Wednesday, December 14, 2005

The Glamorous Life Of A Writer

I am currently involved in transferring over 300 edited pages onto the computer. It would of course make far more sense to simply do the edits on the computer in the first place instead of doing them on a printout and then giving myself a broken back by typing in all the changes, but for some reason, this just works better for me in terms of speed and shaping the book.

It also allows me to indulge in my fetish for colored pens.

During the course of this manuscript, I wore out a pink pen, a rose pen (distinctly different from the pink) and began on a purple. This might give you some idea of the amount of changes I’m now transferring. The good news is, I can go to the store and justify the purchase of more pens! So what color should I get – sky’s the limit. Magenta? Gold? Chartreuse?

7 comments :

Shakoo said...

so is there a specific colour-coding for the pens? or is the colour of the pen you're using to edit the printed copy, dependent on what you have on hand? which is determined by the mood that you were in when you decided on the pen colour at the shop? :-)

Nalini Singh said...

Shakoo, that is a topic worthy of an essay but I'll try to keep it short. First, the color must be easily visible as I tend to go cross-eyed entering the changes. Second, it must be a color I like (very scientific). Third, it depends on the phase of the moon *g*

Nalini Singh said...

Emma - me too! I bought a silver one yesterday but it proved disappointing. Too light to see properly. Do you use them to edit? I tend to stick with fine, color pens for editing.

Anonymous said...

Nalini,

I, too, love colored pens. Try dark green and magenta and ... oh...let's see....bright red. :D

Nalini Singh said...

I never knew there were so many other pen-lovers out there!

I'm loving the purple, too, Yvonne and the magenta, Angelle. You guys are seriously feeding my addiction ;) Must buy...must buy...

Anonymous said...

I knew I would love more about you than just your books!!! I, too, love the feel of writing and editing on paper and then I transfer to the computer myself. And I LOVE using different colored pens!!! All my friends and family are constantly trying to outdo themselves finding sets of colored pens and markers for me!!! :o) And they are especially proud of themselves when they find those pens that write several colors all out of the same pen body with little tabs you pull down to change colors!!! :o)
One of your devoted readers,
Florence

Nalini Singh said...

Hi Florence,

Thanks for dropping by. :) I think you have the right idea - I should let my family in on the pen collecting! I wonder how many interesting colors I could get that way *grin*