That might sound strange, but I know some people will understand what I mean. Right now, I'm penning In An Ageless Sky - my Great Tea Debacle competition novel. In this story I'm touching on the time travel issues I mentioned further down this blog, like, last month or something.
That's not to say this is a time-travel story by any means, but the act of traveling through time and "changing" past events to alter future ones does come into play. I have this amazing clarity of mind about the whole issue, too, for the first time in my life I UNDERSTAND how time travel could (although of course it doesn't) function and exactly how (although it doesn't) change would affect everyone involved.
I'm so friggin' psyched about it all. Like that moment you're reading Einstein's Theory of Relativity and suddenly, brilliantly, it all makes sense.
Based on that revelation, and this theory of mine, I've had yet another - completely independent yet equally thrilling - novel idea come into mind. I'll be writing that one next, after this novel is done.
And I've purchased a notebook. The spiral kind, with 200 pages in it. I'm going to handwrite my next novel, re-teach my right hand how to hold a pen and develop the stamina to do so.
I can't even begin to tell you how happy that thought makes me. It recalls the days of my youth, sitting on the bed late at night, with a notebook and pen, frantically (because the ideas were flowing so freely from my young brain) trying to get each sentence written before the next one could stammer out. Stopping only when I was dozing on the page, or my hand was cramped beyond function.
My face would be so close to the notebook, I could smell the ink and would fall asleep with that scent creeping into my nostrils. I loved the feel of paper, like the old books with the cracked spines - how they smelled !
I feel giddy, like a school girl, with thoughts of this novel and the next - - the pure joy of falling so completely into these worlds that they spring to life around me, as real as the one I'm sitting in right now.
I feel like A Writer.
Oh, um . . .yeah . . . You'll all fail. Give up now, yada yada.
Mail me your tea.
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18 comments:
That's nice. I'm making some progress. Granted, it's alcohol influenced progress, but I needed a drink after the day at work that I had.
My story is getting to the good parts. At least I hope they are good parts.
I'm hugely happy you're handwriting your next novel. And a bit jealous. I wonder if I'll be able to manage to handwrite all of Nondescript. (I suspect not).
And I must admit, I definitely want to read "Ageless Sky," and will happily buy it when it's published.
Tori: Alcohol influenced progress worked for a lot of the great writers of history. Fear not. But if you start growing broad shoulders and a thick beard and the urge to go on Safari,let us know, so we can do a Hemingway intervention.
Reteach your right hand how to hold a pen?
I never learned in the first place.
Honest. I was cracked across the knuckles consistently throughout grade school because I held my pen like I had a lobster claw. My callous developed on my right hand's RING FINGER.
I still don't know how to hold a pen.
My physical therapist once asked me to show her how I held a pen when I wrote, so I picked one up and showed her.
Her reaction was: My Lord, what did that pen ever do to you?!
Guess I write "angry" :D But I'm reteaching myself, and my sister - who adores pens in all their variation - is going to help me find just the right one for grip and glide. I'm quite looking forward to it.
I hope between now and, say, February (!) I'll be pretty good at it again
The way I was always told that you are supposed to hold a pen is gripped between the index finger and the thumb. I, however, have the callous on my ring finger as well. Works fairly well for me left handed and all.
And Pete, I'll let you know about that beard, k?
I won't hold my breath, Tori. ;)
I hold my pen between my index and thumb fingers, with it leaning back and nearly resting against the place where those two fingers come together,if you see what I mean. The joy of free-flowing ink pens (like Liquid Gel pens, or fountain pens) is you don't have to press that hard, so a lot of the strain goes away.
The other thing I noticed just today is, if I handwrite for a long period of time, I gradually stop using my wrist and start using my shoulder which sounds awkward and painful, but is neither.
I hold the pen there, too, but I tend to grip it way too tightly for no reason. I also occasionally hold it between the index finger and middle finger - my therapist liked that position - that way you're unable to grip too tightly.
But having a pen that flows easily over the paper is crucial, I can see that now.
What a timely post. Tomorrow, I shall spend the entire day away from my computers, but don't get to excited Debaclers. I shall be writing whilst I tailgate at the NASCAR race.
Last year, I wrote what is now my favorite scene in the book while grilling burgers and sipping Diet Dr. Pepper outside of Texas Motor Speedway.
I too have the callous of shame on my right ring finger. I find that it helps to vary my location and the slant of my writing surface. Just changing the slant of my writing surface makes a big difference in how tired my hand and wrist become.
A pen that glids makes all the difference. I don't care a fig about the paper. I buy cheap spiral notebooks. But I'm finicky about my pen.
I shall think of you all as my pen flies with the speed of Jeff Gordon's car. ;)
~Soccer Mom
veri word: uclkyoi: an obscure japanese fish, distinguished by the red markings on its head.
I actually prefer cheap spiral notebooks, I'm finding. I have lots of lovely journals, and mostly they sit empty. The middle seam isn't comfortable, the pages are sometimes too slick (and then I smudge). I have a couple of boxes of single subject notebooks, and I have a big five-subject that I'm filling up. That makes me happiest.
Kristine, I've been fiddling with my pen for five minutes now, and I really don't get what you mean by "between your index and middle fingers." But I'm curious now...!
Place the pen between the index and middle finger, then the thumb touches the end of the pen, and the index finger tip rest on top of the thumb.
I'll have to get a photo or diagram. It's really quite interesting, comfortable, and funky.
the only things I handwrite any more are checks.
and I write LOTS of them.
okay, okay--I also handwrite my journal and I find myself getting annoyed that it's not quick enough. I'm just not a purist like you arteestic types.
Yeah, I hold mine with index and middle finger with thumb gripping the other side of the writing utensil where those two fingers meet. It works for me.
I think I know what Kristine's talking about with her grip, but it's not that often that you see people hold their pen like that.
That's weird that so many of you have your callous on the ring finger, or in Pete's strange case, his index finger.
Because I was taught, and obviously didn't pay attention, that the correct position was your Giving the Bird finger, whatever the proper name for that one is.
But writing position is only half my problem, the other problem is I just write horridly. Even I can't read what I've written. Taking notes, unless I transcribe almost immediately, become decipherable. I've been told I should have been a doctor.
Yeah, I wish.
My signature is nothng more than an E followed by a bunch of loops.
You know, the more I interact with real writers, the more I realize I'm just a hobbyist. I'm a hack - and not even a good one at that.
But I can chuck out a few thousand words a day - they may never be publishable, but I enjoy the sense of achievement at finishing sometime.
Anyway, I guess I'm just a wee bit envious. Enjoy it, Kristine. :D
Who are these real writers you're interacting with, Cath?
And where?
I'm still trying to figure out how anyone can manage the callous on their RING finger. Mine, regardles of the position I use, happens on my Flipping the Bird finger, as Ed said :D
I said I held it weirdly despite many a teacher trying to manhandle my hand to force me into the correct position.
I hold the pen against my ring finger, my thumb holds it there and my index and middle finger rest on TOP of the pen.
Thus a callous appears on my ring finger of my writing hand.
What Ed said.
I'm just more comfortable that way and I have more control over the writing instrument.
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