It sounds like a lot is happening. That's true, but computers do all these things so quickly that it seems instantaneous to us. You don't really have to know exactly where the stuff is in memory, or how it gets moved around. The important thing to understand is that all the information in your document is stored in some kind of machine language form in the computer's memory. When you modify a document, you are really modifying the computer's memory. A word processing program handles all the messy memory manipulation, so all you have to do is concentrate on writing your paper.
RAM (Random Access Memory), where all the action is happening, has one serious drawback. It only lasts as long as the computer is receiving electrical power. Obviously this will cause some problems, because you can't just carry a computer around to show people your documents. (Imagine the extension cord!) You also might run into some serious problems if your computer were suddenly hit by a monsoon or something, and you lost electrical power. In short, you cannot count on RAM memory alone.
Word processing programs (as well as almost every type of program) are designed to allow you to copy your information. Computer scientists refer to the information your program is using as data. The data in RAM can easily be duplicated to floppy disks or a hard drive. This is called saving. Copying the data from RAM to a printer is called printing. You can also copy data from other places to RAM. Copying the data from the floppy is referred to as loading the data. You might already know what saving and printing are. We don't mean to insult you by telling you again. We just want to illustrate that it all boils down to copying binary information to and from RAM.