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That's so fascinating to me, Kelly - because I can't write on a computer! I have to write by hand and then transpose onto the computer. I can't even EDIT on the computer - I have to print it out and edit by hand, then type!

Different strokes for different folks, for sure.

Oh, Kelley, it sounds as if you're in agony. I hope the computer arrives soon to relieve the distress that writing by hand brings you.

Over the past few years, I've had an ongoing discussion with one of my friends about writing by hand vs typing. She swears that writing by hand helps her slow down and think more clearly (or, maybe not clearly, but with more feeling) when she's working on novels.

If you Google "handwriting vs typing" you'll find endless debates about which is the best method for getting words down on paper. But it sounds like you don't have much of a choice... if you're in pain just holding a pen or pencil.

The trick is getting the words down... however you can... and if you can't write by hand or get to a computer (and you don't have an old typewriter stowed in the attic), perhaps you might consider dictation, a method that's not often talked about ... but which is used quite successfully, I think, by numerous authors.

Some writers use a tape-recorder (while jogging, while stopped at traffic lights, while walking to the library) and then transcribe the tape themselves or ask someone else to transcribe the tape... so that, like magic, the words appear--voila!--on the page.

It sounds complicated in terms of revision, etc., but at least you might get the words down... as a rough draft... and save your aching hand more stress.

Of course, this doesn't solve your internet problem...

Anyway, hope you're back soon!

I'm so sorry that you're computer-less. How frustrating. I hope you're back online soon!

I'm with you on the writing: I can't write anything longhand anymore. I just can't get my thoughts together on paper. It's way too slow. I seem to need the keyboard to express myself - and it's like the keyboard has a direct link to my brain.

Poor you -- I have rheumatoid arthritis, which comes and goes in severity -- constant hand pain would be awful.

How I write: longhand for poetry and notes, typing for most other stuff.

I have always been so awed of those writers who do everything freehand. Seriously, my hand cramps, and I'm just like you in not being able to write fast enough for my brain.
I remember reading about how Lian Hearn had written all four books in his Tales of the Otori series by hand in basically one trip to Japan. He even suggested what the best kind of pen to use would be. I'm thinking no pen could make the job easier for me.

I've always done a lot of writing by hand for newspaper work, but I find that I often don't bother to actually read it.

Recently I wrote a first draft of something long hand and then just ignored it when it came time to type it up.

Very, very little of my book & manuscripts were done longhand.

I sometimes will write a few notes in longhand about a book, if I finish late at night, and my computer is turned off. But otherwise, I'm all computer. In fact, I take things a step further. I have trouble working on my computer, especially for book reviews, if I'm not connected to the internet. I need to be able to stop and look things up and add links and all of that. I can draft something offline (but on the computer), but I have to force myself.

I'm left-handed, and I never had good handwriting, but it amazes me now looking at all of my old notebooks and things, that I was ever able to write so much in longhand.

One other thought about writing on the computer vs. in longhand is that I am a big reviser, even when writing simple things like email, and it's much more painful for me to be scratching stuff out on paper (though I know that some people like to be able to see the previous version).

Good luck with the computer situation. And thanks for posing an interesting question.

I always write on paper. Most of my writing is done during commutes to and from work and I don't carry a laptop so.....not much choice. To be honest, though, if I had a laptop to bring on the commutes I'd still opt for pen and paper. My brain must not operate at hyperspeed...

Jim D

I can write emails and book reviews directly onto the computer, and like Jen, I prefer to be online to do my book reviews so I can add links and check things.

But when it comes to write prose, be it fiction or non-fiction, I cannot *think* properly unless I have a pen in my hand. I've tried writing both kinds of prose direct to the computer and it has absolutely no flow to it; it becomes staccato and telegraph-like, with ridiculous numbers of parentheses and ellipses (check out my emails and Blog comments if you don't believe me!)...

And yes, I'm very particular about the pen I use and the colour of ink (blue) and even the notebooks in which I write (I am an obsessive by nature anyway!)...

I totally feel for your suffering Kelly - I know I suffer from some RSI which I suspect may well translate into arthritis when I'm older, but I shall still go on stubbornly writing longhand...

Oh, Kelly, I feel your pain...your psychic pain, anyway. I'm also a computer writer; I can't do much more than write notes longhand. Part of the problem is that after I write something, I want to re-read it and see how it looks on the page. If I'm writing long-hand, I have to ignore the crossed-out passages, make the carroted insertions, and imagine what that passage I've circled and connected with an arrow somewhere else on the page. Too messy! And by the time I've written down what I really want to say, I've forgotten what I want to say.

This is not an ideal solution, but if you have a palm pilot (or just about any other PDA, I think), you can get a keyboard that you can use with the device. And software called Documents to Go allows you to create and edit Word documents on your PDA. I use mine when I know I'll want to write something but don't want to carry my laptop.

I think my keyboard cost about $100.

Kelly,

I find I have to write letters and other prose on the computer. I don't usually think in an organized fashion. I love the way I can cut and paste and change and rearrange phrases, wording, sentences, and paragraphs so easily on a computer.

For my poetry, I keep little journals or notebooks and usually write my first drafts of my poems in them. Then I type them on the computer and work on them there--unless I can't get them the way I want them. Then I print them off and work on them with pencil in hand.

I should note, too, that there is much of my writing that begins in my head. I'll often work through ideas there before I commit them to paper or computer.

Happy Fourth of July! Don't go crashing any more computers. My husband just got a virus in my of his laptops.

Elaine, I'm the same - I write lots of my stuff in my head first - fiction or non-fiction. I think I scared my BA dissertation tutor when I told him I had half of my 10,000 word dissertation composed in my head before I put pen to paper. I more or less said "Doesn't everyone do that?" and he was quite definite that they didn't !

When I'm writing a paper or an essay, it has to be done in my head first. My classmates in college used to stare at me when it would appear that I was just starting to write a paper quite close to the deadline. What they didn't realize that the paper was pretty much done, I just needed to type it up. Currently it leads to a lot of conversations like this "What are you doing?" "Homework" "Erm, you're staring at the ceiling" "I'm writing a paper. Go away" "YOU'RE STARING AT THE CEILING!"

When I write an essay or fiction, usually, because it's been written in my head, the words come very quickly, and I type much more quickly than I write long-hand.

But when I take notes or outline? That has to be done longhand. I have a very organized structure to my notes that is easy to do longhand, but would take way too much time to be efficent if I tried to format it on a computer. Also, I draw a lot of arrows to bring concepts together. That's hard to do on a computer.

Barbara-- I hear you about editing though. I need to print something out and grab a pen to edit or proof-read something-- I just don't see a lot of stuff on the screen that I see as soon as it's on paper in terms of typos and weird syntax.

Whatever your mode of operation, it seems to me that it's difficult to be forced into another one. It seems to me that part of the whole thing is getting to that place where you aren't thinking much about the mechanics of typing or writing and are lost in the flow of the work. Working in a way you aren't comfortable with makes you think more about the mechanics of the task.

Personally, I find that I move very fluidly between using the computer and writing longhand. I used to write everything longhand in first draft, but now I probably do 80% of my first drafts right on the computer. I like the computer for getting a lot of words down quickly and also for editing, but I tend to move to longhand when I'm struggling. Every once in a while when I can't get something right that I've been working on in my word processor, I'll start over on paper in longhand. There is something for me in occasionally being forced to slow down and think about every word. It's no good if it causes one physical pain, though.

I used to do all my writing in longhand. Daily use of the computer though has driven out my ability to think and write with a pen. Now it seems like the words have to flow through my individual fingers and onto a keyboard in order for my brain to play with them.

I tried writing some book reviews in longhand just the other night and found that my brain could not handle it. Weird. Maybe it would be interesting to try a good pen.

Camille, I swear by my Sheaffer ballpoint pen. I hate writing with disposable biros as they physically weigh nothing. My Sheaffer pen is exactly the right weight and thickness (slender) to hold for hours without giving me cramps. When I went to buy it the chap in the pen shop was utterly bemused by my insistence on trying about a dozen different pens for weight and thickness. He kept trying to persuade me to buy one or other of these really chunky flashy-looking pens and I wouldn't even try them out. So glad I didn't listen to him ! I swear by my pen and carry it everywhere with me...

God, I hate when I don't have internet. I feel your pain.

Time for a new internet provider? I'm thinking of getting wireless just implanted somehow. Then when I move about, my computer will always be connected.

Who you callin' a character? You're a character!

Ah-hem.

Threw up? In the morning?

Is there something you're not telling us???

I have suffered from the equivalent of morning sickness for 10 years now. I've either had the world's longest pregnancy or stress related stomach complications. The doctors think it's stress. Either way, I have varying degrees (from feeling blech, to not being able to get up, to actual vomiting) every stinking morning. About 5 years ago it got old. Should I ever get pregnant, I expect to know by my sudden lack of nausea.

Oh, and it turns out it wasn't the provider but our 3 month old router. Husband used this as an excuse to buy the bigger router he'd originally wanted to get. We now probably provide an internet signal to the whole block. To bad it's private.

Good gawd, that's awful! (the nausea, not the router)

I can't believe it took five years for that to get old.

Dang, though. I was hoping...

Wait, what am I saying? You have plenty of time. And you have a LIFE.

(I have three kids. Young ones. That poop a lot. I mean, a lot.)

-Kristin