Writing 101 - Tools of the Trade

When I started writing, I tended to write. You know, literally. The old-fashioned way, on paper with a pen or pencil. Occasionally with a crayon.

Eventually I transitioned much of that to computers, either locally or on the net as it became available. When I got serious about writing I started carrying a journal or notebook everywhere. Pen and paper again ruled. As I started transcribing some of these stories onto my home desktop computer, I found myself writing there again as well.

I began to notice I tended to write differently based on the tool I was using. This hit me like a newly hatched face hugger from the Alien movies when I wanted to write my novel. The ideas were flowing like a dam had busted, but I couldn't write them down-- not on paper, not on the desktop.

On a whim I decided to try writing on the new Apple Macbook Air they had given me at work (personal use is Allowed). Almost 2,000 words flowed out in a couple of hours. That's a chapter. This happened again the next night. And the next. I wrote over 75,000 words in a month-- all in my spare time amidst a very busy schedule. Nearly all of it was on the laptop. I'd never been able to do that before!

The style was different. Not horribly, but subtly. I think it was perfect for the book. But it wasn't like anything I had written before. Why?

Why, why, why?

A few days after I started pondering this, I was rummaging through art supplies-- crayons, pens, pencils, markers, and brushes. And it hit me. Visual artists use different media for different things. It might vary by mood, or subject, or style, or anything else, but some artists find they can only do certain work, or perhaps their best work, with certain media.

It's true with music, as well. I can pick up my acoustic, my G&L Tribute, my ancient Hagstrom 1, or my Flying V, and likely as not start playing certain styles based on the guitar. Sometimes I even pick the guitar based on what I want to play.

Why should writing be any different? Or any other artistic endeavor?

So, are you an an artist? Try another medium! Swap a paintbrush for a sprayer, a Strat for a Tele, a guitar for a bass, a clarinet for a drum, pencils for markers.

It can help with writer's block (or other artistic equivalents). In fact, that's what happened with the book.

All that said, I'm glad this flowed onto my desktop keyboard. I guess I could have scanned a bunch of PostIt[tm] notes and used the image as the blog, just this once.

Wait. Now I have to try that! Stay tuned.

In Which Musician and Teen Win Over Geek

During an interview on KUT this morning, one of the members of Mother Falcon mentioned that each of them had grown up having "a different relationship with Radiohead's OK Computer album".

My geeky side immediately froke out. "You can't have a relationship with an album, for crying out loud!"

My musician, however, just went, "Yes!"

They immediately got into an argument. My inner teen joined up with the musician; the geek eventually gave up and wandered off in search of an algorithm or chemistry set, irritated but knowing deep in his heart the other two were right.

I think he gave up was when he remembered the night last weekend when they were all three in concert (in every way possible) on djembe with two other people , one playing cello, and one playing melodic percussion on guitar with chopsticks. Each of us was in one sense doing our own thing, yet we were all working together. It was pretty phenomenal.

 

I remember having relationships with albums growing up. It still happens, though seldom as intensely as when I was a teenager. It's been a while since I sat with my ear plastered to a stereo, so completely lost in a new song or album that the house could have burned down around me and I might never have noticed.

But it sometimes happens when I'm making music. I'll take that.

 

Mother Falcon seems to be in that space in between the worlds where all things are possible. I think they still have their relationships with OK Computer as well as with their (string and voice versions) of the songs. Yes, strings.

They're going to perform the entire album on cello, violin and so forth (there might be horns and stuff, too). And vocals, of course.

It goes down Saturday, Dec. 29, at the Scottish Rite Theater in Austin (Lavaca and 17th). I can't be there due to a prior engagement. But I bet it's awesome, and if you go, you should definitely have a relationship with the music. I bet it's a long and happy one.