I attended a wonderful workshop by Anne Randolph a few weeks ago. She extolled the advantages of writing longhand ... on paper ... with a pen! How long has it been since any of us did anything more complicated longhand than signing a check or making a grocery list? She gave us a few assignments in the workshop, and I was stunned at how differently my creative process worked. My language was somehow more fluid and colorful than when I type on my computer.
Then I spent a week with my mother down in Texas. I took my netbook but didn't use it for writing. I took a journal one of my daughters had given me for my birthday, and I wrote in it. I'm still surprised at it. Yes, it was frustrating because I type much faster than I write longhand, but then again, that was kind of the point. It gave me a chance to use better words, to enjoy the artistry of loops and dips below the line, and to think while I was writing. Pretty nifty overall.
I'll be translating that from my journal to the computer later today and then submitting it to my critique group for next week. It will be interesting to discover if they see a difference. Cool.
