Handwriting ...

.. or writing by hand, otherwise known as longhand, in which I used to write before I bought my first computer in 1994. At the time I thought it would make writing easier, but has it?

Erin Morgenstern’s blog on the 13th referenced an article by Daniel Kraus (read it here) about the joys of writing by hand and the agony of writing by computer. Curious, I clicked over and was inspired by a number of contributing writers to get back in touch with the organic over the mechanical method of wordplay.

I once stockpiled reams of loose leaf paper and Shaeffer ball point refills, but I wrote by hand the way I write by rig: chronologically with no tolerance for errors. If I misspelled a word or disliked a sentence, I’d trash the whole page and copy everything previous to the offending item (not fun when the goof occurred at the bottom of the flipside). Even then, I edited as I wrote, so given how much energy was expended redoing what had already been done for the sake of a pristine page, going electronic eliminated the anxiety of gaffing and enabled me to keep the page clean.

I also ceased to write my journal, and correspondence stalled until I met Nicole a few years later. I’d rarely scrawled more than a sticky note before I started blogging in 2013. That’s when I discovered anew the practical joy of composing by hand. Knowing a post will be transcribed has freed me from the anxiety over keeping the page perfect. When drafting for CR, I’ll cross things out, scribble in the margins, draw arrows and asterisks, black out whole sentences—and spelling? HOO KARES? I’ll get it right in the final, no thanks to spellcheck, either.

“Computering” has made it easier for my crippled paws to keep up with my brain, so I’ll never say that longhand trumps a desktop except that it has an advantage in the mobility department. I see people plugged in at Starbucks, texting their thumbs numb or tapping out characters on a laptop’s cramped keyboard, but I absolutely love the sensual flow of a Sharpie nib over a sheet of bleached bond. Though my precondition makes writing by hand uncomfortable—and illegible—after a while, I’m intrigued enough by the challenge to try writing a story by hand and see how/if it differs from blasting it onto a screen. Every writer has a preference, of course, and I think I know what mine is, but I’ve begun making notes since my memory has grown less reliable. Could be these old-fashioned fuddy-duddies may be on to something …