Well – we don’t really have swords these days – so the quotation is not really apt is it? But I have to admit we have succumbed to the fashion of writing a book!
It should be easy; after all as Beryl Bainbridge, the English author confessed:
“I am of the firm belief that everybody could write books and I never understand why they don’t. After all, everybody speaks. Once grammar has been learned it is simply talking on paper and in time learning what not to say.”
Well I have been told that I can talk under water – so ‘why not’ I said when the idea was first bruited. There is of course one small fly in the pleasant smelling ointment – and that is time!
Some of us are organised, and some of us are not – some understand and practice time management and some of us do not. And an oxymoron is someone who does not understand and practice it blogging on the subject of time!! Trish – our traveller –is also off to America for December and there was a deadline of January mentioned and agreed to – and I am wondering if she will get home on time!!
Seriously, it is a great idea. Over the years that we both have been engaged in training and communication training in particular we have picked up an idea or three on how it should be done. We put much of what we have learned into our workshops but there is much more we would like to include but which that dreaded time prevents – so what better way of sharing it than in a book?
F. Scott Fitzgerald once said that “You don’t write because you want to say something; you write because you have something to say.” And we have a few things to say.
So my Christmas holidays will be spent at the computer, suitable decked out with Christmas cheer and holly (that’s the computer not me) finding out if I really do have anything worthwhile to say, and of course learning the difficult art of what not to say.
I think that it is quite extraordinary how books have held their appeal. I remember when the personal computer was just beginning to become a ‘must have’ rather than a luxury. Academics and educationalist bewailed the fact and predicted that books would vanish for ever/ And yet one of the most visited sites on the web is gutenberg.com; for ‘three decades’ the book lovers at this web site have been digitalising books of all kinds and conditions. Bibliophiles have been able to get their hands on books that would probably have remained just a dream.
But I have to freely confess that I am a traditionalist because I love the feel of a book, and love the smell of a book. I love a new unopened book and sometimes I will leave it sitting on the coffee table until I have the time to settle in and enjoy. And every time I pass the table the thrill of anticipation never fails to stir me. I am happiest when I am curled up in the armchair with a book in my hand. It’s the whole experience for me. So while I am a fan of Gutenberg.com I am not a true fan of e-books as yet.
However, Trish does enjoy the more modern library along with the traditional one, and as she points on with modern technology you can sit on the proverbial park bench with a book displayed on the hand held device. But am I the only one who thinks that even in this situation there is something missing? Or maybe I am just a child of the twentieth century and should move on.
Be that as it may – it does not alter the fact that we are trying our hands at writing a book, and with my partner off to the United States of America for fun and frivolity I may have to sit down and share my problems and frustrations with you all.
So batten down the hatches – it could be a bumpy ride, this book writing caper!
Michele @ Trischel