Scribbles & Munch

     This blog post was originally written on the graph-rules pages of a college composition notebook.  Why?  Because I'm n the island of Kaua'i, and a good 6+ hours of every waking day is being spent on the beach.*  And since I would NEVER rick my precious laptop by bringing it to a beach, I've been writing the way God intended: on bleached, pressed, desiccated tree flesh.

Instead of looking at a screen, I've been looking at real-life scenes like this one.

      Now obviously, I'm not 100% "unplugged," because I'm actually a cyborg and disconnection from the network would start the automatic self-destruct sequence programmed into me at birth you're reading this off the interwebs.**  I borrowed my husband's laptop (he leaves it in the hotel room, it's never at the beach), so I could check my email and update my blog today.  But aside from a few texts to locate one another at the farmer's market, this is the first screen time I've had in a week straight.  And it has been GREAT!
      I've heard a lot of stories from people who decide to turn off their digital devices for an extended period of time, and how they go nuts at first.  Or nuts the whole time.  Not me.  For me, this is easy, and it feels like a real vacation because by not having my computer at my fingers, I've given myself permission to do so many other things.  Like stare at the horizon and then just happen to be looking when a whole pod of humpback whales do by, spouting and flipping their flukes!  Did I mention I love this island?
      Anyway, I suspect this is slightly easier for me because I don't use digital devices as much as many of my peers.  I don't own a touch-screen phone, for example.  I own a flip phone that makes calls and sends texts.  That's intentional; if I had a phone that allowed me on the internet all the time, I'd be on the internet all the time!
      When I am on the internet, I'm not checking my Facebook page, because I don't have a Facebook page.  And I love not having a Facebook page.
      Now don't get me wrong, I am not saying, "Hey I have it all figured out and you should try my lifestyle."  This is what works for me.  If you have a screen-intensive lifestyle that you love, then kudos to you for doing it your way, and keep up the good work!  I would never recommend curry to someone who doesn't like spice, and I would never recommend to Kaua'i to someone who doesn't like beaches.  But I would recommend that writers vary their modus operandi to compose from time to time.
      You literally use different parts of your brain while writing with a pen/pencil compared to when you type, just like you use different parts when speaking vs. singing.  You may notice it changed how you tell your story, you may not.  But you probably will notice a difference in what distracts you between sentences.  On a computer, it may be a social media update.  On a notebook propped up against your knee, it may be a ship in the distance, or the sound of the wind through the trees.  And since I'm inspired by the things around me, that works just fine for this here pencil-wielder.

There's the first draft of this blog post.  I wrote this on a lawn chair while I watched surfers.

*The remaining time is divided between hiking, kayaking, swimming pools/hot tubs, great restaurants, and farmer's markets.  Are you hating me yet?

**Being on vacation kind of erodes the filter between my imagination and my mouth/fingers.