My Temp File
When I decided to become an author in 2017, I had no fiction writing experience. Still, I had created many technical documents over my career. While this skill set offered some value, I was lacking in critical areas. One of the biggest differences between the two kinds of writing is that a technical document has a clear beginning, middle, and end. Plus, standard features such as an acronym definition page, detailed specifications, and test results.
A fictional story can have any structure under the sun. A novel might have no real beginning, 50 characters, or be written in sloppy first-person. This freedom proved overwhelming when I tried to turn my wild thoughts into smooth words.
This lack of experience became ultra-clear in the first chapter of my first draft. I was forced to move sections around because I had not fully vetted the story.
To do all this moving, I opened a new document and cut/copied text into it, or I copied within the document. Sometimes I saved these brief documents, but they often existed for less than five minutes.
Around the twentieth time I opened a new file, I realized my process was silly and named one “temp.” This document became my playpen, and I threw in whole chapters, single words, chaotic sentences, and half-finished thoughts. I also experimented with formatting and tried Microsoft Word features I dared not apply to my main document.
My temp file was only getting started because two lifesavers got tossed into my writing tool belt: Grammarly and ProWritingAid. Of course, there was a big problem. These tools are incredibly slow at processing an entire document (book). No problem, my temp file allowed me to copy small sections for rapid analysis. Then all I had to do was copy it back.
My temp file had another Grammarly/ProWritingAid benefit. While I am a nobody author, I do care about data security, and these two programs work by uploading the text to their servers for analysis. Plus, these companies save data for their AI training. Meaning Grammarly/ProWritingAid would have a copy of my book long before it was published.
At first, I was not comfortable with that idea, and my temp file let me get around the problem by not analyzing the whole book. Since then, I have relented and done a full analysis. (There are other parts of these tools besides grammar checking that need the full document.) Oh, well. These companies have my words. I dare them to go through the pain of publishing!
Now, my temp file has a regular place during writing and editing. I often have it open on my second screen with Grammarly running. As I work, I paste things in for quick analysis. I also paste things there for reference/consistency.
Sometimes, I will have two or three alternative versions and compare them. This is especially useful for developing book descriptions (blurbs), which require endless tweaking to hone in on a specific thought.
Another way I use my temp file is as an expanded copy-and-paste tool. Let’s say that I use a long name like Trevor Lee Matulewicz. (A random name generator created this name.) Rather than typing all those characters, I would copy it to the top of my temp file. Since it is on my second screen, I can easily copy this name back to the main document. Sometimes I have multiple sections of text ready to copy.
Often, when I am writing articles, I need to refer to facts or text from a webpage. To do so, I copy this text into my temp file and then format the whole document for font size/type and paragraph (like single-spaced). Then, when I need the text, I copy the relevant information, which is now in the same format.
There are times when I need to print just a segment of a document or a web page, like an address. So, I copy this info into my temp file and format it (usually in a larger font). Yet another use is that some programs do not copy/paste between other programs, and using a temp file as a go-between fixes this problem. And another is using “Paste Special” to paste something as text or a graphic. Another option is to copy text into this temp file and change the case to all UPPERCASE, Sentence case, Capitalize Each Word, or lowercase. Many programs, including Excel, lack this simple yet valuable feature.
There is another aspect of my temp file that I think I should explain. While I started my temp file to move vast sections around, I now rarely do so for normal writing. This is because I discovered the value of a story outline. This tool allows me to see the big picture and make huge changes without consequence, which limits the need to do so while writing.
What do other authors do? I recall that in the early Macintosh operating system, there was a (I forget the exact name) clipboard that served the same purpose. I have seen coworkers save documents to their desktops or use Notepad. And then there is my first option of creating multiple new documents. Another option is to use the last ten pages of a document as a storage place.
Let’s look at some statistics. After all, Microsoft Word has a document information section that records the number of minutes each document has been worked on and the start date. That feature is quite useful, but there is a problem. My temp file is just that: a temporary storage place; I never leave anything important in it. Sometimes I rename it and start a new one. Other times, I have multiple temp files. The result is reset statistics.
I created my present temp file on 6/26/2024 and has been in use for 4,664 minutes over 679 days. This equates to 77 hours, or 3.3 days, which works out to 6 minutes a day.
That number makes sense because I do not do a lot of work (typing) in my temp file. The only exception is that Grammarly/ProWritingAid works when I copy a paragraph or more.
Overall, my temp file has made me more productive. Sure, there are other ways to accomplish this task, but using a single file brings it all together. So, I am going to end this article by keeping a copy at the top of my temp file.
You’re the best -Bill
May 27, 2026
A fictional story can have any structure under the sun. A novel might have no real beginning, 50 characters, or be written in sloppy first-person. This freedom proved overwhelming when I tried to turn my wild thoughts into smooth words.
This lack of experience became ultra-clear in the first chapter of my first draft. I was forced to move sections around because I had not fully vetted the story.
To do all this moving, I opened a new document and cut/copied text into it, or I copied within the document. Sometimes I saved these brief documents, but they often existed for less than five minutes.
Around the twentieth time I opened a new file, I realized my process was silly and named one “temp.” This document became my playpen, and I threw in whole chapters, single words, chaotic sentences, and half-finished thoughts. I also experimented with formatting and tried Microsoft Word features I dared not apply to my main document.
My temp file was only getting started because two lifesavers got tossed into my writing tool belt: Grammarly and ProWritingAid. Of course, there was a big problem. These tools are incredibly slow at processing an entire document (book). No problem, my temp file allowed me to copy small sections for rapid analysis. Then all I had to do was copy it back.
My temp file had another Grammarly/ProWritingAid benefit. While I am a nobody author, I do care about data security, and these two programs work by uploading the text to their servers for analysis. Plus, these companies save data for their AI training. Meaning Grammarly/ProWritingAid would have a copy of my book long before it was published.
At first, I was not comfortable with that idea, and my temp file let me get around the problem by not analyzing the whole book. Since then, I have relented and done a full analysis. (There are other parts of these tools besides grammar checking that need the full document.) Oh, well. These companies have my words. I dare them to go through the pain of publishing!
Now, my temp file has a regular place during writing and editing. I often have it open on my second screen with Grammarly running. As I work, I paste things in for quick analysis. I also paste things there for reference/consistency.
Sometimes, I will have two or three alternative versions and compare them. This is especially useful for developing book descriptions (blurbs), which require endless tweaking to hone in on a specific thought.
Another way I use my temp file is as an expanded copy-and-paste tool. Let’s say that I use a long name like Trevor Lee Matulewicz. (A random name generator created this name.) Rather than typing all those characters, I would copy it to the top of my temp file. Since it is on my second screen, I can easily copy this name back to the main document. Sometimes I have multiple sections of text ready to copy.
Often, when I am writing articles, I need to refer to facts or text from a webpage. To do so, I copy this text into my temp file and then format the whole document for font size/type and paragraph (like single-spaced). Then, when I need the text, I copy the relevant information, which is now in the same format.
There are times when I need to print just a segment of a document or a web page, like an address. So, I copy this info into my temp file and format it (usually in a larger font). Yet another use is that some programs do not copy/paste between other programs, and using a temp file as a go-between fixes this problem. And another is using “Paste Special” to paste something as text or a graphic. Another option is to copy text into this temp file and change the case to all UPPERCASE, Sentence case, Capitalize Each Word, or lowercase. Many programs, including Excel, lack this simple yet valuable feature.
There is another aspect of my temp file that I think I should explain. While I started my temp file to move vast sections around, I now rarely do so for normal writing. This is because I discovered the value of a story outline. This tool allows me to see the big picture and make huge changes without consequence, which limits the need to do so while writing.
What do other authors do? I recall that in the early Macintosh operating system, there was a (I forget the exact name) clipboard that served the same purpose. I have seen coworkers save documents to their desktops or use Notepad. And then there is my first option of creating multiple new documents. Another option is to use the last ten pages of a document as a storage place.
Let’s look at some statistics. After all, Microsoft Word has a document information section that records the number of minutes each document has been worked on and the start date. That feature is quite useful, but there is a problem. My temp file is just that: a temporary storage place; I never leave anything important in it. Sometimes I rename it and start a new one. Other times, I have multiple temp files. The result is reset statistics.
I created my present temp file on 6/26/2024 and has been in use for 4,664 minutes over 679 days. This equates to 77 hours, or 3.3 days, which works out to 6 minutes a day.
That number makes sense because I do not do a lot of work (typing) in my temp file. The only exception is that Grammarly/ProWritingAid works when I copy a paragraph or more.
Overall, my temp file has made me more productive. Sure, there are other ways to accomplish this task, but using a single file brings it all together. So, I am going to end this article by keeping a copy at the top of my temp file.
You’re the best -Bill
May 27, 2026
