The Secondary Inversion of the Return of NaNoWriMo
[rant]
5705 words. That's pathetic. I should have had quite a few more of them by now. I know what I want to write, I know what happens, so why am I not getting it written?
I miss my manual typewriter.
You know what I mean: a nice, big, clunky, non-electronic device, one that you have to use Ko-Rec-Type or Spell-o-Tape on when you commit a major typo or seventy-billion, and that's only when you're on the second-to-last draft of your manuscript, when you're ready to tear your hair out when your fingers strike the wrong key, or several keys at once, so that the hammers get all stuck together and need to be pried apart with the diminutive equivalent of a crowbar. The feel of paper, of proper keys (and not this keyboarding/number pad/function key crap that you get with a computerized system--Damn the shortcuts! Full speed ahead!
Has technology, in a way, become the ultimate nemesis of the writer's productivity? Has the creative spirit been quelled by a ready access or overdose--an overabundance of sites where people post fiction that has been un-proofed, un-spellchecked, where the author of the piece does not want to trouble themselves with a revision because "it's too much trouble to write it, it takes too damn long, it's too much work..." Granted, there are also many, many writers who genuinely care enough about their work on the 'net to put forth their best effort and constantly strive to improve their prose.
Sometimes, you just miss the tactile sensation of inserting a paper into the carriage, hitting the carriage return several times in rapid succession, and the clatter of the hammers hitting the paper, the raised and sometimes faded lettering on the keyboard of the manual typewriters.
Damn it, where's the love, people?
[/rant]
5705 words. That's pathetic. I should have had quite a few more of them by now. I know what I want to write, I know what happens, so why am I not getting it written?
I miss my manual typewriter.
You know what I mean: a nice, big, clunky, non-electronic device, one that you have to use Ko-Rec-Type or Spell-o-Tape on when you commit a major typo or seventy-billion, and that's only when you're on the second-to-last draft of your manuscript, when you're ready to tear your hair out when your fingers strike the wrong key, or several keys at once, so that the hammers get all stuck together and need to be pried apart with the diminutive equivalent of a crowbar. The feel of paper, of proper keys (and not this keyboarding/number pad/function key crap that you get with a computerized system--Damn the shortcuts! Full speed ahead!
Has technology, in a way, become the ultimate nemesis of the writer's productivity? Has the creative spirit been quelled by a ready access or overdose--an overabundance of sites where people post fiction that has been un-proofed, un-spellchecked, where the author of the piece does not want to trouble themselves with a revision because "it's too much trouble to write it, it takes too damn long, it's too much work..." Granted, there are also many, many writers who genuinely care enough about their work on the 'net to put forth their best effort and constantly strive to improve their prose.
Sometimes, you just miss the tactile sensation of inserting a paper into the carriage, hitting the carriage return several times in rapid succession, and the clatter of the hammers hitting the paper, the raised and sometimes faded lettering on the keyboard of the manual typewriters.
Damn it, where's the love, people?
[/rant]
posted by Liz | 7:37 PM
<< Home