The Joy Of Writing By Hand

THE JOY OF WRITING BY HAND In an effort to actually work via the exercises I’ve suggested for other authors, I tried a type of writing I haven’t practiced since I was somewhat kid and had no selection (read: no typewriter) and that’s writing by hand. For yearsâ€"a long time actuallyâ€"I’ve poopooed writing by hand as an affectation (you’re simply making an attempt to get it touch with your inside Shakespeare in some kind of dumbass Golden Age Thinking exercise in hipsteristic nonsense) or a waste of time (finally you need to sort it up or nobody will be capable of publish it, or will even be prepared to read it for publication) and although the former could also be true for some individuals, the latter can really turn into a useful a part of the writing process. Maybe it’s simply because I’m getting on in years, however my interest in being any model of “hip” or “cool” or “fashionable” or no matter variation on that may exist is so small I doubt science has provided us with a unit of measure to describe it. I’m nanohip, picocool . . . I don’t give a rat’s ass. I use the most effective technological instruments I can get my mitts on to do my job, working virtually all the time on a computer. And when I do write by hand, it’s not on archival paper bound in a leather-based cowl embossed with the Celtic cross, nor do I use a gold fountain pen or a goose quill. I use the most affordable discount spiral notebooks or composition books I can find, bought the week after school starts for a dramatic discount. Which reminds me, have you ever bought your writing provides but this 12 months? The pens I purchase in a plastic tub from Staples, and generally I use pens I took from resort rooms or are other giveaways advertising no matter serviceâ€"I don’t even know or care. If it works, I’m writing with it. Fifty pens for twelve bucks! That’s lower than a quarter every! So you must believe me, I’m not writing by hand so I can really feel like a medieval monk or Abraham Lincoln, or whoever, each time. I concentrate on the phrases, not the tools, and when you do this too you’ll discoverâ€"a lot to the horror of your accountant, like mineâ€"that writing will be the least expensive business on Earth to enter into and maintain. So then what about this entire “waste of time” factor and retyping it? Yes, ultimately I have to retype all these words I’ve scrawled (actuallyâ€"I try to go as quick as I can, not as neat as I can) into my 79 ¢ spiral notebook with my 24 ¢ pen. But that’s hardly a waste of time, in fact it’s my first modifying move. I’m not just typing I’m making selections about what I wroteâ€"word choice, sentence construction, pacing . . . all that good things that takes you from rough draft to first draft. This isn’t just drudge work, or an added step, it’s a needed a part of the writing course of. And guess what? I’m writing more. I’m unbound from the desk once more, although my clunky old laptop computer ha s unbound me already. I laid down on my mattress yesterday afternoon with my dog Fresno Bob and while he was licking my nostril and biting my thumbs I wrote a strong thousand phrases of a brief story. Yes, I named my canine Fresno Bob, as a result of I’m an enormous nerd. I can carry that pocket book around with me if I even have to. If I lose it, sure that will certainly suck. There’s no cloud backup for a 79 ¢ spiral notebook, so I even have to take fundamental precautions, but I nonetheless principally write at residence anyway, so that’s not a problem. What I discover is that writing by hand by some means frees me up to get into that “flow state.” I sit down with the clean page and for no reason I can clarify or that might make any type of empirical sense, I simply find it much less . . . scary? Intimidating? More . . . enjoyable? Liberating? I gotta be sincere, I’m not even certain. But here’s what I do know: I’m writing. It’s working. That’s all I need to k now. â€"Philip Athans About Philip Athans I am an enormous advocate for starting on paper. I was born into poverty and I wrote through my hardships. I didn’t have a computer, the only access to 1 was on the library or at school. However, I at all times had a pencil and some paper. Even that I have entry to a pc 24/7, I prefer to write down on paper. I’ve tried to begin stories on computer systems and have had many blocks. Nothing was the identical as writing on paper. I’d all the time end up printing it off to proceed writing it, sort it up, then print it again proofread and edit. I turn out to be emersed into a story after I’m writing it by hand. On a computer, there are too many distractions. And also, it doesn’t really feel actual. I can’t put my mark on typing. However, I can all the time tell aside my own handwriting. Because it’s unique is what makes it particular. But I am a pickier then you're. I all the time write on Family Dollar college-dominated paper. And I always use a Pilot G-2 Pen. Preferably 0. 7 and black ink. I don’t write in a notebook typically. I have a clipboard and prefer to write down on that. I’m glad to hear you’ve joined the handwriting family. I’ll be studying from you once more quickly. I’ve discovered the identical thing due to the advice of one other writer. I write in longhand in a pocket book the first draft, kind in the pc, edit in longhand a third time, kind again in laptop and then do extra edits till the work is as polished as I could make it. Love it â€" I’m off to buy a pocket book. Procrastination anyone? I’m the identical: should you can write with pen on paper you can write anywhere, at any time. I suppose writers can simply turn into superstitious creatures, trusting to a really particular way of working for success â€" the chair needs to be a certain chair, the paper needs to be a certain paper, we'd like quiet, we'd like espresso …. the list is countless. Really this is just a methodology of procrastination. As lengthy because t he message is there, the medium (paper, laptop computer, Mac, PC, iPad, telephone â€" even, to some extent, the phrases themselves) won't matter. I loved writing with pen and paper for the same causes you point out, but then I received hand tremors (not as a result of writing) and it’s turn into uncomfortable to write down by hand for lengthy durations of time. Frustrating, however I nonetheless write by hand when I have an inspiration and no laptop entry.