Monday, March 5, 2012

Are Fountain Pens Obsolete?

By Evelyn David

I recently was given an iPad. I feel like the coolest Grandma in the world. As hip as my twenty-something daughter.

When my husband and I were looking for a cover for the iPad, he asked if I wanted one that had a built-in, traditional keyboard, rather than use the touchscreen of the iPad. I declined. I actually don't think I'll be writing any Brianna stories on it. I see the gadget more for email exchanges on trips, web searches, reading, and of course, all the games. I'm already in a Scrabble match with a complete stranger from Australia.

But as I was writing thank you notes for this marvelous gift, composing the words on my computer, I realized that I had made the complete transition. I can't "create" without a keyboard. Writing the notes in longhand is part of the legacy of childhood and good manners. But finding the right words before I put pen to paper has to be done on a computer.

I can remember learning to type on a manual typewriter – and thinking that an electric one was nothing short of a technological miracle. But it was when we got our first computer that I discovered the real miracle. Word processing, with the cut and paste option, made revisions, if not a snap, then at least, manageable.

No longer was I burdened by the concept that those pearls I had crafted, word by word, would be lost forever if I decided to cut a paragraph, scene, entire chapter. Instead, I could neatly cut the offending words out of the paragraph, save them, and even use them in another book, if that's what I wanted.

When I told the Southern half of Evelyn David my idea for a blog, she joined in the Hallelujah chorus. "I don’t think I would have started writing without the computer. I can think fiction and type at the same time – can’t write long hand and think fiction. Total disconnect."

How about you? How dependent are you on your computer for your writing?

Marian, the Northern half of Evelyn David

__________

Brianna Sullivan Mysteries - e-book series
I Try Not to Drive Past Cemeteries- Kindle (Exclusive at Amazon this month)
The Dog Days of Summer in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
The Holiday Spirit(s) of Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Undying Love in Lottawatah- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
A Haunting in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Lottawatah Twister - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Missing in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Good Grief in Lottawatah - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Sullivan Investigations Mystery - e-book series
Murder Off the Books Kindle (Exclusive at Amazon this month)
Murder Takes the Cake Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Riley Come Home (short story)- Kindle - Nook - Smashwords
Moonlighting at the Mall (short story) - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

Romances
Love Lessons - Kindle - Nook - Smashwords

6 comments:

  1. Back in the day, when I was a kid dreaming of becoming a writer, I wrote on yellow legal pads. And then I wrote on the electric typewriter I got for Christmas one year--one of those ones that you could backspace and lift a letter off the page (so cool).

    But during my first writing internship (with a newspaper in CT), my editor told me to write straight into the computer. It took some getting used to but there's been no looking back.

    I still jot story notes on paper (never did make the transition to doing those on the computer), but other than that, it's computer all the way.

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  2. I've never written on anything other than a computer, so I couldn't imagine writing fiction on a typewriter (papers in college took so long to finish!) or even longhand. I used to have really nice penmenship (the nuns used to grade us on this in school!). I do write "notes" on notecards, but I have to admit sometimes I can't read my own writing!

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  3. Thanks Laura and Maria.

    I wonder if they will continue to teach "handwriting" in school? Printing yes, but handwriting -- not sure if it will become obsolete as younger and younger students are using computers for word processing.

    What do you think?

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  4. Some of my earliest stories were written long-hand but writing on a computer has certainly made the process speedier. I went to "upgrade" my phone over the weekend (which was about to cost me $100 until I put the kibosh on the whole deal) and was offered an iPhone but I need the keyboard of a BlackBerry to really be able to email effectively. It's funny how the things we never had or never knew we needed we suddenly can't live without. Maggie

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  5. I used a typewriter and carbon paper (anyone even know what that is?) back when I began writing. Still take notes, always use a pen, never a pencil. Don't you need a pen to autograph books? Asked my great-granddaughter if she was learning cursive writing and she immediately showed me she already knew. I have heard in some schools they aren't teaching it--sad.

    Marilyn

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  6. The question was: Are fountain pens obsolete?

    The answer is: YES. That doesn't mean that writing is "obsolete"

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