My sister and I are trying to write a book and its hard to edit via phone conversations. It would be nice to see the same screen at the same time. To view what she is doing and vice versa. Is there any way to do this being that we are in different parts of the United States?

You can use collaboration software/remote control tools. For example, something like join.me would probably work for you. They have a free and paid version.

The way it works is that someone initiates the join.me session. The service provides a session number. The other person joins that session and now you are seeing what the other person has on their computer screen. You can shift the control of the screen back and forth.

Like this, there are several other tools.

Also, services in the cloud provided by Google (google apps) and Microsoft (sky drive or whatever its called now,i think one drive) allow for multiple users to edit the same document live...at the same time. instead of seeing each other's screen, you are working off the same document.

There is also a tool called OpenVNC (Open Virtual Network Computing) that allows remote/joint control of computers. I have used it quite successfully in the past for this sort of use. The good thing is that it is free and open source software. It is also the default software used to provide remote control/viewing of Linux desktops, including virtual ones. IE, I can log into a server remotely to a virtual desktop and it will display in a window on my local PC (Windows or Linux) just like I was sitting at the local machine.

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