The reason for the scarcity of new posts on this blog in recent days is that I haven't really done anything this week except sit in front of the computer and pound the keyboard. And since I'm one of those dinosaurs who learned to type on an actual typewriter -- and a manual one, at that -- I really do pound the keyboard. This point was brought home to me when I did some cleaning up in my studio not long ago and found the five or six keyboards I had busted over the years and neglected to throw away. They're gone now.
And I didn't have any books to talk about because I've been reading the same one all week, an incredibly long novel that I wound up hating. I stuck with it because there was some good stuff in it, and then the ending just wrecked it. It's my own fault. I've been burned before by the same author, in exactly the same way. I got some pulp reprints that I'd ordered in the mail today, so I may stick with them for a while.
Tonight we watched the DVD of BATMAN BEGINS. I'm a noted curmudgeon and nit-picker when it comes to movies based on comic books, but I thought this one wasn't bad. The people who made it had their hearts in the right places. There were a few things I didn't like (over and above the godawful modern-day action movie editing style), but there were enough shots that looked really right to more than make up for the problems. I do wish, though, that they'd managed to work in the "Criminals are a cowardly, superstitious lot" line. It's just not a Batman origin story without it.
The Vendetta
19 minutes ago
5 comments:
James, Pound away! I hear you on the manual typewriters. In fact, as a 30-something, I've had enough of computers that don't work properly and erase my work if I hit the wrong combination of keys (or, the software will flash one of those illegal operation error messages before crashing entirely, resulting in the loss of my work). So I went and bought a manual typewriter, and I've POUNDED out ten pages of the new project so far, two-finger-style, just like Mickey Spillane. And I'm having a blast! I don't think I've enjoyed writing this much in a long time. There's just something musical about the whack-whack-whack-ding of a typewriter, and I don't even mind retyping pages. So far! Eventually I'll have to put it all into a computer, but that's okay.
I believe Loren Estleman still uses a typewriter to write his books. I can understand the appeal in that. The process is just enough different to be refreshing. Also, when I was working on a typewriter, I really liked being able to see the pile of finished pages grow. I hated it when I had to do major rewrites, though. And I certainly became a lot more prolific when I started using a computer.
My first two books were written with a fountain pen (even more prehistoric technology) in spiral notebooks, and sometimes I even miss those days.
I haven't had a real typewriter in years (meaning non-electronic), but I'm going to get an old one and when we get to buy the summer cottage, I'll take it there and spend my summers pounding away...
James, who is the author you hate? Or don't you just want to give it away?
The auther in question isn't someone I know personally, but we have mutual friends, so anonymity might be the best course here. Anyway, there have only been two books by this person that I really disliked. I've read maybe eight or ten others that were pretty good.
James, Great minds think alike. A lot of my writing, before it's typed, is done with pen and paper. And sometimes pencil, when I'm feeling particularly bold.
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