Fourth Book: Some Physical Research
You may have seen this tweet last week:
I’ve found myself poring through the Internet at times in my writing, searching for places and items I never would have looked for previously. For instance, I’ve recently had to look into what fabric was ideal for somewhat high-end skirts. That’s just something I wouldn’t know or ever feel the need to know.
Yet for the briefest moment, I did.
What’s this have to do with anything? Well, that day,I was writing this book, simply coursing through a section I found exceptionally fun to draft, when I hit a stumbling block.
Let’s have some spoilers.
You see, what I wanted to describe was a CD. Not a digital music album, not just the disc itself, but the whole package—case, book and all.
Now, I could look up a refresher on what a CD looks like if I need to. I can even see what album art looks like. What I can’t get through the Internet, though, is the slick feel of the cardboard folds between my fingertips or the way the flaps stick together with just the slightest dab of holding glue, or the phenomenal art lining every edge of the case, or how difficult it is to pull the booklet from its sleeve, or the smell of the crisp pages never before opened, or the weight of the disc as it rests over my pinky finger, cutting my circulation to the tip just so.
I couldn’t get any of that without a CD in front of me. It just wouldn’t work. So, I was forced to cut my writing short (I have incredible difficulty writing in a non-linear fashion in any given book) until I had one.
Which I just so happened to get the next day. A whole pile, in fact.
Oh, it is a lovely thing.
Was rocking some serious creative energy but stumbled head first into a research problem I can't resolve via the Internet. Feel unprepared
— Warren Pawlowski (@WarrenPawlowski) February 28, 2014
I’ve found myself poring through the Internet at times in my writing, searching for places and items I never would have looked for previously. For instance, I’ve recently had to look into what fabric was ideal for somewhat high-end skirts. That’s just something I wouldn’t know or ever feel the need to know.
Yet for the briefest moment, I did.
What’s this have to do with anything? Well, that day,
Let’s have some spoilers.
You see, what I wanted to describe was a CD. Not a digital music album, not just the disc itself, but the whole package—case, book and all.
Now, I could look up a refresher on what a CD looks like if I need to. I can even see what album art looks like. What I can’t get through the Internet, though, is the slick feel of the cardboard folds between my fingertips or the way the flaps stick together with just the slightest dab of holding glue, or the phenomenal art lining every edge of the case, or how difficult it is to pull the booklet from its sleeve, or the smell of the crisp pages never before opened, or the weight of the disc as it rests over my pinky finger, cutting my circulation to the tip just so.
I couldn’t get any of that without a CD in front of me. It just wouldn’t work. So, I was forced to cut my writing short (I have incredible difficulty writing in a non-linear fashion in any given book) until I had one.
Which I just so happened to get the next day. A whole pile, in fact.
Oh, it is a lovely thing.
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