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Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Pen and Paper or Computer...

Yesterday the internet went out at work. Since all of our programs are internet based (and will freeze or shut down if the internet dies) I spent the next twenty or so minutes sitting in my cubicle, playing candy crush, reading facebook and waiting for the internet to come back on.

During that time a friend and I had a discussion about writing. She felt that since I had down time I should write. I explained that my stories are saved on google docs, and that I couldn't access them when the internet is down. She told me to get out a pen and paper and write.

One problem; unless I'm taking notes in a meeting, or jotting down an idea, paper and I do not mix. We used to get along famously - in fact I have notebooks upon notebooks of stories and ideas from High School - but not so much anymore. As I've gotten older my handwriting has deteriorated to the point that it's illegible. Also when I'm writing an exciting scene, I have a habit of forgetting words, and the letters begin to blend together (usually because the paper has become so tilted that they all slant together). It's bad. It's really really bad. So bad that I've often had to throw away what I assume are perfectly good scenes and bits because I simply can't read them anymore.

As a result I prefer to use a computer when I write (which is probably why my handwriting is so horrible nowadays... ). It saves my sanity, plus if you write on paper, you're going to have to transcribe things into a computer eventually, so doing it on a computer to begin with also saves time. At least, it does, in my opinion.

But everyone is different. My friend prefers paper because that way she can jot things down in between jobs at work and not get confused. Another friend does it because she shares her computer with her husband and kid. A third doesn't have access to a computer unless she's at home.

What do you prefer?

ROW 80 Update:

I finished up chapter eight of TUO. I also went through and did some edits on the newest rewrite of the Dancer (also known as the Velvet). A friend read what I had and commented that she wanted to kill the male lead because he seemed like a jerk and an abuser. After going through it, I had to agree with her, so changes have been made to make him more personable. In addition to all of that that I updated one of my fanfics yesterday. I'm not really thrilled with the update. It feels like this section of the story is just dragging on and on and on right now, but there's so much to wrap up, and there are things that I need to set up for the next arc, and neither can be done very quickly without appearing forced.

WIPpet Wednesday:

Today is August 28th, so I am going to share 23 words from chapter 8. (2+0+1+3 is 5. 28-5 is 23) This takes place shortly after the scene from last week. Liam has fallen asleep and has a dream about his sister and what happened to her.

“There’s a fire coming, Liam.” Letty warned him as she began to fade from sight. “You better run before it consumes you too.”

WIPpet Wednesday is hosted by K.L. Schwengel. To join in, all you have to do is share a piece of what you are working on that somehow relates to the date like what I did here, and then share it at the blog hop located here.

To read more ROW 80 updates, check out the ROW 80 site here.

15 comments:

  1. You are such a tease!

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  2. Like that little blurb! And I can't stand writing with pen anymore, hardly even for journaling. Computer all the way!

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    1. Thank you!

      It's funny, I prefer pens over pencils. You would think it would be the other way around, since you can erase pencil, but nope, it has to be a pen if I'm writing by hand.

      However, computers are still the way to go for me :)

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  3. I type everything on the computer or into my phone. My dominant hand was affected by a stroke, and I haven't learned to write with my left hand. I had awful handwriting anyway... I found some notebooks that I had written in, and I could barely read what I had written.

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  4. Oh, and I do occasionally write longhand. But, um, yeah . . . I often can't decipher what I've written. The more excited about a scene I get, the worse my scrawling gets.

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    1. It's good to know I'm not the only one with that problem! I have no idea how my friend were able to read some of my earlier stuff! I really don't!

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  5. I love writing long-hand even now. While I don't write well with my left=hand, I can and do just to build up the skill on occasion, but I use my right by habit...

    Keep at it a bit. You'll get back in practice, and you may find yourself being more creatively inspired. Not because you're doing "real writing", but because using different skills build up new neural pathways and rebuild brain power.

    Love that line, btw!

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    1. Thank you :)

      That's a good point, I may have to try it sometime, if only so my penmanship is a little neater for Christmas and Birthday cards :)

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  6. I like paper and pen for notes, thoughts, and planning. The act of forming the letters helps cement them in my brain (and forces me to practice my penmanship so it is very good when I teach my kids.) Computer documents are much easier to edit when it comes to whole stories, though, so I prefer to use the keyboard for that.

    Um... that was 28 words. Not lines. =0P A very good 28 words, they were, though. Nicely played. =0)

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    1. Thanks! I can't believe I missed that I typed lines instead of words. I went back and fixed that.

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  7. I love, love, LOVE handwriting, though having to transcribe later is a bit annoying. I got around this a bit by buying a tablet with a handwriting function, but I still do go to my notebooks half the time; the technology isn't perfect, so sometimes I go to read the file on my laptop and I'm like, "... I don't think that was the word I meant."

    This is a really intriguing little excerpt! I love powerful lines like that.

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    1. I've been tempted to try that on our tablet. Just to see what happens. I've also been tempted to draw on it as well, to see how sensitive it is when compared to my computer tablet.

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  8. I love the excerpt.

    I'm a fan of both. My writing is still reasonable unless I am very excited. I also love using the computer, although there was a time I was sure that would never be true. 'm actually, finally, learning my own method of touch-typing, and I am pretty fast.

    It's been stormy, here, the last few days, and my hands an fingers have been a little stiff and achy. I notice it more when I'm writing....with my left hand. I can type with my right, but writing...not only is it illegible, but it feels WRONG!

    I think whatever works for each of us is the way to go! =)

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    1. Thank you!

      It's good to know that I'm not the only one who's penmanship gets a little less legible the more excited about a scene you get. I really don't know how my friends were able to read my stories back when I used to use a pen and paper all the time. I really don't.

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