Why I Still Write by Hand pt II: Benefits.

The last few days you might've noticed I sort of fell off the map. Reason 1 is that I'm currently work on some music, which takes some time. Reason 2 is because I had the great fortune of having my computer malfunction. 

After a few days without access to my main writing device, I found myself diving deeper into music and writing out a new version of His Daughter by hand, and that's when I realized there were even more benefits than I previously mentioned.

Productivity. 

Before I thought the main benefit of writing by hand was a intimate relationship with a piece and keeping motor skills roaring. However, it seems that writing by hand actually made me a little more productive. 

It was easier for me to keep going in His Daughter before turning away from the screen. And when I needed to take a break, I came right back where I left off and continued with a fresher mindset.  In the example of the my novel-in-the-works, implementing an actual journal provided me with a greater sense that I wrote journal-style. His Daughter is told through a few voices in the form of diary entries, and while journal writing is often more tell than show, I aim to keep His Daughter mostly show. I also make a point to keep the voice of each entry true to that of a real journal.

Going Blind.

What I've always found to be true about writing on a computer (and this article agrees) is, that, computer screens often provoke laziness. I can't count the number of times my productivity went down by writing via a word document. 

Something about my brand says "passive" when I stare at a screen too long. Maybe we're condition to just sit back and stare at the screen, rather than create and interact. And the way you can manipulate text simply by dragging and dropping feels like writing when it really isn't. 

Back when I wrote "All Things Beautiful," I discovered a could produce a higher quality story by writing longhand. I spent more time on each sentence. I contemplate character reactions. and I feel a little closer to the story by being closer physically. If you write by hand, you're also more little to edit harsher later on, omit, and you always know you can erase something. On a screen it all looks more permanent.

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Those are my "further" thoughts on the subject. Here's the rest.

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You Might Enjoy:

• Why I Still Write by Hand
  
• Why I Write Longhand
• 3 Signs You're Addicted to Learning
• Writing Drunk II: Binge Writing
  
• Saturation: A Novel's Enemy?
• How Irrational Thought Gets Sh** Done

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