The connection of writing by hand
In a world filled with quick responses, supposedly lightening fast drafts, and scandalously easy editing, I’m old school. Give me a pen and paper, please. There is a connection with paper that can never be felt with a keyboard and impersonal screen…at least, that’s how it is for me. My true guilty pleasure is rather inane: depending on the time of day, it’s just a cup of coffee or a glass of a warm Shiraz (I say “warm” not as a description of temperature, but more of taste. I know that is weird, but everyone’s normal until you get to know them.), my comfy couch with its view of the mountains, and my favorite pen rich with blue or black ink that sinks beautifully into the paper of one of my journals. This is absolute bliss for me, especially if I am being serenaded by the lovely rumble of a bullmastiff snore emanating from the large dog curled up next to me.
I came up with many of the scenes, characters, and outlines of scenes during the precious morning bliss hours watching the sunrise as well as quite a few rants over inconsequential things, some sad little poems, and at least one truly horrid haiku. (I never said my stuff was Pulitzer Prize winning or anything.) There is no need for any of it to rock the foundations of the world or anything. It is simply a recharge time. A time to let my mind journey anywhere and everywhere. A time to let all the emotions out. A time to reset.
I enjoy pen and paper. My creativity flows best with that medium, not a computer. (Well, I say creativity, but what amuses, entertains, moves me is what I’m talking about.) For the majority of my students, creativity is created by something electronic; but that’s not me. The computer is second, at best, to the pen and paper. I write and then I type. Typing is the last step, really. Even when I revise a piece, I revise on paper and then change the electronic version. Just like my trilogy, when I had issues with scenes I had already finished and typed, I would write alternative versions in my journal; and if I liked the new ideas better, change them in the computer.
I realize that I’m an anomaly in this world driven by tech and electronics, but I don’t care. I prefer pen and paper. In fact, if I made the rules, electronics would be removed from classrooms and students would use pen, paper, and an actual textbook. I do believe test scores and literacy scores would skyrocket. Sometimes, simple is best and there is absolutely no good reason to replace something just because there’s a newfangled way of doing things.