A Writer's Notebook, Day Three-Hundred-And-Ninety-Five

Today, finally, I got my actual computer set back up and I feel that I am back in full swing.  It really makes a huge difference, having the computer up and running, and I think it might be that my computer and keyboard set-up are sort of my pad and pencil.  Many writers have a preference for a type of pen and notebook, even, for many, a specific individual item that is significant to them. In the same way, as one who needs to write on a computer, I think that it is natural that I could develop that same affinity for the specifics of my computer set up.

Their are certainly practical aspects to this as well, things that I could replicate in any decent computer, software environments, graphical and hardware settings, all that sort of thing, but the bottom line is, today, because I have the computer back, I feel more connected to my work.  I think, as well, it helps that I have the poems I've been writing directly in front of me on this machine.  Of course, I have duplicates of those files and could access them, but I didn't have them in front of me.  On this machine, though, all that work is visible whenever I save a new poem.  Seeing that work each day is quite inspiring, though I had not even thought about this until today when I looked at that folder again for the first time in several weeks.

I think, though, more important than any of what I mention above is the symbolic meaning of setting the computer up,  The machine that I had been using in the past few days, although I had it connected to my monitor and keyboard, is a small, portable device.  In using it, I was not yet settled in to the space, it felt temporary and impermanent.  Now, however, I am taking the steps of establishing something more permanent, and that itself is a huge shift, and though it was not something I had thought about, I really think that not feeling settled had a strong impact on me, especially in my writing the past few weeks.  Now, that I am settling in, I feel far better prepared to take on new challenges in my writing life.

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