Computer died.
This is akin to a pet dying.
It is not altogether dead but the bits I need to work (ie. keyboard keys) are not dependably working. There are apparently many ‘n’s in my writing.
This would be my silver macbook pro (not the one I’m writing this on).
It may have been infiltrated by water thrown with exuberance around the room by three-year old.
Hoping it is just some weird coincidental glitch covered by warranty.
My other less beloved and cranky pc laptop throws the ‘d’ frequently and moves like a dinosaur.
It likes to be awoken twice each day.
It turns on and then immediately goes to blue screen. The next go-round it opens its eyes and stretches, yawns.
It has been ‘fixed’ three times in five years and I figure it is just ornery and full of character and likes getting up in the morning no more than I do.
Apple are pretty great. They will take in my poor limping silver beast and they will fix it in 5-7 days not guaranteeing that I will not have to pay if it turns out to be (whisper) water damage (hush).
This is somewhat better than the pc gang who took a month the last time.
Of course being without a real computer makes me want to write with a fervor.
I do the resumes (my day job) on the laptop. It is an unimaginative machine and good for such pedestrian activity.
I write my books on the mac. I edit on the mac. I revise on the mac.
I make notes while I write. A notebook is bought and reserved for each WIP. By the end they are stuffed with maps and pictures and ideas and phrases, but I write the first draft and every other draft directly on the computer.
I don’t think I can go back to the pc. The keys stick. The machine feels clunky. There is no poetry in it. It is not friendly. It is serviceable.
And if ever a phrase killed creativity it is that one.
So I have been thinking about writing long-hand and remembering how many years it has been since I did…
I wonder how many days my hand will cramp before it becomes strong again and capable of holding a pen.
I wonder if I will be able to decipher my own writing.
Which actually is most unlikely.
I can only read and transcribe my notes if I do it immediately. A day, two, and the meaning of the hieroglyphic scrawl on those little squares of paper is completely lost to me.
But then there is something so appealing in writing longhand, in filling up a few of those marbled composition exercise books.
Of flipping through pages and pages of closely-knit writing, letters piled haphazardly, crossings out, and underlinings. It lends weight to the words.
At the end of it I would feel as if I had really written a book.
So I might try it.
Do any of you write longhand? Do you feel it is archaic? Or eminently sensible? Can you read your own handwriting? Does your wrist get tired?
I make a few notes by long hand but most of my writing is done on a computer, which isn't always so great since I'm a typist of the hunt and peck variety…Well, maybe not that bad but you get the general idea…
Great post!
Great post Jo. I know the grief you speak of when it comes to technology. Sometimes it's better to take it out in the field and shoot it in the head than to let it linger.
My Dell PC laptop actually still lives though is never used, but could be. It's nearly 10 and it still thinks it's the millenium.
My Dell PC still chugs along nicely and is handy after four years, because the machine that I really love, my Netbook now one and some is wonderful for writing and creating, and keeping in touch, but it only sports Linux Lite so is sometimes out-of-the-loop.
Some machines are great workhorses, good for small jobs and others have a more divine soul that inspires you.
Oops forgot to answer your question! No I do not write by long hand anymore if I can help it. My typing matches my brain speed whereas my long hand is painfully slow. So, yes I do see it as arcaic. Some get a buzz out of it though.
I do sometimes struggle to read my own handwriting.
I much prefer typing, there is something satisfying about the clikety clack, and the whizz of my fingers over the keyboard.
Thanks for commenting Laura and Michaela (always wondered what the M.E. stood for).
Glad to hear I'm not the only one who may have romantic ideas about longhand but doesn't really relish the thought of writing a whole book that way.
Interesting that you think that machines have personalities too.
Or is it just the human trait of humanizing other entities?
Anyway I'd definitely compare my pc to an older, staid, middle-aged person and my mac to a winged creature of some kind.