I got it into my head recently that I should, that I need to, that I want to, write my stories by writing them out on paper instead of typing them from the get go. After all, I buy notebooks every time I see them, I should use them.
So I gave it a shot. I needed to write a 500 words or less story for the new session of Writers Guild at the library and I decided to do a story about a family portrait from 1908 that is a prized possession and started me down my ancestry research path. I pulled out a new notebook and settled in to write. It started out great, the words were flowing from my brain to pen to paper. I had 4 or 5 paragraphs in record time.
I thought, “well let’s type this up and see how it works”, so I pulled out my laptop and started typing. “Ooh, that doesn’t sound good”, cross out the paragraph on the paper, freestyle something into the laptop, cross out some more, freestyle some more. Something’s not working here!
I set it aside, I picked it up, back and forth, back and forth. Why do my thoughts never transfer to paper? Well, I wrote about that last month!
I was running out of time, so I typed a mash of the handwritten piece and the typed piece, called it good, and headed off to class.
I read my piece in class and as I read it I realized how flat it sounded. BOR-ING! Ooof – I was really disappointed in myself. I think I should stick to the method that works best for me which is typing, typing, typing out my thoughts and then going back to edit them as necessary.
My plan is to take that picture, write this time with it in front of me, think about how it made me feel to see it, how I look at it on my computer and enlarge the faces to examine them, to gaze at my grandparents standing together, and my great-grandmother’s proud posture with all her children around her. I know I can redeem myself!
