Bruce Springsteen and I have something in common.
He sometimes pieces songs together, writing in notebooks, while sitting under a big shade tree. I saw, on TV, the legendary singer-songwriter doing that… putting his pen to paper.
I sometimes write Daily Post articles that very same way, like the other day, when I began writing about the diametrically different meanings of the word, ‘hope.’
Except, I wasn’t sitting under a shade tree. I was sitting in my car, while my wife was running an errand.
Finding a spiral notebook in the glove compartment, I began putting my pen to paper, propping up the notebook — somewhat awkwardly, but sufficiently — on the steering wheel.
You’re wondering why I wasn’t writing on a smart phone, or laptop computer?
I don’t know… the keyboard on our laptop just doesn’t feel quite right, for me. And writing on the incredibly small keypad on my phone, I’d be spending half a day tapping away, composing an article.
Maybe that’s why Bruce Springsteen composes songs, writing in his notebooks?
Now… writing on my PC keyboard… that’s no problem. But my PC isn’t portable. I can’t exactly set it up, whenever I’m in the car.
My illegible handwriting can slow things down a bit, when I’m back home, deciphering what I’ve written, as I’m transcribing words from paper to my PC. But that’s okay; that doesn’t bother me.
I’m a lefty, that’s my excuse for lousy penmanship. And my other excuse is… I once broke a main bone in my left hand, and two of my fingers wound up slightly shorter, as my hand was healing. Maybe that’s why keyboards, and keypads, on some high tech devices don’t feel quite right for me.
Getting back to the legendary singer-songwriter, I’m wondering why he, like me, sometimes prefers piecing words together in a notebook.
I doubt he has the same concern, but I sometimes get battery anxiety, fearing the battery on my phone might lose power at a particularly unfortunate time. Like when I’m deeply immersed in writing, and suddenly… poof, goes my phone’s battery… along with my train of thought.
I know there are portable charging devices, and other options, but for me, that’s just too much. By the time I mess around, figuring how to hook things up, even in my horrible handwriting, I could be getting the bones of an article pretty much pieced together.
By the way, I keep a few ballpoint pens in the car, if my favorite one should run out of ink… so ink anxiety never weighs on me.
Harvey Radin is former senior vice president in charge of corporate communications and media relations, Bank of America Western Region. He makes his home in Redwood City, CA.