Being a writer I can usually see when there is a fellow writer at work. As I boarded the Eurostar this morning I got out my Ipad, opened up the plethora of apps that I use in order to update my screenplays and began tapping away. About half way through the journey I noticed that the elderly lady who was sitting opposite me was writing away in a notebook with a fountain pen.
We both casually glanced at each others work before we both broke the ice by asking what we were writing on. After explaining that I had an app for my character build, an app for my character links and also the standard note app for any sudden thoughts the lady looked at me as though I was an alien.
“This is the only app I need” she laughed
This lady was writing a novel yet was doing it in the way that she knew, the good old fashioned pen and ink way. The book made little sense to me as it was filled with shorthand, lines and a writing style that I don’t think even Einstein could have cracked.
I shared a coffee with this lady and we got talking about how my aspirations were as a writer and what my goals and dreams were as a writer. I told her that my current play was based on an event that happened to me last year and she agreed that it is sometimes good to write about things that happen to us in life. She eventually had a go on my ipad and I generally think that she was impressed! She especially liked the touch screen.
I was about to give her some advice when the train arrived. I asked her if she had had any work published on the internet or any books published so I could read her work. She then told me that she was one of Belgium’s biggest selling authors and this would be her 27th novel that has been published.
Her name did not make it to my ears as she left as soon as she arrived but I’ve been searching for most of the morning and I think I know who she is and I am very familiar with her work. If it is then I am so lucky to be in the company for a train ride of a wonderful writer whose work I describe as “Traditional”. In this day and age of technology and gadgets it is very refreshing to see that some great writers are still doing it the old fashioned way.
What a morning!
