You might need a computer (and an internet connection) to publish a blog post, or to send an article off to some other form of publisher. You might need to format your text nicely to help people who need to read and understand your piece quickly and easily. You might also need one to help you edit something that you've already written.
But if you want to write, to actually get started putting one word after another, you only need what I used to compose this post, a pen(cil) and some paper.
I would argue that the best writing gets done this way. It's certainly more effective for me at getting the material out of my head. Why? Because the software we use for "writing" is actually designed for editing. In the old days we called them word processors and that was a big clue - you had the words and they needed to be processed: moved around, prettied up, shoved together with a bunch of other words, sent to print and all that stuff. But we've forgotten that distinction and many people have grown up moving to the keyboard much earlier in their lives and giving up the pen in their teens.
It's easier for me to think with a pen skipping across a page, knowing it's just the first stage in a process otherwise the temptation to edit jumps in before I've finished the thought itself.
It's messy and it takes longer but yes, it's much better this way.
Damn good point- why I try my best to keep a notepad close by for the really important stuff, and/or brainstorms. A blank sheet of paper & pen is the most direct route from my brain to physical manifestation before the idea is gone like a vapor. :)
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exactamundo!
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I don't tend to write much, but then my handwriting is terrible and my right hand has medical problems . When I write a song I tend to use an editor of some sort. It will evolve.
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It's not a hard and fast rule, but see below, the fact is I get more done when I close the laptop lid :)
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Computers and phones are full of distractions. I just have problems with writing much. Maybe I should find an old typewriter
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I have a manual typewriter sitting around somewhere, but that's even harder on the wrists than handwriting - maybe a nice electronic one, the IBM golfball type :D
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It's a long time since I used a manual one. My parents had an ancient one that they eventually donated to a museum. I had lots of fun with that, including intentionally jamming it :) Typing on a computer is easier for me than writing. Maybe I just need something off-line to reduce the distractions
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ah yes. Last year when I had a lot of writing to do and flaky internet connection, I pulled out an old ubuntu laptop and just typed into text files that I saved to dropbox folders so it synced when I did have a connection - I cut the software right down to vim and dropbox (you may have another preferred editor/cloud storage solution!) - it's a refreshing exercise in old-skool word-processing.
And oh yes, the joy of jamming the typebars and then unjamming them - simple pleasures...
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the best advise ever given to me on how to be best selling author is get your butt in the seat and write.
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I've a target of 2,000 words a day. Today I hit it by putting the computer away and just writing, one letter after another :)
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that is what it takes, and everyone has a way of editing their work, I think the best way is to re-read what you wrote the day before and make changes to actually accomplish what you really meant to say, and to be able to find a natural flow of the story. I can write 2-3 novels a year, and just released my latest novel, see my latest post for more information
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One interesting effect of handwriting on me is that it slows me down allowing more ideas to come as I write.
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yes, and I can more easily flip out of context and make a note in the margin or mark up something I said earlier.
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Pen and paper is definitely the easiest way to record an idea, but for me when it comes to expanding that idea into a piece of writing, the ability to edit does help me say what I want to say in the way I want to say it.
Perhaps it is partly down to how you did things when you were younger, I was typing my school work on a Psion Series 3a when I was 15. I suspect the young'uns today would also mostly prefer digital.
The simplicity and ease of use in pen and paper means that it will always be in the game though. Good piece.
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