I have always preferred to write by hand.
Ever since I was in school, unearthing my notebook from my backpack while waiting for class to start, or else freeing a solitary piece of lined paper from a binder in order to keep myself occupied after finishing an assignment. But the habit really peaked for me in high school. That was when I first began plotting out a shaky, amateur draft of my current work in progress. At that point, I had a bright red notebook with a plastic cover and a couple pockets for notes tucked between the pages. It was the first, and hopefully not the last, notebook I ever completely filled with my words and my worlds.
I like notebooks because you can take them nearly everywhere you go. While I enjoy the convenience of a laptop, I am hesitant to take a fragile piece of technology camping with me, and I certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable parking myself on a sandy beach or by a babbling creek with one, either.
Typewriters are fun to use on occasion; they make me feel like the stereotype writer–the one who sits at the desk all day, clicking and dinging and muttering to themselves as they replace yet another sheet of paper, push their glasses further up the bridge of their nose, and continue. When I was a kid, I would often play the game of “Bestselling Author” at the dining room table with my mom’s old electric typewriter. Plus, it saves you the step of having to print before you can go over things with your critical red pen.
No: paper and a bright array of colored pens or pencils is where I feel the most at home. While a typewriter makes me feel like a stereotype, writing by hand makes me feel real. Like the writers of ages past, long before the convenience and distractions of technology. Back when writers made note of all the things they saw and felt, because they were always out and about, and there was always a pen and paper on hand.
When I write by hand, it alters my perspective. When I write by hand, I feel more like an artist experiencing life, instead of allowing life to pass her by.
— C.M.
Night Owls, what’s your favorite way to write?
