that I'm going to get tense. And people think dealing is stressful!!

Author Sheila O'Flanagan is a former fixed-income specialist.