Saturday, July 12, 2008

Handwritten notes

I’m not too much of a pack-rat, but I have held onto a lot of my writing that I’ve scrawled longhand on legal pads, on the backs of envelopes and other paper that managed to be within my grasp. These all end up getting typed into the computer to become part of the manuscript I happen to be writing. At first I kept them just-in-case. Just in case the computer crashed. Just in case someone accused me of stealing their work. Just in case I ever became so famous that the ‘original draft’ of my book might be worth something.

And today I read that Christie's auction house recently sold John Lennon's handwritten lyrics to "Give Peace a Chance" for $833,654. Now, I’m no John Lennon—or John Irving (according to my friend, Sonya), but maybe someday, my children will like sifting through the wrinkled pages of my writings. They may be worthless to an audience at Christie’s, but hopefully, they’ll get a kick out of Mom’s handwriting.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Not being an Irving fan, I think it is a good thing you don't write like him. Looking forward to reading the next manuscript!

Sonya

Wila said...

In unpacking one of many mysterious boxes the movers brought us recently I found a small brown envelope address to Willora Thorn (my mother's maiden name). Inside was a short love letter to her from my father written in 1943 while they were dating. Also there was a dried flower that had been saved by ironing it between two pieces of wax paper. I could still see the yellow of the daffodil. This July at our annual family reunion in Montgomery, AL we are celebrating what would have been my father's 100th birthday and I am taking the note and flower to share. It is priceless to us as your handwritten words will be to someone one day.

Joanne said...

Hi Pamela, Just found your blog and liked browsing around. I read that, too, about Lennon's lyrics, and actually had a blog post about hearing Ringo sing that very song. It was very moving. Enjoyed stopping by!