What's up, [Google] Doc?

Since signing up for my Gmail account several years ago, I have tried to keep abreast of Google's various extras, so this was not my first exposure to Google Docs. What I like about Google Docs is that I can treat it like an online memory expander, uploading things that I want to make sure I don't ever lose, or I can use it to edit the same material from any computer. This comes in handy for me, especially when I'm working on a new story. Recently, I couldn't get the opening line of a story out of my head, but I wasn't anywhere near my laptop, so I logged into Google Docs, wrote the opening, saved it, and then the next day accessed it from my laptop and was able to work on it more. I like that you can upload a document or start something completely new.

Before finding Google Docs, I'd been familiar with uploading documents to websites and then being able to edit the text there. The site I use to publish some of my prose fiction uses that type of interface; you can upload the story (in a supported format, of course) and then use the site's tools to edit it if you need to. One of my other favorite sites has the same feature (I think they were patterned after the same site), only you can also type your entire entry on the site. The pitfall with creating something original on the site, though, is that if your contribution is rejected, it gets deleted, so you'll lose your work unless you've saved a copy elsewhere.