Living With Wheels

Simple Autobiography

Scribbling

I have always "scribbled", and like everyone who has (or does) I have left a library of unfinished stories and verse behind me. I have two or three exercise books filled with adolescent writing, written by hand in a script that varies with the position on the page, the type of pen I was using and the degree of muscle control at that precise moment. Even I struggle to read parts of them!

 

As time went on, I gradually switched to typing my "scribbles" but there was one problem. I had a growing pile of loose sheets of paper which had a tendency to fall out of the folders that I kept them in.

 

It was only after I started to use a computer in 1984 that the results of my "scribbling" were under control again. It was only if I wanted to show somebody that I printed anything out. Using a computer brought another bonus, that of being able to edit what I wrote. Prior to this all my work, be it for pleasure or academia, was written in one draft only, leading to a very compact writing style.

 

I edited a book (published in 2009) which examines the way writers have used disability in twentieth century fiction written either specifically for girls or jointly with boys. An outline of the book can be seen at TopsyWeb.