… over my bedtime. Yes, that’s right. I’m twenty years old, and she’s still nagging me about when I go to bed. You see, she is an early bird and I am a night owl. We get along impeccably on everything except this particular issue. I am on the college schedule and find nothing at all odd with retiring at 2AM and rising close to 11, and I daresay most college students would agree with me (although my roommate is prone to getting up in the wee hours, God bless her).
But what, you may ask, keeps me up so late? The answer is my baby. Before anyone suffers from cardiac arrest, it’s not a live infant, but my novels. My writing is just as precious to me as a child; I suppose you could call it my substitute kid for now (although my little sisters want me to “hurry up and find a boy to make a baby with so we can cuddle it.” I kid you not). I put all of my heart and soul into this novel and sometimes I just can’t stop myself from staying up all night. Once I get started writing it’s impossible to stop me. One minute it’s 10:30, and the next it’s 2:45, my hand is cramped, my eyes are burning, and I have to keep getting snacks to keep up my energy.
Despite all of that though, I usually find myself in a state of blissful satisfaction because my journal, which has become home to whichever characters are swimming around in my brain at the time (currently it’s dear Prince Thomas and his ladylove Laura, but for most of last year it was Julian and his struggle to clear his name of false charges), is suddenly running out of room and I have to scurry upstairs to snag another one before my ideas flutter away.
Speaking of journals, allow me to lament the sad state of the written word. Its poor, struggling pulse has almost completely stopped beating. When was the last time you saw/heard of an author physically writing with a pen on paper? It’s not common anymore to be certain. Whenever an author is interviewed nowadays they say they immediately dash to their computers when they have a brilliant idea. Whenever I have a brilliant idea I grab my pen and actually write it, pretending I am like the great Miss
Austen who did not have the benefit of technology. Something about it feels that much more authentic, like I’m actually writing a book and not working on a college paper or professional document. Now I’m not technologically ignorant by any means and do transcribe my work to my Mac (and I do love my Mac), and recognize the importance of a Word document. No matter how I look at it though, it just doesn’t feel the same.
Am I a hypocrite? After all, here I am writing a blog and am the proud owner of Kindle, both of which significantly detract from the essence of a printed book or journal. Maybe I am. You can judge. But I will say this: nothing turns me on more than a printed book and anytime I sit, squat, or sprawl out to write, the initial first step for me was, is, and always will be reaching for my pen.
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Thank you so much for sharing this great article with us, Miss Rosemary! For all of you who read and enjoyed this, be sure to check out her wonderful blog, full of so many exciting stories that never fail to bring a smile to your lips!
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Miss Rosemary lives in the great state of New York and is currently working on several novels and is one of the Editors-in-
Cheif of the Farfield University Literary Magazine, The Inkwell. She was just recently published in Yankees Magazine and is now turning her attention to querying agents and getting her novels on the bookshelves. Check out her blog, Miss Rosemary’s Novel Ideas at http://disgruntledwriterscircle.wordpress.com.
June Hur 
Dear Miss Rosemary, I’m 37, pregnant and lacking much of the energy I had at your age. How I envy you. I can barely make it past 9:30 these days, however, when I was in my late teens/early 20’s I routinely stayed up until well past the witching hour to write, play and be a young adult. When I was writing a novel I would write for 14-16 hours straight, which meant I went to bed early in the morning and got up late. The muse has no sundial. When I was at university I seldom went to bed before 3 am, but always had to be up by 6.30. My point is, make the most of the energy now.
Ps, I’m an advocate of pen and paper, but typing allows me to keep up with my thoughts.
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Thank you Sharon! I love your “the muse has no sundial” line. I may use that somewhere in my late-night writing … 🙂
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How I highly enjoyed this post, Rosemary. It had me chuckling. Recently, (just in the last few days!) I have discovered the joy of writing with pen and paper. I am finding that I am actually able to be much more free with my words. I am never going back to my straight-to-laptop ways!
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Yay, yay, yay! Real writing just makes you feel better. Besides, when you go to transcribe it later, it makes you realize how much you actually accomplished when your fingers are bleeding from the great amount of typing you’ve done. It’s a win win situation.
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Great post, Rosemary. I can’t tell you how many receipts and junk mail envelopes I have in my purse that are covered in scrawled ideas for a WIP that happen to arrive when I’m stuck in traffic, or at the library, etc…I tried keeping an actual little notebook in there for just such moments, but my kiddos ended up using it for precious art inspirations–and I admit I like my paper trail better…
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Receipts and napkins give it more of a charming feel, don’t they? J.K. Rowling used them too, so just think of that when you are disappointed in your disorganized self.
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Love the post Rosemary and I couldn’t agree with you more- I love technology and all its perks but not as much as I love my pen and my journal!
I write my first drafts by hand, I have a big, fancy note book for each of my novels where I write my plot outline, character profiles and some critical scenes. Having those notebooks, seeing my own hand writing (even though it may give me nausea) and being able to see the story as it develops… No feeling like it 🙂
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Lua, it seems like we just always agree on everything! Big, specific notebooks for each specific story and separate ones for outlines (well not so much those on my part) and ideas.
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I agree, early bed times are overrated. Going to bed at two or three in the morning and getting up around eleven is great. I never could do mornings–ick. I wish I had the ability to write with a pen and paper. Can’t do it, it hurts me too bad to grip a pen for very long and my handwriting is atrocious.
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Oh I never said my handwriting and the notebooks I scribble in were legible to anyone else …
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Usually, I write my novels on my laptop, but one of my English teachers in high school said that her best essays were written by hand and then typed up on the computer.
I think I’ll get a little notebook and start writing my next novel on it. Maybe I’ll be surprised and find out that writing by hand is better. :3
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Yes! I’ve inspired someone! Make sure it’s a good notebook for me 🙂
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“Speaking of journals, allow me to lament the sad state of the written word. Its poor, struggling pulse has almost completely stopped beating. When was the last time you saw/heard of an author physically writing with a pen on paper? It’s not common anymore to be certain.”
I’m one of them. First draft is ALWAYS handwritten. And I have a moleskin notebook in my purse at all times. Maybe because I have a desktop?
Actually, it’s because I love the pen strolling on paper…! 😉
Happy writing!
Barb
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My friend keeps begging me to buy a moleskin! Apparently they’re all the rage for writers. I do believe I will take your advice Brarb 🙂
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actually, both the moleskin that I have now (one still new, the other almost finished) were gifts from friends… one even has written on the card “because a writer should ALWAYS have something to write on”… so, MISS ROSEMARY’S FRIENDS, YOU KNOW WHAT TO GIVE HER NEXT CHRISTMAS! 😉
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Bravo, Rosemary, for sticking to pen and paper (which I don’t seem to be able to do, when I’m writing — I can’t write fast enough, and am afriad some of my ideas will float away, bored).
I much prefer hand-written letters to email any day, but doesn’t mean that I have received one in decades :(.
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Oh I love receiving letters. I tried doing it with my ex, but he never checked his mail. Alas it was not to be.
Sometimes I do worry about my ideas flitting away but if they’re meant to be in the story, they’ll come back eventually 🙂
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Thanks for doing the switch June! I’ve got a blog award for you to express my gratitude 🙂
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You’re not a hypocrite. I love using my laptop to write and organize my writing, but when it comes to writing actual scenes or jotting down ideas, my first choice is pen and paper. I’ve tried to be more “hip” by using the latest gadgets, but I always do better when I’m write on paper.
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I love the idea that writing by hand makes it more authentic! I really, really need to try it.
For me, it’s about time. Writing by hand is slow – and causes finger cramps. I can’t read my own writing. My thoughts go twenty times faster than the pen. Would Austen have turned her back on technology if it had been offered? Would she stand before you now and say, ‘Why not just use the keyboard? I’d have loved one of those in my day.’
All questions that spring to mind!
Great post, Rosemary. 🙂
– Corra
The Victorian Heroine
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