Wednesday 19 June 2013

The Artist Unleashed: WHY I USED TO FEEL SORRY FOR TOLSTOY (AND WHY I’M OVER IT NOW), by Debbie Young

The Artist Unleashed posts have moved to a new domain. Please click HERE to read the rest of this post and for the opportunity to comment. Just search for the title of the post in the search bar on the new site.

25 comments:

  1. Thank you for having me on your brilliant blog today, Jessica - I really enjoyed writing this post!

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    1. Thank you so much for being a guest! I have scheduled tweets through this program: http://www.worldliterarycafe.com/content/tweet-teams-1
      So this article should be tweeted by complete unknowns and hopefully gain some extra exposure. :-)

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  2. I love the speed and efficiency of the keyboard but also really enjoy using a good fountain pen, superb ink and fine paper. It's just a pity my calligraphy isn't up to much!

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    1. Lovely to meet you here and thanks for stopping by.
      I agree with you - I don't think a keyboard will ever be invented that has offers the same sensuous pleasure of feeling a beautiful nib gliding across the page.
      My dad is a skilled calligrapher, which I could never be (there is a beautiful example of his work in my Father's Day post on my YoungByName.me blog) and I so wish I had inherited his calligraphy genes!

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  3. Good article - the great YA HF writer Rosemary Sutcliff used pen and paper - and she was crippled with arthritis. Puts us computer-writers to shame!

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    1. p.s. I'd love to be a guest Jessica if you are looking for victims! LOL authorAThelenhollickDOTnet

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    2. Hello Helen! I didn't know that about Rosemary Sutcliff - what an amazing lady!
      I went on a visit to the Roald Dahl Museum in Great Missenden recently and the souvenir shops sell the exact make and model of pencil that he used to write his books, always on the same Amercian ruled legal pads. Well, I bought one, but I have yet to produce a children's story with it to match the genius that his preferred stationery inspired in him!

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  4. I'm pretty old, but just young enough that there has always been a computer in my life. I suppose I'm a thankful keyboard warrior, because my handwriting is terrible.

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    1. Hi Matthew, my first encounter with computers was with one that used punch cards (most people wouldn't even know what those are these days!) My dad worked in the computer industry from the 1950s (before I was born, I hasten to add) and used to bring disused punch cards home for me to play with and draw on!
      I do wonder whether with the prevalence of computers these days, will we evolve to the point that we are unable to hold a pen? Fingers will grow permanently curved, ready to tap a key. I happened to be sitting writing a couple of sides of paper at work the other day when I suddenly became very conscious of the noise the pencil was making on the page. Funny how I've grown immune to the noise of a rattling keyboard!

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  5. Interesting post today. Me? Without a computer, I don't think I could write. My mind flits around too much. The computer is great for these ADD distractions.

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    1. Hi Em_Musing, good point - but I often find my computer brings distractions of its own. I haven't found a pen yet that kept trying to get me to play games instead of writing! Well, maybe just the odd doodle, but fortunately I'm rubbish at drawing so that's not such a big temptation. But I do now wonder how we ever coped without computers.

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  6. Great post, Debbie! Gives us a lot to think about. I was just complaining, last night, how I wished I wrote faster. Maybe my niche of slowing down and calculating all my elements isn't such a negative. Huh... I'll be pondering this for days.

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  7. Thanks, SA! Always good to be able to make a virtue of a necessity - and I am renowned for my optimism! Glad you enjoyed the post and thanks for commenting :)

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  8. I enjoy creating on the keyboard, but for tough scenes, I write them longhand. The pages look messy, as I change my mind a lot. I definitely believe slowing down equates with quality, but the push is on for authors to 'hurry up and get it out there'. I always need thinking time to mull things over.

    Not only did some of these writers have to use pen and ink, but the lighting was also poor in many circumstances. Yet they triumphed. Good inspiration.

    Enjoyed your post! Thanks Debbie for sharing this. Another interesting feature, Jessica.

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    1. Gosh, I hadn't even thought about lighting, DG, but you are absolutely right. I wonder how much of the 19th century's greats were written by candlelight or gaslamp? I've no wish to revert to either of those technologies! Thanks for your thoughtful comment!

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  9. No distractions would be a big plus.
    I've written by hand and on the computer both and I'm just as slow either way.

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    1. Hmm, don't know what else to suggest, Alex - maybe someone needs to invent a third way! ;)

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  10. Well, it's got to be typing for me! I would take far too long to write anything. I remember when I was at school using inkwells just how messy they were. Leaky nibs, ink blots and of course blotting paper. Remembering too the calluses (or is it callouses) on our index fingers we all got from pressure holding the wooden part of the pen with its replacement nib ends, for hours and hours! Our clothes were always stained with blue ink...and no washing machines back then, either. So, for me... no writing...typing all the way to the Publishers, SWBooks! And another great blog.... Thank you for sharing, Debbie Young.

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    1. Gosh, I hadn't thought of the implications of ink on laundry - how did they cope in Victorian times when they hardly washed clothes at all? Maybe they just made sure that all their clothes were the same colour as their preferred shade of ink - then no-one would ever know!

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  11. Oh, I don't even want to think about writing by hand - my handwriting is completely illegible! *cringe*

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    1. I have a theory, Talli, that in a couple of generations' time, no-one will be able to write by hand at all. But we'll probably all have computers that can read our minds by then, so we won't even have to type. I'm not sure that I find that a very comforting thought though!

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  12. When I was setting out to write my memoir manuscript, I read "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott. She famously refers to 'the shi**y first draft' -- just get it down on paper, as if you were turning your backpack upside down and dumping out the contents. Well, try as I might, I couldn't *not* edit as I wrote. While others racked up word count, I crept along (and felt like a slug). But, I'm accepting of the fact that it was my process. Maybe it's different from someone else's process, maybe it will be different for me on my next book. But I will say, most of it was done on the keyboard. I used notebooks to some degree, but not for prose. In fact, I doubt if I could even make out my own notes anymore!

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    1. I love Anne Lamott's idea of dumping out the contents of her backpack onto paper, Laura. But best to each do it our own way - whatever works and gets the job done, I reckon!

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  13. Hi Jessica, great guest post.

    I used to think I could no longer use pen and paper for creative writing, that is until recently. It seems I'm going back to pen and paper when drafting out scenes and dialogue. It doesn't help my handwriting any (: but it does help get the words out before plugging them onto the screen to edit afterwards. Excellent post and nice meeting you, Debbie.

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  14. Thanks, Elise! I think your combination is a good one - notebook and pen, then edit on the computer. Works for me too!

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“I'm using my art to comment on what I see. You don't have to agree with it.” ~John Mellencamp

“Allowing an unimportant mistake to pass without comment is a wonderful social grace” ~Judith S. Marin

“I don't ever try to make a serious social comment.” ~Paul McCartney

“I'd make a comment at a meeting and nobody would even acknowledge me. Then some man would say the same thing and they'd all nod.” ~Charlotte Bunch

“Probably what my comment meant was that I don't care about the circumstances if I can tell the truth.” ~Sally Kirkland

“We're not going to pay attention to the silliness and the petty comments. And quite frankly, women have joined me in this effort, and so it's not about appearances. It's about effectiveness.” ~Katherine Harris