I suppose that being a writer of this Blog as well as a couple of books, I more than most should embrace all the current day technology that makes the life of an author so much easier. After all computers, email, internet, mobile phones etc, etc, are all designed to put us in contact with each other at the touch of a button.
If you have a sudden urge to communicate with someone who may be on the other side of town or indeed the other side of the world there are numerous ways in which you can be doing just that within seconds... Now I can readily see the benefits of speedy communication and response in the case of emergencies or in business but in the general day to days of life I have to ask "What's all the bloody rush?!"
We've all at some-time or other been in a situation where we are having a face to face conversation with another person and had 'a slip of the tongue' or blurted out words without really thinking what we were saying, words that on reflection later we didn't really mean to say or if we did mean to say them we didn't mean to say them in the order that they came out (I think that makes sense)...So having said the wrong thing in a conversation where you are actually in the same room as the other person you have the opportunity there and then to look them in the eye and change your words or apologise or explain what you really meant to say. You are communicating in the best way available to us as humans ie, face to face and verbally.
As I said at the top of this page I really do embrace all the modern technology that is available to us these days but there's an old fashioned, romantic part of me that laments the passing of the 'art of writing'. I don't mean writing in the way I am at this very moment tapping away at my computer, I mean proper writing with a pen and paper.
I describe writing as an 'art' because I think nowadays it is,'a romantic art' that is fast dissapearing and I find it a great shame that we are allowing that to happen. Bring back the pen and paper I say! and I can just hear all you 'Tech Heads' screaming "But it's too slow!" So I say again "What's all the bloody rush?!"
When Napoleon wrote his famous love letters to Josephine he did not send them by text!
When Shakespeare wrote his works he did not do it on his laptop!
When Beethoven was laying down his tunes he was not in some high tech recording studio!
They all did the same thing...they put pen to paper and created masterpieces of their time that still live on in this technological age we now live in. When you write with a pen on paper you have time to think and give proper consideration to the words you are using and the way in which you are using them. When you send a quick text for example you can so easily say the wrong thing or even if you don't intend to say the wrong thing your abbreviated, garbled message can so easily be misconstrued by the reader...particularly if you have rushed it and sent it to the wrong person in your addresses list (and yes we all know that does happen). Texting is such a poor way of communicating compared to the letters we used to write back in time.
The title of this Blog is S.W.A.L.K. and I would confidently assume that not many people of the younger generations know what it means. It stands for 'Sealed with a loving kiss' and it's what romantic couples would write on the envelopes of their love letters to each other. Love letters where they have time to consider their true emotions and feelings for each other before writing them down. Trudie and me used to regularly write to each other in this way when I had to move away to Aberdeen and it helped to keep our relationship strong in spite of the many miles between us. Soldiers in the trenches of the Great wars used to look forward to the letters they would receive from loved ones who were thousands of miles away because they would be able to read and feel just how much they were loved and missed.
I'm not saying writing a letter once in a while can make your world rosy if it's nothing of the sort but it can definitely enhance the way we communicate with each other. Texting for me is a rather faceless way of interacting with others and these days you even hear of employers sacking employees by text and how cowardly and inconsiderate is that!?
If you still don't know where I'm coming from in all of this then just think about that soldiers in the trenches all those years ago and it's bad enough that this weeks letter happens to be of the 'Dear John' variety' but at least his sweet-heart has taken the time to give serious consideration to the words she is conveying to him. She explains all the ins and outs and why's and wherefores of why she cant stay with him "It's me not you" etc...Whichever way he reads that letter he is going to be hurting but it's still way better than: Bleep! Bleep!...Incoming text...."Soz babe, ave to finish wiv u, cant **** some text missing ****
Nuff said!
