Yeah....anyway that got me thinking about how there’s some major work that needs done in my own story archive department. As a writer, I draw on all kinds of experiences and stories to make characters believable. I tend to hoard stories, cuz ya never know when you're going to need a character with those exact quirks. Thing is, sometimes, I hang on and start to believe that these things are true, that because I create a character that thinks one way in a specific situation, everyone in that situation will think that way. That's not a good idea AND it's yucky logic. How to deal?
I am resurrecting the card catalogue – yunno those old wooden ones with the index card size drawers that pulled out way beyond what seems geometrically possible? Yeah one of those. More than half of you will have no idea what I’m talking about, will have to google it, and will be appalled at such primitive conditions. I am not talking to you. That's OK. Oh, I could set up a big ole computer database to house all these oddball stories and half fleshed out characters, but honestly I prefer the romance of the older version. I kinda miss it in my library experience.
Imagine it standing over in the corner holding court from its place of honor. You pad over, reach up and touch the cool brass pulls on wooden drawers. A gentle tug is all that’s required to move the drawer against its own inertia. The wood transmits the gentle vibration of wood on wood as it slides out silkily, releasing the faint aroma of aged paper. The rhythm of flicking through the cards with alternating index and tallman fingers on my way to where I want to go is soporific and reminds me of playing bass. I miss this. I also miss a library with real marble floors and chairs in dimly lit corners where I might lose myself as I slip through the portal to somewhere else. All of these things belong to libraries of yesterday.
For my younger friends - Yes the computer is faster, more accurate and invariably right. Don’t get me wrong. I love me some tech. But I doubt that 40 years from now people in their fifties will wax nostalgic about sitting at a computer terminal accessing the computerized card catalogue. I feel sorry for those who will not have ever had a real life card catalog experience in their memory banks.
Anyway, old stories that might be useful for writing but that are not really things I believe in any more need to be filed away in the card catalog. Stories I currently believe but want to move away from - they're going in there too. Other stories, good stories like the one where I am superhero in my own life, cape and all, are gonna be loaded onto my internal Kindle so they can be read over and over without any danger of pages falling out and getting lost. 'Cuz y'all know the girl is hard on the books she loves. Consider it tough love.
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