I confess, Misery with Kathy Bates is one of my favorite movies. Oddly, it’s about a psycho like Norman Bates
in Psycho who kills people who’ve
ended up at his/her residence. In this
case, it’s Paul Sheldon, the writer of her favorite fiction
character. After rescuing him, she
forces him to redo his latest manuscript which was found with him at the
scene of his snowy car wreck. He’s from
the old school of writing and I enjoy watching him pounding away on her old
antique typewriter and wondered if that’s the way he normally wrote. Despite being a captive and being in mortal
danger, he was picky; he demands she go to town to get him some smudge-proof
paper. I suspect the movie is set in a
time when cell phones and computers were not invented because I would have
demanded at least a Hp Pavilion with Windows 7 as well.
If Hollywood wants to depict writers
chiseling away like they used to, that’s their business. In the real world, that style went the way of
the dinosaur. I’ve been in several
writers groups where most still write with pen and pencil on a yellow steno
pad. They’re hopelessly and needlessly lost
and I feel for them – not that I’m special, but it’s a radically different
world from the time when penciling in something and pounding away with an old
Royal typewriter sufficed. Those were
terrible days: faded ribbon, White Out, and worn out pencil erasers. Even if you write just for yourself, you
should have the basics: cell phone, credit card, a stable e-mail address and
computer knowledge.
I was fortunate enough to learn word
processing in the Marine Corps and working for the State of Missouri - in other
words - at work. In my last job, the
boss gave us free reign and not only did we learn word processing, but other
important applications as well like the Internet (if you call that an
application). The important thing to
remember is just do it. Libraries offer
courses in being computer literate and I admit I’m still learning: transferring
cover and content image from flash drives, PDF, jpeg, attachments, images in
e-mail text when they’re not attachments.
You’ll need the know-how if you’re serious about writing and publishing. Think of it like this; if you were Paul and
had a new set of legs, you’d be the one in control.
