Journal Entry
When you need the right/write tool
Sometimes as writers/human beings, we get obsessed about having the perfect tool in place before we start our work.
There is some wisdom to this. I’m always impressed when I see how fast a carpenter in a shop with all the right tools can whip raw wood into something beautiful with a few quick cuts. Look, with the right tools it’s easy!
But part of that is a lie. Because that carpenter before us has decades of experience understanding his trade. In some part, no matter the tool, they can do amazing things. The tools make it easier, but someone who didn’t have their experience and practice and knowledge wouldn’t be able to use the tools so effortlessly.
With writing I often get obsessed with having the right laptop, the right program, the right environment.
There’s a quote attributed to the Buddha, which I find useful. It goes something like “you have all the tools around you right now that you need in order to succeed.”
Sometimes, I meet people who’ve spent their lives fiddling around trying to find the perfect tool. They wait to learn, they wait for life experience, they wait for inspiration, the perfect first line, the perfect idea, they clutter their lives with all manners of things.
They’ve spent 10 years trying to find a bandsaw to cut a 2X4. Yeah, once they cut the 2X4 it will be quick and perfect, but someone else in those 10 years could have taken a hacksaw and some sandpaper to achieve a similar result, to stretch a metaphor.
For me, it’s a reminder that if there is pen and paper, I can write. If there isn’t, I can sketch scenes out in my mind and mull plots and characters, or even think descriptions over. I can use the simplest word processor possible, notepad or textedit, or I can type something up in google documents. I don’t need the perfect software for writing, it’s just nice when it comes along (scrivener).
The laptops, the right paper or pen, the perfect office, none of these are necessary, as I always have the tools around me with which to succeed. The only thing that holds us back is ourselves…
Filed under the topic Journal on January 12th 2009 at 3:33 pm. You can subscribe to the RSS feed for this entry to keep track of comments. You can also use to trackback.
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1. Guerry on Jan 12th, 2009 at 4:29 pm
Wow, you channeled my state of mind today.
Life’s too short to spin too hard on this stuff.
Glad you’re feeling better, btw.
2. Natania on Jan 12th, 2009 at 4:44 pm
Yes, precisely. Was pondering those same angles earlier today–but I love the craftsman metaphor.
Often I feel like an ill-equipped blacksmith, but all I really need is a good fire.
3. Marko Kloos on Jan 12th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
I think the search for the Perfect Writing Tool/Environment is really just another, very intricate form of cat-waxing, an excuse for not actually getting the work done. ($DEITY knows I’ve been guilty of that myself many times.)
“If I only had this particular laptop, with this perfect program, in my perfect office with the perfect view…”, and so on.
I think Scalzi was dead on when he said that it what mattered wasn’t so much the setup as the desire to get it done. I actually find that the low-tech approach is better for my output than the computer, because I’m not constantly tempted to check email or Twitter when I’m writing in longhand or on the typewriter.
Someone once asked Einstein where he worked, and where his laboratory was. In response, Einstein pointed at the fountain pen in his pocket…
4. david in Maine on Jan 12th, 2009 at 10:44 pm
i have all the respect in the world for creativity and the tools used to construct their crafts. they are all of inspiration
i believe today’s wordsmith uses the tools available they find the most transparent allowing more time to focus on their creativity and not on their tools. if they don’t, they should.
my old unabridged dictionary is as heavy as a boat anchor – desktop tools are such a relief and as much as i use them – i can imagine how dog-eared physical pages would be by now.
BTW you were one of the authors that steered me toward (scrivener) thanks for that post! KB certainly created a flexible and transparent work of art that meets the requirements of many!
thanks for sharing this – i’ve been browsing your posts – someday i plan to read your books.
5. Steve Buchheit on Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:26 am
I keep trying to find Dumbo’s magic flying-feather. In the mean time I keep plugging out the words the best I can without it.
6. Wyman Cooke on Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:37 am
Marko, you don’t wax cats, you vacuum them.
Toby, I hear ya. There are some valid reasons for people not to write, but there are plenty of silly reasons as well.
7. Dr. Phil on Jan 13th, 2009 at 10:17 pm
When I want to write I fire up a 1996 Micron PC running Word 95 under Windows 95. Machine doesn’t know there is an internet. No distractions. (grin)
Dr. Phil
8. Tarrell Childs on Jan 14th, 2009 at 5:05 am
Well said. Ain’t nothin’ to it but to do it!
9. Kerry on Jan 14th, 2009 at 10:53 am
“There is no secret ingredient.”
–Kung Fu Panda
10. Tobias Buckell on Jan 14th, 2009 at 10:54 am
Kerry: LOL. Yeah! Or: the secret ingredient is you!