‘To type or not to type’

…..that is the question.
Not all of us are tech savvy, or can afford the mobile tech either, which can be a factor for sticking with pen and paper. Some simply find carry a notebook, and jotting down ideas as they form, is the way to go. 

  
  

Generally I find both have their merit and am equally as comfortable with either (in fact I’ve been writing blog ideas on paper first).

I happen to love technology and my tablet is now my best friend. Well, secretary, alarm clock, post it notes, e-reader, etc. etc.

  
  One project though, began on several used envelopes, what was available when the creative idea struck. The entire book written, scribbled more like it as my hand writing has never been elegant, in notebooks. 

I was trying to write in the style of the regency period in England (19th century) and somehow my brain could not seem to manage that with me typing. So, pen and paper it was! 

The era in which we live however, requires us to make digital copies somewhere along the way so eventually those ideas we wrote on paper have to find their way into the cyber world. Thank goodness for talk text, or a dictation app. 

What is your method of choice? Any die-hard pen and paper folks out there per chance? 

A Reason to Write

Feeling vulnerable and uneducated about my writing and writing in general, I found and subscribed to a few writing blogs. The write practice and Mudpie Writing being the two I have stuck with. Through the observations of the bloggers and other commenters as well as critiques I have learned much about the craft, we writers and our struggles and quirks.
1. I don’t have to write perfection for readers to enjoy my work. As long as it moves them in some way most will overlook a few missing commas or grammar glitches. (Too many will put a reader off though and I have deleted several books I started reading because of it.)
2. Writing and editing are completely different creatures. One is creative and the other analytical. Trying to do both at once, my creativity is stifled. Write first and get the story out of the brain and onto ‘paper’. Once it is finished, the analytical creature may emerge and do it’s worst. 
By the time I am editing, I already know and love the characters and their story. The editing beast cannot be allowed to kill them or their longings or desires, unless of course it really should happen. 
I’ve come to realize: Editing can only enhance, making the story more readable.
As I put myself and my creative writing out for others I realize, some won’t comment. Others will criticize for the sake of it, perhaps out of jealousy. 
I only know, writing is something I have always done. Whether others like it or not is not my first concern. 

My writing debut.

My uncle once told me I have “digital incontinence”. This after a lengthy, chatty, and informative e-letter.

Rather than discourage me in my writing endeavors, which at the time was only letter writing, emails, and the occasional poem or short prose, I was moved to write a rebuttal:

The Dying Art of Letter writing

It is a sad day indeed for the literary community when the art of letter writing dies. By all appearances it is making a comeback via the internet and emails. However the contents is quite different, often connecting words are missing and so generally only small memos are sent, not letters of substance.

When we consider a great writer such as Jane Austen and that the majority of her work was contrived from letters she sent and received, it seems that such works could never be compiled today. They would be disjoint and very short to say the least.

Of course there are a few of us, a dying breed if you will, that consider letter writing an art and find much contentment therein. Like anything strange and foreign, we often receive ridicule and scorn for our loving task. Such comments as “you always answer so quickly!” is meant as a slap on the wrist for giving them a guilty conscience for not doing the same. Another one I recently received for a letter-style email, “you always did have digital incontinence”. Similar to the older “verbal diarrhea!” This from a relative no less!! This too will salve a guilty conscience for people who have little to say, no life to tell about or no imagination to invent one.

However, such downgrades as these are sent to try us serious writers and test our metal for future communiques. Will we give in and become like the rest, memo scribblers and one-liner writers? Will we continue on our quest to enrich our lives and the lives of others with our musings?

Jane, we will not give up!!

………………

It was not until a few years later and I was sharing with a writer friend (who is published) a few things I had written and her response to my writing was so positive that I realized that I should pursue my passion. I saw, there just might be a place for my work out there.

Perhaps other writers have felt the same, had the same reactions to their writing?