Time Travel on the Cheap
The author (the one in the derby) and offspring, somewhere in Steampunk time..
One faction in my series wants teleportation and time travel to be free and open to all. I’m still wrapping my head around that prospect. How would we have nations? Why bother with addresses? How’s that whole thing about messing up the past and erasing your future going to play out if they get their way?
So, how about traveling time and place in a bit more conventional sense, one that won’t rupture the space/time continuum?
I here offer the time machine that has made all the difference to me: the result of pen and paper rubbed together, kindling a fire of memories.
I treasure the stories I wrote as a kid, from those in crayon to my MA collection. I love the collaborative story I wrote with my life long best friend, ever-preserved in our distinctive handwriting styles. I found love letters swapped between my parents. I’ve kept notes from friends, family, students…even some from strangers who wrote constructive comments on my work.
“A book is made from a tree. It is an assemblage of flat, flexible parts (still called leaves) imprinted with dark pigmented squiggles. One glance at it and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, the author is speaking, clearly and silently, inside your head, directly to you.
Carl Sagan”
I’ve contributed to time capsules (and written of them in this blog repeatedly). I’ve written journal pages that have, on review, made me a lot more gentle on myself. I’ve cranked out many, many love notes I hope my wife keeps. I’ve tried to express myself to my children, so they’ll know their value. In all this writing, I was very conscious of the preservative, time-traveling nature of “putting it in writing.”
I encounter many who do not think they have anything worthy of tossing in the time machine. I’d encourage anyone with that mindset to get ahold of me. We can find so much within you that has reason to be preserved.
