Patience is a virtue, and if I’m quite honest it’s not always one of mine. But there are times where I’ve had to learn patience, to deal with things the way that they are or to find other solutions around it. One of the things, in particular, I’ve had to be patient with is a lack of a laptop for about a year now – I don’t have great luck with them, in fact that’d probably be the understatement of the year. Up until now I’ve been using my tablet to do any and all writing on which is … frustrating and slow at the best of times. But I’ve learned to deal with it, to work with it and to get the best out of it … which meant that when, this week, I finally got a new laptop it seemed like a miraculous thing of beauty.
And I found myself wondering after just 3 days of it, quite how I’d managed to function on a small screen, having to charge it every couple of hours when Charlotte and I have been working together and writing (sometimes lengthy sessions). Suddenly, I can do things quicker, more efficiently and actually feel like a proper writer again. It’s been a long time coming, but it has definitely been worth the wait!
It’s a bit like writing in a lot of ways. You put up with a plot line or a story, or this character or that because well … you don’t have much of a choice, but then when you find that missing link and that element that makes everything alright it’s like a light bulb has gone off in your head. Suddenly, everything is quicker, easier and freer and suddenly … there’s an ease and an effortless to your writing. Or maybe that’s just me talking from the fact that I now have a device that works quicker than I can type, rather than the other way around.
With a little bit of luck, this will help us move forwards all the more. At least, I’m not going to spend my weekends swearing at my tablet, cursing it for being out of battery again or for going slow and crashing. It might also even mean that I can do away with the handwritten notes that I’ve kept over the last year – simply because writing has been quicker than typing.
Writing is our escape, it’s that little element of fantasy that we can fall into, that we can create. So when it starts to become a chore, or a frustration or working on that last little bit of patience the love goes out of it slightly. I know that with this new found freedom, it’s made it easier for me to fall back in love with it, to venture into the fantasy realms that we’ve been creating and to actually feel like I can live it again.
So yes, this has been a good exercise in patience for me … even if I can’t say that it’s done me any good. I’m still not a patient person but at least I know that regardless I can venture into a world of magic and wonder when I need to escape the pressures and frustrations of everyday life!
Charlotte and Clara 