In the year of BC, before computers, I was married to a yellow legal tablet where I wrote my heart out. With a number two pencil, I wrote grocery lists, to-do lists, poems, essays and short stories. Whenever my muse stirred, I drifted along the light blue lines on my legal pad.
Then came the cumbersome computer, better known as a Kaypro, into my life. Once I learned how to operate this newfangled gadget, I still wrote on my legal pad because it was the only way the muse visited. Or so I thought. Words tumbled effortlessly between my pencil and the pad. Who could think while engaging all your fingers on a keyboard?
Eventually, I succumbed, kicking and screaming, into the updated writing world. Guess what? I loved it. At first, though, my muse pouted, turned sullen, wouldn't speak to me. Another name for Writer's Block. Finally we declared an uneasy truce. It didn't take long before I tackled long works like novels. While my fingers flew across the keyboard, my imagination soared. Strange characters inhabited my head and put words in my mouth that surprised me. Who knew I thought these things? That is the fun of being a writer, after all. Surprise after surprise. Even my muse seemed happier.
Back to the future where I struggled with newfangled technology once more. To Kindle or not to Kindle. That is the question. My apologies to Willie Shakespeare. But here's the thing. I love books, love the feel of the pages. Nearly reel with sensational longings when I walk into Barnes & Noble. My house has become a veritable book store. Ask my husband, who wonders aloud on a regular basis what I plan to do with all these books.
Of course,I pass them around among my friends, get others in return. Read so much, I end up rereading a book before I realize it. How can I love a Kindle, the electronic gadget where you download books and can't turn real pages. Reader friends share my misgivings, but I notice more of them are getting e-books. That's downright unfriendly, if you ask me. You can't swap books anymore. Not that it matters, since I have acquired several hundred 'friends' on Facebook, which, by the way, is distressing my muse. Facebook, it turns out, can be addicting.
So, back to the dilemma of Kindling. What then will I do with my humongous books collection? I'll have to think about it some more. I feel a blog coming on.
So says Sassy
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