Dear Writing Diary Entry #9

Writing By Hand vs. Typing

In this entry, I explore my writing pace and the unexpected benefits I’ve discovered through writing the old-fashioned way: by pen(cil) and paper.

June 1, 2024

Dear Writing Diary,

This weekend I was able to do something I've never done before: write an entire chapter in one sitting by hand.

To those fast writers out there, this might not seem like much of an accomplishment, but I've always been a consistent writer instead of a fast one. When I'm writing the first draft of a story, I make a goal to write a page or half a page per day depending on my work schedule. When I'm doing revisions, I push harder, reaching for a relatively consistent number of edits per day. It's not surprising then, that I've never been the type of writer to finish a book within a handful of months. And yet this slow but consistent pace has allowed me to write around eight books over the last eleven years.

I’ve only recently, however, rediscovered the joy and inspiration that comes from writing by hand. My very first stories were scribbled in the pages of journals that I carried around in my school backpack, but later I inevitably switched to solely writing on my laptop. Yet when I began developing tendonitis in my wrists a couple of years ago, I was forced to find alternative ways of writing that didn’t involve as much typing. The voice dictation features now offered on various platforms didn’t work for me, so what did I eventually turn to? Old fashioned notebook paper and a pencil. Thankfully, the tendonitis has mostly receded, and yet once or twice a week, I still have kept up the habit of writing by hand. A habit that I still believe is a valuable part of my writing routine for the following reasons:

1)     Easier to focus and get into the writing flow

There’s just something about staring at a blank piece of paper that gets my imagination going. I also believe that since it takes longer to write out words than to type them, the act of writing by hand itself forces your mind to focus more on what you are actually writing. As a result, I’ve found some of my most emotionally intense scenes are easier to write by hand rather than typing them out. More than that, once I get into the writing flow, I tend to stay in it longer. My goal of handwriting 1 journal page easily turns into 2 fully written pages, then 3, then 4, and so on.

2)     Less temptation for distractions

This is another main reason why I still have kept up with writing by hand. When writing on my computer, it’s so easy for me to take a break and check social media, search for the perfect soundtrack on YouTube or Spotify, or even worse, check my latest amazon order.

I’m aware that there’s certain kinds of software that can lock down your computer to prevent your ability to access these distractions as you write, but for now, I’ll just keep reaching for my notebook.

3)     Allows me to write on the go or in other places where I wouldn’t normally be carrying my laptop

I can bring my journal and pencil anywhere with far less hassle than my laptop. The possibilities are almost limitless! Places I’ve been known to whip out my notebook have been: waiting rooms, parking lots, airports, the beach, parks, cafes (I once forgot my notebook at a café but still managed to write out a full scene on a napkin!), etc.

4)    Easy to convert handwriting into text that I can paste into my Word Document

There are multiple apps out there that allow you to snap a picture of a handwritten page and convert it into text that you can paste into the typed portion of your manuscript. I admit this slows down the writing process a little bit, but I believe it’s a worthwhile tradeoff for the above mentioned benefits

I’m not denying that in this day and age, using a computer for publishing your writing (either online or in print) is a MUST. For me at least though, the old-fashioned way of drafting by hand still produces some magic yet.

Here's to seeing what method of writing tomorrow holds.
-K

P.S. Whoever’s reading this, if you’ve enjoyed these glimpses into my writing life, could you please hit the subscribe button? I would love to share more of my writing journey with you in the future. :)