Writing, writers and humbleness

I’m going to start by sending you off! Please go and read Fiona’s excellent account of why it’s sometimes important to spend more than necessary – it’s here: Cottage Smallholder.

Okay, so what have Tesco’s mushrooms got to do with frugal writers? Very simply, sometimes making the investment in your writing is what you need to kick your own backside to the next level.

As an example, I used to write in any old shorthand pad or notebook. Then, one day, I found myself talking to a BIG agent (not my agent) in a bar, and the BIG agent actually leaned over and plucked my crappy old shorthand pad (Asda, 79 pence) from my bag. Between awe and horror and a certain sense of paralysis that came from the invasion of my personal space, I saw bits of scrap paper, old bus tickets and other impedimenta fall from the notebook’s pages onto the pub floor. Needless to say, I was humiliated, even though the BIG agent claimed to enjoy what he read in my truly awful handwriting.

Nowadays I write in Moleskines – the ones with a pocket at the back for scrap paper. I would never have bought one if the BIG agent hadn’t shamed me into it, but because I have one, and it’s expensive and lovely, I feel compelled to make use of it every day. And because of that compulsion do write just about every day, and because I write every day, I have far more work to send out than most writers I know. And because I send the work out, I have just torn the cellophane off my fourth moleskine, having filled three in the past year. And having paid for them from my writing income, of course!

Sometimes the spur you need is to invest in yourself, and then live up to your investment, whether it’s a course, a notebook, a special pen or just printing some business cards that say ‘writer’ and handing them out.

Moleskines courtesy of culture.culte

11 Comments

  1. Charles Lambert
    4th November 2008

    Absolutely! Now can I have one of these tiny new laptops please?

    Reply
  2. Jo Horsman
    4th November 2008

    I agree, too. I’ve got a Woolworth alue notepad (with about fourteen pages) a Tesco one, one of those crap ones with the green cardboard cover that I always hate and generally buy and a stupid blue one that has pages that don’t turn properly.

    I want a nice one. I’m going to get one. I am brilliant.

    Reply
  3. Mark Hubbard
    4th November 2008

    Trouble is I can’t write with my hand any more, for more than ten minutes, without cramping up, then I can’t read what I have written, most of the time, as I can’t keep up with my thought. Whereas I can touch type at the same speed as I think, so I’m bound to keyboards.

    Pity, I’d love one of those moleskin books. And I’ve got this lovely, twenty four year old fountain pen, given to me by my sister, I now only use for journal entries (that’s accounting journal entries). In the places where my fingers go, the black has worn down to golden brass.

    Reply
  4. Nik's Blog
    5th November 2008

    Excellent post/point, Kay. Also, writing in nice books with nice pens makes the actual physical act of writing more pleasurable, I find – and that’s something we really should enjoy.

    And Moleskines are very beautiful.

    Nik

    Reply
  5. Cottage Smallholder
    5th November 2008

    Thanks for the link, Kay.

    Great post!

    Reply
  6. Vanessa Gebbie
    7th November 2008

    Ah but it is so easy to kid oneself that the wriitng done with a wonderful pen in a wonderful notebook must be just that.

    I wrote my best piece (or the start of it) on the inside back cover of a dead cheque book.

    Reply
  7. Nik's Blog
    7th November 2008

    I see what you’re saying, Vanessa and I don’t think you’re wrong; the words are important, what they’re written with isn’t. But, but, but – wrtingin nice things with nice things (don’t have to be expensive) can be a real pleasure. For me. Good tools aren’t essential but they can be nice.

    Reply
  8. Annie Wicking
    8th November 2008

    Do they make them in A4 size please.

    I write every day too, but I enjoy writing on large sheets of paper.

    Okay so I’m weird, but then I a everyday writer…lol.

    Best wishes,
    Annie

    Reply
  9. Kay Sexton
    10th November 2008

    Ah Vanessa, I did say SOMETIMES the investment in glory is what you need, not it’s necessary to spend money to move your writing on!

    Charles – no! Jo – yes you are. Mark – Charles’s laptop lust could be just the answer for you. Nik – couldn’t agree more, pleasure in process is as important to a sustainable writing career as pleasure in outcome. Annie – they do! Fiona – you’re very welcome.

    Reply
  10. Jo Horsman
    10th November 2008

    A few days ago, I bought a little black notepad (plain paper – no lines) with a piece of elastic attached to keep it closed. So far, in it, I have written the names of two bands who sound interesting and the ending to my latest story. This was all written with my new pencil that has replaceable leads – this is brilliant, too.
    And thank you Kay – you’re not so bad yerself! x

    Reply
  11. Nacie
    12th November 2008

    You are so right (write? hah) – one of my friends gave me a beautiful notebook/journal for my birthday this year, and while I am not a huge fan of writing out long hand (I am a child of the internet/computer genetaion after all!), I have just been writing and writing and writing in this lovely bound notebook. I guess it is the same thing with stuff like exercise uniforms, etc – if you shell out more than you expected to for something you feel obligated to use it!

    Reply

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