Did you every ask yourself whether or not the computer has become an appendage or tool?  I can truthfully say it started out as a tool, now I'm not so sure.  We spend a lot of time "communicating" on our electronic devices these days.  Has it replaced face-to-face interaction?  Maybe in some situations, yes.  It makes me wonder how it has affected my chosen profession - writing.


I'm a writer and while I do most of my writing on my laptop computer, there are times when a pen and notebook paper are just the thing to jump start the muse.  It's tactile.  Like a book as opposed to an electronic reader.  But some people get just as much enjoyment out of the electronic story version as they do the book/paper version.  I guess it's all in how we view communication and the "touch."

My family are pretty much all big huggers.  My spouse's family is not.  We express ourselves through touch and voice.  I've learned to not be quite as demonstrative as I was when I was younger, but I still find that a good hug does wonders for my mood.  With others it just scares them away.

How did I move from computers to hugs?  I'm not really sure, but that's how my mind works sometimes.  My laptop is going in to be fixed and I'll be without it for a week.  I'm having withdrawl already because the silly thing has become more than just a tool.  It's an extension of what I do, it's the tool that helps me make the words come to life on the page.  Could I write without it?  Sure, but I doubt any editor would take a story via handwritten notebook paper.  It's just not done.  So, I'll try to hold it together while I wait for my appendage to be repaired.  In the mean time I'll dust off my 7-year-old desktop and see what kind of mischief I can create with it.  You never know when an editor will want something, so you must be prepared.


Write on, BD
 
Inspiration 07/22/2008
 

You just never know where inspiration can be found or maybe I should say will find you.  It might be a snippet of conversation, a newspaper article, your dog's antics, or a sticky six-year old.

Recently the sticky one came to my writing rescue. I've been a bit stalled in my writing. I have a lot of projects going, but nothing inspiring or magical was happening on the page.  Until my little grandson and I started brainstorming silliness.  One thing led to another and that lead to us drawing pictures and later I sat down and wrote a 1300 word children's story.

You just never know, so pay attention folks. The muse can be blatant or elusive, you just have to be the scribe.

Write on my friends,

BD

 
 

Wow, has it been two weeks since I posted?  So it would seem.  I read an amazing piece in the Sunday paper today, James Patterson wrote to his son about the gift of reading.  I have to say, I am wholeheartedly in agreement.  If we give nothing else to our children and grand children, the love of reading should be top. 

Where else can we see new lands, experience new sensations, feel things we've never felt before - but in reading?  Movies are great, but the act of reading is just that - active.  Watching is a passive, but I know it's very possible to get into a good movie and be moved.  Alien had me jumping onto my seat. Terms of Endearment had me sobbing, while Monty Python and the Holy Grail had me laughing my butt off.

Books actually allow you to think the point of view character's thoughts, feel their feelings, along with experiencing the five senses peaked by the imagination.  The Friday Night Knitting Club had me laughing and crying and longing to learn to knit so I could feel the silken yarn slide between my fingers.  I could almost feel it - though- honest!

When I was little I read the Moonspinners and to this day I long to see the isle of Crete, smell the salt and feel the sand between my toes.  Reading is such an adventure, for every age, why not share?  Every year I buy books for those I love.  Every month I share books that I love with family and friends.  Every so often I clean out my book shelves and share the ones that all of us have read with the library. 

Show them you care, share the adventure you can only find in reading.

And writing them isn't too bad, either.

BD

 
 

It's hard to believe that it'll be Christmas in less than a month.  I'm usually done shopping by now, but this year my hubby decided he wanted to participate.  That's cool.  He usually watches me wrap gifts and asks "who is that for?"  I've really struggled to find that special gift for everyone on my list.  I love finding fun little things that people don't think of but usually get a kick out of.  It's not that easy with my kids, however, they have very specific tastes.  That's okay, too, I just have trouble knowing what they would enjoy the most. 

I seem to recall when I was a teen and into my early twenties that the crocheted kleenex box covers and toilet paper roll dolls were not well appreciated and seldom displayed.  I know a little more about the time and effort it took to make them now and would appreciate the thought, but probably still wouldn't display them in my home.  I'm just not into that sort of thing.

It's sad how this generation has changed.  We used to hang out at our parent's house on Sunday, have dinner, play cards, watch a movie, nap and it was good.  Now days the kids have really full schedules with work, school, home repair and upkeep, grand kid events, and seldom find time for themselves.  As grandparents we keep pretty busy, too, but I would so enjoy just hanging out with the family once in awhile, like we used to. 

It seems to take a holiday or event (wedding or funeral) to get us all together.  That's okay, but it would be nice to just hang out once in awhile.  I miss it.  Worse than that, my grand sons are missing it.  There were some great stories told around the pitch table or during an impromptu dinner. I must be feeling my mortality, but I think there is more to life than schedules and deadlines  - there's living and enjoying the pile of leaves in the yard, or making a teddy bear snow man, or just reading stories to ourselves and each other. Life really is too short.

Enjoy the journey.

BD