Necessity is the mother of invention or so the saying goes. For me it seems to be the cattle prod of progress.
I've taken a temp job in the hope of stashing enough cash to attend the RWA National Conference in 2011. My twenty-something boss is a good egg, but like most people of her generation she can text whole paragraphs at thumb-blistering speed. So naturally texting is her preferred mode of communication with me. Problem is, I'm expected to answer via return text, and before taking this assignment I'd never texted before in my life.
Close your jaw. Yes, I am aware this is 2010 and EVERYONE texts. And yes, I have needed to text messages on several occasions in the past: to communicate with a child who was in a movie theater and couldn't talk on her phone, to send a friend a requested phone number or email address to her phone, etc. But I'd never actually sent any of those texts myself. I didn't know how. So I'd call my husband and ask him to text for me. Pathetic, huh?
Well, it became clear quickly with this new job that using my husband as my text secretary just wasn't going to work. The volume of texting and the speed at which my boss was expecting an answer made that impractical. So in fits and starts, with laughable misspellings and texts sent to wrong recipients, and much strained peering with middle-aged eyes at keys sized for Lilliputian fingers, I've learned to text. I'm not yet quick, but I'm fast getting comfortable, and confident.
And that has me reflecting on something to do with my writing life.
For a long, long time I've put off learning how to do things I know will help me become a better writer and businesswoman. Things like learning to build and maintain my own website and create detailed synopsis-style outlines both agents and best-selling writers have told me are crucial to selling my work. Is it possible that, like texting, neither of these things is the monster I've imagined? Could it be that like texting, once I apply myself, I might find the going less painful than I've supposed?
I think I should find out.
Something that's helping me write today: this quote by John M. Richardson, Jr. "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." I'd add there's possibly a fourth sort: those who finally get off the sidelines and start participating in what is happening.
I've taken a temp job in the hope of stashing enough cash to attend the RWA National Conference in 2011. My twenty-something boss is a good egg, but like most people of her generation she can text whole paragraphs at thumb-blistering speed. So naturally texting is her preferred mode of communication with me. Problem is, I'm expected to answer via return text, and before taking this assignment I'd never texted before in my life.
Close your jaw. Yes, I am aware this is 2010 and EVERYONE texts. And yes, I have needed to text messages on several occasions in the past: to communicate with a child who was in a movie theater and couldn't talk on her phone, to send a friend a requested phone number or email address to her phone, etc. But I'd never actually sent any of those texts myself. I didn't know how. So I'd call my husband and ask him to text for me. Pathetic, huh?
Well, it became clear quickly with this new job that using my husband as my text secretary just wasn't going to work. The volume of texting and the speed at which my boss was expecting an answer made that impractical. So in fits and starts, with laughable misspellings and texts sent to wrong recipients, and much strained peering with middle-aged eyes at keys sized for Lilliputian fingers, I've learned to text. I'm not yet quick, but I'm fast getting comfortable, and confident.
And that has me reflecting on something to do with my writing life.
For a long, long time I've put off learning how to do things I know will help me become a better writer and businesswoman. Things like learning to build and maintain my own website and create detailed synopsis-style outlines both agents and best-selling writers have told me are crucial to selling my work. Is it possible that, like texting, neither of these things is the monster I've imagined? Could it be that like texting, once I apply myself, I might find the going less painful than I've supposed?
I think I should find out.
Something that's helping me write today: this quote by John M. Richardson, Jr. "When it comes to the future, there are three kinds of people: those who let it happen, those who make it happen, and those who wonder what happened." I'd add there's possibly a fourth sort: those who finally get off the sidelines and start participating in what is happening.
