The thought occurred to me as I noticed two hard copies of my novella sitting in the corner of my coffee table. Each draft is riddled with colorful line edits, and sticky tabs sticking out the sides. They made me think about getting a redweld to place them in for the journey I’m about to make back East. And Redwelds, to me, are synonymous with law firms and bring me back to my days as a legal secretary.

So what exactly has followed me from my years of being a legal secretary that I incorporated in my writing life? For one, line numbering is actually very useful. When I was editing my first book, And Then Ben, at one point I added line numbering to the draft, saved it as a PDF and read it on the bus into the city each commute, taking notes in a little book I kept in my bag, noting a change on page 50 line 18.

I also learned that Redwelds are extremely sturdy and useful for transporting copies of my manuscript that I will probably never look at again, but for the life of me cannot bring myself to throwing them out. Not sure what sort of archive I’m trying to create here, or perhaps one day, I’ll find it relaxing or amusing to go through previous drafts and remember the process it took getting it published.

I can add being able to type 80 wpm has also come in handy, as it helps me keep up with the characters as they make their moves across the page. Not to mention being proficient in Microsoft Word, my choice of writing tool, as I have to admit, there’s something soothing in formatting my manuscript into an interior proof for me to print and read as a final review.