katiefoolery: (Inspiration)
[personal profile] katiefoolery
It’s funny the things you remember that you hadn’t realised you’d forgotten in the first place... It’s the mental equivalent of finding a long-lost photo of yourself doing something absolutely stupid which you’d successfully managed to forget until the curse of photography brought it rushing right back to you.

But I believe I’ve already wandered off on a tangent, so I’ll just come right back here.

Lately, I’ve taken to writing down scenes and snippets of story in my little black notebook while at work. During my breaks, that is. It’s doing wonders for my handwriting - I can actually read it now! Even DAYS after I’ve written it. In the past, it seemed to have a sort of time-limit: if I didn’t transcribe my messy scrawl to the computer within a couple of days, I’d no longer be able to decipher it and it would be lost forever.

In many cases, that might have been a good thing, now that I think about it.

I just hope I don’t take it too far and get to a point where OTHER people can read my handwriting. That’s a fine balance I’ve been maintaining for years now and I'd hate to disturb it. For one thing, it would take away all the fun my parents receive from squinting at what I’ve written on their birthday cards and then deliberately mis-reading what’s there in an attempt to annoy me. Little do they know I make an extra effort to be illegible when I write those cards, just to give them this small joy.

BUT I do have a point and I’m sort of approaching it. I’m pretty sure it was something about remembering things long forgot. (Oh, the irony...) The tiny little things that won’t change your life but suddenly make you feel more... you, I suppose. And I’ve re-discovered one of those in my handwriting of stories. Just a little thing. It came back to me on Monday, when I finally had to accept that recess was over and it was time to go back to work. There I was, sitting at my work-bench, upper body sprawled across the surface as I directed my pen across the page in increasingly legible ciphers and rested the side of my head flat against the table as I did so.

Like I said, it’s a little thing but I’d completely forgotten I used to do that. I can hardly see what I’m writing and it probably looks like I’ve fallen asleep if you’re watching from a distance - but it’s so comfortable! Much more comfortable than slouching at a computer or waging a war against the useless weakling of a keyboard on my laptop. It suddenly brought back to me memories of sitting just like that in the classroom during lunch and recess at primary school, scribbling away at my silly stories in my even-worse handwriting.

It’s quirks such as these that are easily lost when you do most of your writing at a desk covered in a computer.

But I’d love to know if anyone else has a quirk like this. Am I the only one who watches their story take place from a sort-of sideways view? Are there weirder writing postures out there? What makes everyone else comfortable when they write?

on 2006-12-13 12:12 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] tiffanyscribler.livejournal.com
I do the very same thing. My teacher and friends used to laugh at me all the time. Oh, with one addition... I hold my pen at the very tip, a few millimeters above the nib.

on 2006-12-13 05:53 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I used to do that, too! You could tell I spent all my spare time writing, because my fingertips were always covered in ink from getting too close to the nib. It's looking like this is quite a common pose for writing long-hand, isn't it?

on 2006-12-13 11:05 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] tiffanyscribler.livejournal.com
Ah yes, that's right, ink spattered hands. How could I forget. My father used to get very annoyed with me for holding the pen so close to the nib... he tried training me in how to correctly hold a pen. It never worked.

on 2006-12-13 01:42 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] the-kaytinator.livejournal.com
I used to do that. It's partially responsible for my RSI.

on 2006-12-13 06:01 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I'm surprised I don't have any RSI - I used to spend enough time writing longhand...

on 2006-12-13 01:53 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] flamehail.livejournal.com
I did that when I wrote at school, especially in the science labs where they have those big, smooth black tables that are so cool when it's hot out and strangely perfect for anything, including naps, dancing, building forts out of candy boxes, playing memory with all 54 cards, and running. How I miss those tables. :-(

Mostly, though, I wrote in bed, so in lots of strange positions, including in the air while lying on my back. This is rather difficult and wreaks havoc on already mostly illegible handwriting. I spent so many hours in strange positions scribbling in cheap notebooks! And now when I try to write anywhere but on a computer or at a desk/table, it feels awkward and my hand won't quite work correctly. Perhaps it is part of getting old? Or perhaps I need more practice.

Awww, good memories! Thanks, Katie! And now you know you're not the only one. ^_^

on 2006-12-13 06:21 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I do! It's quite re-assuring really, to know it's such a common writing pose. I think the awkwardness of writing long-hand is mostly because we're so used to using computers. If you could see my notebook, I think you'd be able to notice how scrawled my writing was at first and then observe as it gradually neatens up. And I seem to write more each day, too. So, it's definitely a matter of practice, not "age". :P

on 2006-12-13 04:27 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] sarsalot.livejournal.com
Oooh, I used to do that, but mostly only when I was really tired. Um... at desks, I sit forward, elbows on the desk, rather than the standard school slump with arms fully extended to reach the paper (to let the teacher know that you're really, really bored) which I always found uncomfortable. I don't like writing at desks - I like curling up in armchairs with wide flat arms that I can rest my notebook on, or sitting on the floor with book on my knee.

on 2006-12-13 06:17 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I love reading like that - all curled up in an armchair with everything tucked underneath me. It's not as easy for me to write that way, though, unless I can really twist myself around. I seem to write on such a bizarre angle...

on 2006-12-13 05:13 am (UTC)
ext_1836: (Default)
Posted by [identity profile] rigel-7.livejournal.com
hehe, I do that if I'm writing at a desk, but if I'm writing longhand I tend to do it in bed, propped up against my pillows, with my knees drawn up and my notebook leaning against them.

Also your handwriting isn't that illegible Katie :P

on 2006-12-13 06:16 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Oh, sometimes I try for legibility, believe me. If you could see some of the stuff I have in my notebook at the moment... My favourite line reads "as albatross his lime" - I have no idea what I actually wrote, but I think this is much better. More abstract. Plus, there's an albatross in it. For some reason.

I can't seem to write comfortably with my notebook on my knees. I think it's because of the angle on which I write - I need to be sort of twisted around to do it properly.

on 2006-12-13 06:24 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] saltedpin.livejournal.com
Usually I only ever write in bed lying on my stomach, which makes my handwriting near-illegible :) The rest of the time I type, which is very boring :p

on 2006-12-13 06:29 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
Hehe - I can imagine! I can barely read lying in bed on my stomach - my shoulders always have loud and painful things to say about that.

on 2006-12-13 08:27 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] blindmouse.livejournal.com
Mm, if I'm writing longhand then I always write sideways. It can be awkward, because if there's somebody sitting on my right, it really does look as though I'm surrepticiously trying to let them see what I'm writing. And since I almost always would rather choke on my own pen than let them (whoever they are) see what I'm writing, I find myself writing more and more messily to counteract the sideways pose.

on 2006-12-13 08:29 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
It is a very protective sort of pose, isn't it? It certainly blocks people from being able to see what I'm writing if I'm all but hugging the notepad to me as I write.

But do you lay your head down on its side as you write? That's the crucial factor here. ;)

on 2006-12-13 09:06 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] flippyfrog.livejournal.com
I used to do that! My teachers would think i was asleep all the time, but it was just so much more comfortable.
And i would always write with the pad almost perfectly horizontal with a back slant rather than the forward.

I still can't get over the fact that i earned my pen license purely out of sympathy (i was being beaten by the kids a year below, curse those composite classes).

but yes, i like those memories of times and moments past. As long as they're good ones. Not a fan of the ones that make me wince...

on 2006-12-13 09:23 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
I think I got my pencil licence out of sympathy, too. It was way back in grade prep, but I still remember being the second-last person to get it!

And yes, the non-wince-worthy memories are always somewhat better than the alternative.

on 2006-12-13 10:56 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] frohike.livejournal.com
I prefer to write my stories by hand. I'll usually lie on the floor or curl up on the couch where everyone else is. And when sitting I'll bring my legs up so my thighs are at a good angle for leaning on. I don't often write at a desk so I have to keep turning around and rolling over etc etc. I write like a washing machine.

on 2006-12-13 11:32 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
The weird thing is, I didn't actually think I could write stories long-hand any more. So it's nice to discover that I can.

I write like a washing machine. - That's a splendid description! It pretty much describes the way I read in bed, too.

on 2006-12-14 02:43 am (UTC)
Posted by [personal profile] meretia
You make that sound so pleasant.

I used to write longhand, before my parents gave me a laptop. One of the reasons that I never liked the computers in the university dorms was that they were only big enough for the computer and its printer (or a book or two once I started stashing the printer under the desk to use as a footrest). Before I started college I always found it sort of relaxing to sit down with my notebook at the end of a day at work to type and edit what I had written in my notebook.

I write very slowly by hand but type like a mad fiend, so once I got my lappie I pretty much did a complete turn around; I didn't used to be able to think at a computer, but now if I'm called to handwrite a piece of story, I get at best a page or two of strange, fragmental paragraphs before I get tired and end up writing something like [type lots of specifics about this, this, and this] in the middle of the scene.

Now I want to try that again, because it just sounds so cozy.

on 2006-12-14 06:18 am (UTC)
Posted by [identity profile] katiefoolery.livejournal.com
It is cosy! I was doing it again today and it feels as though I'm closer to my story, sitting there sort of hugging it as I write. For ages, I was convinced I couldn't write long-hand any more, so it's a pleasant surprise to find out that I can. It does frustrate me in that I can't write as quickly as I can type and I have to cut my nails because they keeping digging into my fingers, but I'm happy to discover that my writing isn't impaired in any way simply because I'm writing with a pen instead of a keyboard.

I do similar things to you and break off on complete tangents as I go. Or edit a little. Or write some questions about whatever the character's doing at the time. It just makes the process feel even more organic.

I heartily recommend it!

on 2006-12-14 03:02 pm (UTC)
Posted by [personal profile] meretia
Oh, I remember the fingernails. That was such a pain.

One of the ladies in the Dayton NaNo group wrote her novel by hand. I don't think that I'm quite up to that, but this story that I'm just starting demands that I write at least my story notes by hand, so I think that I'm going to be picking this habit up again whether I want to or not.

April 2011

S M T W T F S
     12
34567 89
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 14th, 2025 04:04 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios