# I don't know if it's just the Field Notes notebooks or whether they've triggered a change in mindset but, whenever I have one available, I always start writing there rather than on my phone.
That's quite a shift for me.
Somewhat ironically, this wasn't written by hand as I didn't have a notebook with me.
There have been a few times in my life when something has just clicked and my behaviour has changed. For example, when I was seventeen I realised I was drinking way too much, bordering alcoholism, so just stopped. And earlier this year I just stopped biting my nails despite having done so since I was a kid.
I think that's just how my mind works. I can't tackle a number of things at a time, I only seem to be able to make a change to one thing whether I mean to or not.
The drink was very much a conscious decision, stopping biting my nails just sort of happened but once I'd started (er, stopped) I just carried on and it's been the same with using pen and paper.
Whatever the reason it's been a happy accident but it's a change that I like and, as with the others, hope that it sticks.
# Writing by hand necessarily introduces an additional editing and review phase that wasn't there before.
When typing posts from scratch I would really only be performing a final check for grammar and errors whereas transcribing from paper to screen forces me to re-read and re-evaluate what I have written.
Occasionally, I'll redo entire sections as I look upon things with fresh eyes, there being a delay between the initial writing and transcription. However, there usually aren't too many changes but I do find myself catching a few things that I might otherwise let slip.
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# I want to get to a point where I no longer use the #bypen tag on posts. It's historically been the exception rather than the rule that things have been written by hand but that is something I plan to remedy. I suppose I've already started.
Making a big deal about something only serves to set it apart when I instead want it to become more the norm. Ultimately, it shouldn't make a difference how something is written, just that it is.
At the beginning of November Derek Sivers wrote a post titled "Writing daily, but posting when ready" after an experiment posting to his blog every day for a month. His conclusion was that his writing was worse, not better as he was forcing a conclusion just to get something published.
I've mentioned how I no longer feel the need to post every day and now feel the separation of writing by hand from the act of publishing will give me more space; space to think, to feel, to explore.
When everything is created digitally the urge to hit publish is compelling; it's already there typed out so why not. The added friction of transcribing between states introduces a necessary delay that allows for reflection.
I plan to write daily but post when ready. Writing daily may not always happen but it is something I want to happen. I have a tendency to write in full posts, start at the beginning and go through until it's finished as though I am getting ready to post. I don't make notes I make posts and that's limiting.
Writing doesn't mean completing.
I don't jot down thoughts or ideas, observances or aides memoire. I don't doodle or draw or be creative in any other way. Switching to pen and paper may be a mindset change but it is one that I need to be more comfortable with, more expansive.
If I have any creative wish for 2020 then that's it.
@colinwalker Good points there. I believe that in a podcast episode about handwriting (I think @vasta recommended it to us?), the experts mentioned that hand-writing things involves different parts of the brain and builds different connections, so in addition to the time delay, you’re probably also getting looks from two different parts of the brain, as well.
@smokey You're probably right. I think it was @patrickrhone commented before on one of my posts that he could tell it was handwritten rather than typed as it felt much more fluid, like an evolving thought process. I'd be interested to listen to that podcast if anyone has the link @vasta?
@colinwalker Oh, that’s interesting.
I might be able to track down the podcast from my favorites or replies…let me see…. Found it, I think—the one @vasta mentions here. (The other question is, whether I’m remembering it correctly or mischaracterizing it!)
@smokey Thank you ? I look forward to listening to that. I think I remember the conversation now.