Friday, June 24, 2005

It Must Be Magic

Can I get a hallelujah and a God bless for the inventor of the pencil? And maybe a huzzah for the guy who created its pal, the eraser? (Must have been a guy since well, you know...necessity being the mother of invention and all.)

Anyway, I normally use a pen. Sure, I make mistakes, but that’s what cross-outs are for, right? And all that blank paper. Besides, who wants to write longhand when you can peck away on the computer and delete, delete, delete?

So, it was with a bit of smug amusement that I perused the “plotting notebook” I purchased at a workshop several weeks ago. Carolyn Green (a.k.a. “The Plot Doctor) sells this for about 30 bucks and along with various tip sheets, diagrams, and tabbed dividers, she’s thoughtfully provided one of those little zippered compartments with the following: blank floppy (for backing up!), post-its (what writer can live without those?), index cards (for copying her scene template onto), and finally, a mechanical pencil and some super duper eraser I’ve forgotten the name of.

Now, I understand there’s no universal formula for crafting a book. (Believe me, I’ve tried a bunch.) Each author has to discover what works for him or her. But I’ve read tons of interviews with authors who seem a whole lot closer to finding the “magic” than I have. Besides, if I’m gonna use something new, I figure why not go the whole nine yards?

So, I sat down at my dining room table (no computer in sight), spread out some of the sheets, and fished the mechanical pencil from the zippered compartment.

Guess what? I LOVE writing in pencil! My cursive is readable (not to mention pretty—if I do say so myself) and, thanks to the handy dandy eraser, the pages aren’t all convoluted and messy. What’s really freeing about it is that no idea is outside the realm of possibilities. I write it all down because...I can always erase! How cool is that?

Along with my new (ahem) system, I’m walking every day (see earlier posts about putting balance back into my life). No iPod, no headphones, no nothing. Just me with my thoughts (well, and a little heavy breathing.) I start out going uphill at an incline that would knock the breath out of anyone (except the YOUNG ladies who passed me AT A TROT on Tuesday—I called them bitches to their faces...but in a friendly way). The only thing I bring along is a plot problem. And damned if, so far, each time I reach the point where I’ve about decided the plot isn’t going to work, the skies clear, the sun comes out, and bingo. Problem solved.

It’s almost like—dare I say, magic?

5 comments:

Erin said...

I L.O.V.E. pencils! I have a ton of them (I want to say plethera, but I don't feel like looking up the spelling...so lazy!) Hence why I need a pencil. So much easier than white out ... or worse yet, re-write!

John said...

I saw a pencil the other day. Yeah, I found it. I have two, one sharpened and one not. They are the same length, so the sharpened one has yet to make any marks. I think they have been setting for a couple of years as they have dust on them.

I started writing when I got my hands on a PC in 1990. It was a portable COMPAQ with an orange screen, weighed about 25 pounds. Boy, do I not miss it. Anyway, you can have all of the pencils in the world with my best wishes.

Do like the walking concept. I'm trying to get in a mile a day, two miles on weekends. Good luck.

Randy said...

I'm trying to picture the orange screens because I have TWO Compaqs in my garage (I'm waiting for them to be worth something on EBAY or for the Smithsonion to put out the call). But, I really think you should give pencils another try. Truly. My handwriting is almost indecipherable...except when I use a pencil. It only took me *?# years to figure that out.

Randy said...

By the way, I didn't mean to imply I'm going to start writing longhand. Perish the thought. Just the pre-writing stuff...the brainstorming...the plotting...the characterizations, etc.

Carol Burnside aka Annie Rayburn said...

I'm with you there. Love my mechanical pencil and eraser pencil, too. :-)

Sometimes when I'm staring at the blank screen, or I'm stuck in the middle of a chapter, I print out the last scene and go write in longhand. Seems to release different brain cells to work or something. I swear!