No idea why this is but writing seems to come more naturally to me when I put pen to paper instead of fingers to keys. Anyone else like this? - ThreadSky

royalhoeliness.bsky.social • 19 days ago

No idea why this is but writing seems to come more naturally to me when I put pen to paper instead of fingers to keys.

Anyone else like this?

Comments

lalaisto.bsky.social•19 days ago

Same. Although my writing is almost impossible to read.

melodiouszach.bsky.social•19 days ago

Absolutely. I'm more creative and it all flows better. I believe its a combination of less distraction and living in the moment. Write now, edit later :)

happyamy.bsky.social•19 days ago

There is actually research on this type of thing. When you write with pen and paper you are making different shapes with each letter, vs typing on keys which is the same motion. Somewhere in that activity is the activation of brain stuff!!

thobgubnol.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes! I do better with pen and paper than keyboard but due to size limitations so unable to have a writing desk to work at. So these days it is keyboard mostly.

thobgubnol.bsky.social•19 days ago

When I do use pen and paper my mind runs quicker than my pen. So at times thoughts can be left behind.

cristabel.bsky.social•19 days ago

Also been shown that students who take note by hand start encoding the info just from doing that while typing has little effect. Theres def something to it

wilkiemon37.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes. I generally write my first draft long hand. After I type it up, I print a double-spaced copy to mark up by hand.

wilkiemon37.bsky.social•19 days ago

I see on your profile that you're a powerlifter. I was, too, in my younger days. Do you compete? Raw or gear?

stephanierose1201.bsky.social•19 days ago

Used to be like that for me, but now I struggle to keep writing by hand :(

lettymontana.bsky.social•17 days ago

Not me.
I think too fast and I handwrite too slowly.

dr-kary.bsky.social•19 days ago

YES!

mdaconta.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes! I like to do both... but first drafts I like to do via pen. It is a different process - slower and more thoughtful. I read an article recently that said it activates different parts of your brain.

artsy-star-maiden.bsky.social•19 days ago

I feel like it's about equal to me, I'm a faster Typer than writer but the feeling of a pencil in my hand makes up for it 😂

thepastaknight.bsky.social•19 days ago

Honestly I end up having the opposite problem, my handwriting is… absolutely atrocious, and I’m often making mistakes, so I just end up preferring a text document to a page, even if I have a couple dozen notebooks filled up with stuff I love.

arey.bsky.social•19 days ago

Writing by hand is drawing. It uses the creative part of the brain in both composing and recording it.

Typing is encoding. Computational. Mechanical. Critical, even.

So I write by hand, revise while typing it up, and usually end up with a better draft in less time despite the "extra" labor!

epbwrisci.bsky.social•19 days ago

Blackwing pencils, but yes.

epbwrisci.bsky.social•19 days ago

Used to be a fountain pen, but these pencils gliiide.

lucyashford.bsky.social•19 days ago

I'm exactly the same. Nearly 30 novels published now, and every first draft is handwritten. The words just don't flow if I use my laptop!

campbellrob.bsky.social•19 days ago

I’m getting ready to shoot my first short film at 57 years old. Early drafts were on index cards.

cloudrifter.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes, handwritten stories breathe and bloom better when close to the living writer’s soul.

michaelbruceschaub.bsky.social•19 days ago

I used to be, but my essential tremor got worse and now my writing is completely illegible.

ashsketchem25.bsky.social•19 days ago

Idk what it it but maybe it’s the act of being able to write each individual letter. It feels more creative, and maybe even more romantic

cyrusbriar.bsky.social•19 days ago

You know, I wish this were true for me. I have this romanticized vision of me whipping a quill around, elegantly penning some perfect calligraphic masterpiece, but when I write by hand, I can't help but drive the lead through the page attempting to keep up with the deluge spilling out of my mind.

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

Maybe you actually need to use a quill rather than a pencil 🤔

loeihl.bsky.social•19 days ago

This is #deep if you think about it

lpersonius.bsky.social•19 days ago

When I'm brainstorming outlines or connections, I use paper and some artistic expression. When I'm writing story, it's keyboard all the way... it's the only way my fingers keep up with my brain.

d-erikson.bsky.social•19 days ago

Depends on what I’m writing.

Notes for screenplays and lyrics flow better with a pen.

Outlines and scripts flow digitally.

jaynoelthefirst.bsky.social•19 days ago

I produce more when typing, but I feel my writing is better when I go the pen and paper route.

bodymapsyoga.bsky.social•19 days ago

I breathe more deeply & slowly when I write with paper & pen. In that slowed down space, creativity comes like lightning. Plus I love colors—bright markers, glitter hilighters, pens & post-its are everywhere in my life—beside my bed, in the kitchen, in my car, in my bags. Waiting for my words.

altrocks.bsky.social•19 days ago

Complete opposite, but writing on paper is physically painful to me, so I'm probably an outlier

gqw72.bsky.social•19 days ago

Same

popdynasties.bsky.social•19 days ago

I love to switch ‘em out depending on the day

alchymia16.bsky.social•19 days ago

I used to be, but arthritis put a stop to that. Now I am good on a keyboard.

battleoxen.bsky.social•19 days ago

Art but ya I get it

pandora2dogranch.bsky.social•19 days ago

Got to do with neurological synapses in the brain and the hand/ brain connection

jtony.com•19 days ago

There’s definitely a difference, and I do enjoy writing by hand more when I’m writing fiction. Just something about the pen slowing things down for me just a little bit gets me more into the flow.

stone1glo.bsky.social•19 days ago

Don’t know the science but there is definitely much more of a physical /tactile connection of hand to brain…. for me and many of my students!

dasmaal.bsky.social•19 days ago

Absolutely. The type of pen and how thick the paper is stacked also play a role.

If everything is right it is a bit like skating.

genericwaffle.bsky.social•19 days ago

If i had to guess, id say it’s related to having done it a bunch in school. Something about motor muscle memory. Not too sure tho.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

quillwitch.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes! I typically compose with a pen and type later. It’s like writing by hand has a different connection to my brain.

tbriggs.bsky.social•19 days ago

Can’t proof read digital doc. I need to print first then correct.

catastrophegirl.bsky.social•19 days ago

once upon a time robert newton peck was my writing teacher and he expressed the same sentiment. he preferred a yellow legal pad for all his first drafts.

tengritreasures.bsky.social•19 days ago

I think a lot of people are. There is something a bit more intimate about a pen and paper versus a keyboard.

robamato.bsky.social•19 days ago

Oui. I thought I was the only one given the strange looks I get from people when I have mentioned it.

emmawrotewhat.bsky.social•19 days ago

I used to like a fountain pen when writing. I didn’t mind stopping to refill it.
There was something about the way the ink flowed as the nib glided over the paper. I also found when I was transcribing from paper to computer I would edit as I went.
I haven’t done in ages, I should get that pen out.

kopavi.bsky.social•19 days ago

I can say things to the paper I would never allow my computer to read.

mishagriffith.bsky.social•19 days ago

To me, all first drafts should be hand written. That way you are on the second draft and already editing as you put it on the word processor.

jaguarthrone.bsky.social•19 days ago

Research in education revealed that hand written responses were more complex, more descriptive, and more expansive than computer written responses to prompts. The effect was slightly less when grammar and spell check were turned off.

soultrains.bsky.social•19 days ago

I think that's because it triggers particular neural connections, and also makes new ones that the keyboard can't make. For more about that, read The Shallows by Nicholas Carr.

4dmanifold.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yup

jenniindy.bsky.social•19 days ago

Same!

musicnartbyheloise.bsky.social•19 days ago

Oh … when I write it needs to be pen first. It’s a tactile thing.

colderinminnesota.bsky.social•19 days ago

It feels more like writing to me that way as well.

timgega.bsky.social•19 days ago

Absolutely, because your hands are making a complete electrical current with the tree's paper which contains water. It's a left brain, right brain connection also.

olympicgirlsgirl.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes. ✍🏻

john-barleycorn.bsky.social•19 days ago

For me it's a typewriter. I started writing way back in the 6th grade on a Hermes electric (was around 1984). I go thru period where I tell myself to just use a comp. like an ordinary human being. But when I return to the typewriter, it's like coming home. I feel the quickening faster on it.

strangetea.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes! My big theory is that creativity is essentially linked to play and your childhood. My earlist attempts at writing would have been the stories I came up while playing with my toys, esspicially Lego. Using your hands to create story, manipulating physical objects to spark the imagination.

strangetea.bsky.social•19 days ago

Writing is the same. A pen in your hand against paper. Physical objects. Also, quite often when people are telling a story they will emphasise it with hand movements. It becomes a performance.
For me this is a clear link to imaginstion and creativity. While we use our hands to type it's not the same

strangetea.bsky.social•19 days ago

I think writing words into a non physical space is just that bit more removed. You can't touch electronic words in the same way as you can with writing on paper. It feels like something, smells like something, you can smell the ink! It's real in a way paragraphs on a screen aren't.

strangetea.bsky.social•19 days ago

There's a magic to the real world that the digital one cannot recreate, and writing to me has always felt magical. Where do those ideas come from? Beats me, but they are best conjured up with a pen in your hand like its a wand!

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

100% agree, Martin!

kened1.bsky.social•19 days ago

no. reverse.

justkeepskeeting.pro•19 days ago

yes. in school i always had to write my first draft of any writing on paper before typing it up. i often times had to print out and do edits on paper first as well

benkritz.bsky.social•19 days ago

I make notes, write outlines, etc. by hand, slowly and neatly. My hand, however, cannot keep up with the speed of actual text, and it's frustrating, so keyboard it is.

saegidius.bsky.social•19 days ago

I do notebook- for ideas, traits, encounters, feelings

My patience, when I'm ready to go, would never survice handwritten.

annapearla77.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes, the motion of the one in forming the letters brings the thoughts to a more vibrant sort of life.

avwalters.bsky.social•19 days ago

After years of keyboards, it comes naturally to me. But from letter writing, I know that my 'hand-written personality' is a little different from the one that types--and funnier.

lizziebally.bsky.social•19 days ago

Absolutely. What’s more I can think while I’m choosing which pen to use. The process of filling it with ink means I am committed and already in the process before I set anything to paper.

meeshdreams.bsky.social•19 days ago

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna135880

vindyvondo.bsky.social•19 days ago

YES! I don't know why it is exactly especially when i type much faster than I write. I think it's partially due to how easy it is to edit text on a computer. When i'm typing something in a word document i'm constantly going over it changing things but when it's pen to paper i can't so it sticks.

dolemcveigh.bsky.social•19 days ago

I used to struggle writing with a keyboard, with a fountain pen sitting next to it. I wrote some nice pieces but found that I did better when I switched back to a fountain pen. In keyboard mode, I edit too much. When I write with a fountain pen, I don’t worry about editing and I am more focused.

eliparkgm.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes. Very much so. But typing is so much cleaner and condensed when fixing mistakes and editing.
There are tablets that combine the best of both. But they aren’t cheap.

deweesl.bsky.social•19 days ago

It's the opposite for me.

johnnycullen.bsky.social•19 days ago

I feel so much more comfortable typing than writing. Mainly because my handwriting is literally that of a four or five-year old.

I’m 34.

liberalruralmama.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yea. I think there is a watershed between pre-computer and post.
We wrote our theses longhand in 40 minutes.
I'm 57 and I remember going into my mom's office to type my senior research paper because she had a fancy typewriter with an "autocorrect".

john-barleycorn.bsky.social•19 days ago

You could try a typewriter -- it's like writing by hand, but legibly.

sagicorn22.bsky.social•19 days ago

I take mine a step further..I write all my poems/little ditties with my non-dominant hand. Gotta make use of both sides of the brain.

kurtfillm.bsky.social•19 days ago

I say each to their own. I'm a keyboard guy. I enjoy moving text around, deleting, doing copy paste, looking up words on Dictionary and Thesaurus. I couldn't imagine writing long hand. But if that's your go to.....👏

motherobunnies.bsky.social•19 days ago

Sometimes the only way to break writer's block is for me to ditch the keyboard and grab a pen 🤷‍♀️ My theory is that I write more fluidly than I type but I think it's also the mental freedom of knowing I'm never going to ask anyone to read my handwritten stuff so it doesn't have to be good!

cyrusbriar.bsky.social•19 days ago

Boredom is my writer's block uh.. unblocker, yes that's the technical term.

I have this beautiful river nearby with rapids, and anytime life has me too high strung to think clearly I just go down there and sit on this exposed root structure that is literally a natural chair and listen to the water.

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

This is lovely.

darkarts1066.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yep. Me.
I’ve always found actual ‘writing’ to flow better, than keyboarding.
It’s certainly a more tactile and pleasurable pursuit.

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

beardedstoner.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yep. It's weird, cosmic, almost like alchemy.

damagedaddy.bsky.social•18 days ago

If you want to know the brain science behind it:

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8222525/

renee32.bsky.social•19 days ago

My 187 yellow legal notepads in my office agree with you!

th3-b33s-kn33s.bsky.social•19 days ago

I am the complete oposite, actually

leftiewokesue.bsky.social•19 days ago

I think there's something therapeutic in the physical movement of writing...

pallasade.bsky.social•19 days ago

Me too...and I. can see it
And no ai/autocottect

lucyrainn.bsky.social•19 days ago

I'm kinda the opposite. Writing with a pen is physically painful so it's slower and more distracting. Typing is easier so I can focus better

whatthelightcando.bsky.social•19 days ago

I just woke up to this in the last few weeks. There's something to the feel of it. I'm probably going to switch to a mechanical keyboard and see if I can bring some of the physicality back to typing.

stillraptor.bsky.social•19 days ago

Not really I cant write as fast as I think 😂

reelpineapple.bsky.social•19 days ago

I find I write better when I'm pissed off.

annabelt.bsky.social•19 days ago

💯 I still hand write first drafts.

wookietim.bsky.social•19 days ago

I'm the exact opposite. And I ought to be more into writing by hand since I long predate the idea of word processing. But I find it easier to express myself with a keyboard than a pen.

dirtyboy69.bsky.social•19 days ago

On some days yes, on other days no.

mt2052.bsky.social•19 days ago

🙋🏾🙋🏾

I'm the same way. I don't know what it is, but I think I can just easily access that writing part of my brain. The words just flow easier.

I wonder if it's because there's something to do with the physical act of writing and creating letters, etc.

campbellrob.bsky.social•19 days ago

I can’t write songs in the computer. Pencil to paper only. The best ones wake me up at 4am.

panthermodern.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes absolutely, and it's what drove me to buy a reMarkable, which I now use for ~1-2hrs daily

karenminnick.bsky.social•19 days ago

My handwriting is so bad.I would never be able to read it.🤣 however, my mother used to write in shorthand and she would leave christmas lists around knowing we couldn't read them. 🤣

misanthroberto.bsky.social•19 days ago

I've let my writing go dormant for a long while, but I really did like putting pen to paper more because I could write ideas out and annotate (scribble in the margins, cross shit out etc.). And then I could type out a more definitive version later.

misanthroberto.bsky.social•19 days ago

Then it just got to a point where I was feeling "jeez I just put all this effort into getting these thoughts out, and now I need to type it?".

I then started using corresponding notebooks to jot ideas down and typed everything else out. If I wanted to change something, could refer to the notes.

jimma54.bsky.social•19 days ago

Nope, entirely the opposite, my dyslexia kicks in a treat as soon as I pick up a pen.

ruznovorrah.bsky.social•19 days ago

yeah. i think it's got something to do with not being able to read my own handwriting at a glance like we do for typed text. makes it easier to not give a fuck -> makes it easier to draft

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

Maybe that’s it!

maggiemayhem420.bsky.social•19 days ago

Same everything I do online goes on paper first

karidru.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yeah, it turns off my editor brain. I know I'll have to type this up later and can fix it then. Meanwhile, just words.

topazangle.bsky.social•19 days ago

No, my hand moves too slow when I'm writing with a pen lol

themixedindigenous.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes, I’ve been told it’s ancestral. Our bodies prefer what our ancestors did in most instances because they did it that way for so long.

It’s also made me wonder why I manifest so fast when using paper and pencil. Like rocket blast fast!

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

This is lowkey beautiful 🥹

themixedindigenous.bsky.social•19 days ago

It’s so “mmmmm” right?! 😍🥰

lhendartteach.bsky.social•19 days ago

Yes, thoughts flow when I write with a pen.

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

Anyway I need to burn these notebooks.

genericwaffle.bsky.social•19 days ago

Aint this a magnus archives episode? /joke. 😂

dirtyboy69.bsky.social•19 days ago

Don't.

royalhoeliness.bsky.social•19 days ago

chris-fish.bsky.social•19 days ago

Used to feel the same way. But now it's awesome because at 74yo it's much easier to poke letters with my stylist pen than to hold a pen to actually put ink to paper. Arthritis is a bitch! 🤣

uncleburr.bsky.social•19 days ago

I write everyday, not a problem.

lerattus.bsky.social•19 days ago

The opposite for me, with keyboard I feel like I can just let go and not worry. Whereas with pen and paper if I don't like something (I usually don't) it pretty much immediately becomes an ugly unreadable mess of arrows and * everywhere.
+I'm a faster typer than writer so that as well 😅

petelester.bsky.social•19 days ago

That’s cool. I’d imagine it’s a natural kind of thing-you are just wired that way. Keep writing and stay awesome.

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