All of a sudden, I’m reminding myself of my grandmother. Uh oh.
My grandmother used to talk so much about how things were in the “good old days”, and as a kid, my eyes would roll back in my head. She talked about motorcars that had no turn signals, and the fact that only one family on the block had a phone. An ice box was actually an ice box. She wrote thank you notes on nice smelling pink paper, with an aged ink pen.
“These things were perfectly fine. Why, oh why, do they have to change?”
She spent the older years of her life very baffled by television remote controls (”Where’s the wire? How does this contraption work?”), credit cards (”How does that little card know how much you have in the bank? Don’t they need to see the money?”) and froze at even the sight of a computer. ( “What WILL they think of next?”)
We smiled at her questions, and spoke (ok, sometimes condescendingly) about how old folks have so much trouble adapting to the new. They just can’t “keep up with the times.” Sigh
Onward, upward,we must embrace the inventions and improvements of our society.
I wrote my first three books on a turquoise blue portable manual Olivetti Underwood typewriter that had been a graduation present. Black ribbon. No correction function. Maybe I was high on the smell of white out. The lovely sound of each key hitting the paper (except the “e” which was a little off, but who cares), and swinging the little bar to return the carriage after each line. Honest. Three books. I loved that typewriter. You had to REALLY want to write to finish a book like that. Sigh.
When I discovered my first writing group, I thought I was in heaven. Every month, I LONGED to go to the meeting, desperate to meet and visit with other creative minds. There was no way to communicate realistically in between. Long distance was expensive. No such thing as email back in those early days. We all just showed up. In person. Sigh.
“These things were perfectly fine. Why, oh why, do they have to change?”
Onward, upward, we must embrace the inventions and improvements of our society.
So I did. Today I love my computer, survive by email, cell phone, and plastic. Haven’t I kept up with the times so far? Sigh.
Now book trailers? Kindles? On line workshops? Blogging? I panic.
The knowledgeable young ones smile at my questions (ok, sometimes condescendingly) and tell me I have to adapt to the new. Technology is here to stay. I must CONTINUE to keep up with the times.
So I will. I will try to stop sounding like my grandmother quite yet. But I have to admit, there is still this panicked little voice echoing in my head. “What WILL they think of next?”
But meanwhile, I’m blogging. How about you?
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Heavens, Christine, have you been reading my mind? I feel the same way about book trailers, blogging, postcasts, Twitter, etc. I hate to say it, but are we showing our age?
Cris
by Cris Anson March 16th, 2009 at 5:01 pmI owned one of those Olivetti typewriters, and it was the bane of my existence. I love computers and, most of all, their delete keys. Cut and paste–wonderful. Double-click on some blue underlined words, and I can be anywhere in the Internet world–amazing. Bring it on–just not TOO fast.
by Anne Walradt March 16th, 2009 at 9:54 pmI had an Olivetti too! Before that I had a pseudo typewriter that only typed capital letters. And I wrote short stories on it and submitted. I cringe now, but at the time I thought it was perfectly fine. I love my computer, love email and recently stuck my toe into the pool of blogging (right here on this very blog), so you’re not alone Crissy! And now I have started playing with Twitter. What next?
Remember when MTV was new and actually showed music videos?
by Debra Mullins March 16th, 2009 at 10:36 pmThere, now, Chris. That didn’t hurt, did it?
Good job.
Irene
by Irene March 17th, 2009 at 8:12 amNice post, Chris. And boy, do I relate. I’m wondering what my grandbabies are going to be teaching me in a couple of years.
by Gail March 17th, 2009 at 9:06 amWow! You speak so lovingly of your craft. From the memory of the pretty smelling paper (paper, what’s that?) to the pretty sound of the carriage return on your beloved typewritter! You’ve taken to this aspect of your craft just like all the others - wonderfully.
by Karen March 17th, 2009 at 4:48 pmI had an old Royal typewriter and wrote on hot pink paper that my mom’s office was discarding
I love the way you describe your grandma writing the notes on the paper with her pen.
Change is a little scary at times. Even I, technogeek that I am, wonder what will come next? I’m adventurous at most things, but haven’t mustered the energy to check out Twitter.
Despite that, I don’t go anywhere without my computer and a way to connect to the Internet. It’s like some giant umbilical cord to friends, family, news, and everything else that seems so essential!
Thanks for sharing, Chris.
by Caridad Pineiro March 17th, 2009 at 8:36 pmHow did we ever survive writing on typewriters? Changing a few eords meant a complete rewrite of the chapter.
But it was a lot simpler back then, wasn’t it?
by Kathye Quick March 19th, 2009 at 5:56 pm