DEBORAH CROMBIE: With our recent mentions of A CHRISTMAS CAROL, I have been thinking about Dickens. An edition that includes his original manuscript is available on Kindle, and I've been peering at those scribbled pages in wonder.
How did he even decipher them, much less turn them into the published story that we read and love almost two hundred years later? It must have taken immense concentration and focus, as of course did the longer novels. And I have to wonder if we modern writers, spoiled by keyboards and word processing, could duplicate such a feat. (A CHRISTMAS CAROL was published in 1843 and the first commercial typwriter would not be available for another thirty years!)
The Times has been interviewing writers as part of a series on the shocking decline of reading in the UK. The author Zadie Smith was quoted as saying she does not have a smart phone, and that writers need to unplug in order to "protect our consciousness." That would mean a definite nix on social media...
Honestly, although I say I'm not a big fan of social media, and I'm always encouraging people to put down their phones and pay attention to what's going on around them (and to read a book!) I have to confess that I am a little addicted to Instagram. I follow a lot of London accounts and that gives me a sense of being there in real time. But lately I have been shocked when my phone sends me my weekly screen time report and I see I spent THAT much time on IG! (And, no, I'm not saying how much!) So recentlyI've been making an effort to cut back on my phone use, and I do feel that it's allowed me a little more creative space to let my mind wander.
To all the primary school teachers who told me to stop daydreaming, I have to say that experience proved you wrong. Daydreaming can be a very good thing, and it's certainly essential for writers.
I've cut back on my audiobook listening, too. As much as I've championed audiobooks as a way to enjoy reading, if I'm listening to a book while I'm washing the dishes or watering plants, my characters are not talking to each other in my head and I am not solving my latest plot hiccup.
I know asking if smartphones are draining away our creativity is a huge question, much bigger than anything we can tackle in this little space. But how do you feel, personally, dear Reds and other writers, and all of you dear readers here, because we are all creative even if our job is not putting words on paper.
Do you find that the distractions of your phone are taking up way too much time in your brain, and if so, how are you dealing with it?
P.S. There are writers managing to write massive novels. Check out this Washington Post list of the heaviest books of the year. I'd love to ask them how they deal with smart phone distractions.
P.S.S. Zadie Smith has written her own Victorian novel, called THE FRAUD, which is not quite Dickensian in length as it comes in at a mere 416 pages.
I bought it months ago but have not read it, because I'm too distraced. Sigh.
P.S.S.S. Also note that Dickens would have been using a dip pen. Fountain pens did not come into common use until the 1880s.
The amount of time people spend on their phones seems to be quite a topic of discussion these days. I like that my phone provides me with the opportunity to keep in touch with my children and grandchildren; I like that I can gather information easier these days. But it's so easy to let all those apps and games and social media and what-not take over your day, so I make a conscious effort to do other non-phone things . . . . .
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