I am a writer.
As such, one would think I do the bulk of my writing on my laptop. That’s true in a way, I guess. I do write a lot on my laptop, but I usually only do that after I’ve written a good chunk of text by hand first.
Many writers I know – nearly all of them, actually – would probably scoff at my overwhelming preference for writing my work by hand. I think doing so is seen by many people as a waste of time to a certain degree, as everything eventually will need to be typed into a computer anyway. It’s true, but in my mind, you have to write in a way that’s comfortable for you.
For me, that way is by hand, with my favorite pens and notebooks. (If you’re curious, I use a Fischer Space Pen or PaperMate Profile pens, and Moleskine notebooks or good ol’ Mead Composition notebooks.) I switch things up sometimes when it comes to these tools, but every project I’ve ever written -finished or not – has begun in a notebook of some sort.
Why?
Simple. I think better on paper.
I’ve always expressed myself in a much clearer way when writing by hand.
Yes, writing by hand takes time, but I use that time to really think about what I’m writing and what I want to say through my writing. Writing this way also presents the risk of self-editing, but then, so does writing on a computer. When it comes to that inner critic, you have to put up a mental block. But that’s a topic for another day.
And call me old fashioned or whatever you’d like, but in my opinion, nothing beats a good notebook and pen combination. Nothing. I’m not sure why that is exactly. Perhaps it’s because I was lucky enough to reach high school before the Internet really became a big thing. Who knows.
You can say I’m wasting valuable time by writing my works in a notebook first, but I’ll always have my reasons for doing things my way.
Have questions? Let’s have a chat.