Mississipian Shelby Dade Foote, Jr., became a cultural icon in 1950, when he appeared in Ken Burns' television series
The Civil War. The mellifluous voice and dry wit of this Civil War historian who also wrote about the modern South immediately won me over.
He only wrote in longhand on a yellow legal pad using an ink pen with a special tip. I saw him interviewed in the beautiful Library of Congress, and he said the pen and tips hadn't been made for years, but his pen was in good shape and he'd located a supply of tips. Bought the store owner out, he added, and had enough to last the rest of his life. He was eighty-eight when he passed away in 2005.
There was a time when I, too, wrote in longhand. I was writing publicity for a fundraiser for the local Young Women's Christian Association and working as a private duty registered nurse. I worked evenings, and after my patient went to sleep I sat at the bedside and wrote in pencil on a yellow legal pad.
I once heard a psychologist at a writers conference urge us to compose in this manner. Supposedly having your thoughts come directly from brain to hand to page is better. Having trained myself at one point in longhand, today it just seems too slow.
At home during my earlier years, I used an electric typewriter. I bought the ends of paper rolls from the local newspaper for the kids to color on, then one day realized I could cut pieces typewriter-width and as long as I wanted. No more constant paper changes. With revisions, I put it on the floor, scissored out sections I wanted somewhere else and taped them where I wanted them.
When we bought our first computer, I happily switched. Although some older author friends refused to even try the new machine, I figured, "What's not to like about 'Cut and Paste?'" Goodbye White Out, scissors, newspaper sheets, flawless originals and carbon copies.
In my husband's photo, you'll see this blog on the screen...and that I haven't done my hair today. Because I have to finish a novella and get it to Trace Edward Zaber.
These days, when I have a heavy deadline and need to be in the kitchen, my husband sets up the laptop in the next room. Between pot tendings, I write in snatches. The laptop and printer travel with us even if we're away for only two nights. When we made our annual mini-vacation trek to Solvang last fall, we set up the laptop in a cottage on a treadle sewing machine stand converted to a desk in a dark alcove. We had to step over the long phone line and extension cord to get to the bathroom or open the closet door next to it. We removed the lines every morning so the maids wouldn't trip over them, then hooked them up again after they'd left. But I could write! And we could be on the Internet.
Today I'm in our computer room at home, where I do most of my writing. We have two laptops, a desktop and two printers here. A second desktop and printer are in another room. My husband is on one of the laptops behind me at the windows. My side of the room has the cupboards. Photos of our precious grandbabies are tacked onto the cloth walls below them. When we take care of our oldest son's cat, she loves to sleep above my computer. Periodically she stretches and hops down to kiss my nose and ask to sit on my lap. Lapsitting lasts about fifteen seconds, and then she's off to explore the house.
If I come into the room when she's sleeping, she stirs, meows, stretches and hops down to kiss my nose and get a head rub. I hate disturbing her, so once I tried talking to my husband from the hall outside when he was at his laptop. Just the sound of my voice elicited a stirring, meows and thump, thump, thump as she made her way to the floor and to me in the hall.
When I go to her house, however, she ignores me. Hisses if I approach her as if to say, "Don't take me to your house.
This is my territory."
I guess when she's here she thinks we'll toss her out if she isn't spectacularly good to me. Anyway, I loved blogging about her today. I miss her. I miss the grandbabies who were here just last week.
Happy writing. Have a great St. Patrick's Day!
Carolina Valdez
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Tie 'Em Up, Hold 'Em DownLabels: Amber Allure, Carolina Valdez, Cat, Contemporary gay romances, Desktop, Favorite Writing Places, Hangin' With My Window Man, Hold 'Em Down, Laptops, Shelby Foote, Tie 'Em Up, Writing Longhand
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