When was the last time you wrote something substantive — a letter, a story, a journal entry, etc. — by hand? Could you ever imagine returning to a pre-keyboard era?
I hand write my first draft of just about everything. I find it helps my flow and connects better with my thinking. When I was editing my book, I would rewrite sections from scratch to help my clarity. From this exercise, I discovered I would often write the same information twice—without realising it. I would use the same words, in the same order and in the same place in the paragraph. This confirmed to me they were correct. I have attempted this same exercise typing it instead of writing the second time and I get stuck. I didn’t know what I want to say. For me there definitely is a hand brain connect.
As a Toastmaster, I hand write my speeches—both initially and as a way to learn them. Once again this helps with my flow, but I think in this case it also helps me—write like I speak. Once I am happy with my hand written first draft, I type my speech and make any necessary changes. After I have my completed my speech, I learn it by writing it out by hand several times. It works for me. This process helps me to remember the main points in the correct order.
Today I learnt why this is so. In our brain is a collection of cells called the Reticular Activating System (RAS). They act as a link between our sub conscious and conscious mind. The RAS’s job is to filter all the information the world has to give us on a second by second basis, only drawing our attention to what we want to focus on. By writing things down we trigger the RAS into action. It begins to focus on the topic we are writing about. This definitely helps to explain why for me hand writing before I type gets the job done much quicker than staring at the computer screen.
Personally, I would never want to go back to a pre-keyboard era. Today with the keyboard comes many new options like the internet and self-publishing. But I am not voting hand writing off the island any time soon either. Variety is the spice of life—I’m using both to get the best result.
Thanks for following my blog. But i really do want some sort of comment especially a biography to read.
Hi Louise I blog anonymously so do not have a biography. I have given information about myself in my About page.
Valuable info and insightful. Thanks for taking time to share!
Hi Interesting observation; i have one problem; i know exactly what you are saying about writing and the key board; i always found using a pencil rather than a Biro was easier for writing; i was brought up writing everything by hand. My problem is the information comes out so fast that i can not understand my own hand writing!! Once i got used to using the key board, i would not go back to hand writing. Also understanding what i had written was a big bonus; cut and paste is a big win; you can re-arrange your writing so it makes sense later; so you can write with the flow and not try and edit it while you are going. Spell check; what a winner for us bad spellers. I do not have trouble with the flow of words writing with a key board; (by the was i am a two fingered slow typist); unless i start to engage in mental recall; that takes me out of present time (my feelings and creative energy) and slows the flow right down. I use written notes when i get flashes of topics i can write about; because sometimes i am not near the computer; or even if i am i still write them down; so i can continue with my present train of thought. I to have done quite a bit of public speaking and conducted seminars and workshops and commentaries for tour guiding; I wrote my wedding speech on the back of a napkin that was on the table in front of me; while waiting for my turn to talk; everyone came up afterwards and said what a great speech it was. I find if you are talking on a subject you know about then there is no need to memorize it; just open your mouth and it just comes out without conscious thought; it comes across a lot better that way. Anyway, interesting to get other peoples view on things, LOL Murray
The important thing is to find what works for you. Everyone does things differently for different reasons and learning about them is one of the beauties of blogging.
hi is there anyway i can reblog this and your other stuff??
You are welcome to reblog anything on my blog and I am honoured that you want to. However because I am a self-hosted site I don’t know how this is done. If you discover how let me know.
Yahoo! I will join your club. I too, write by hand to begin with. I think the reason that I do that is because I am not a good typist and searching for things on the computer restricts my flow of ideas. I cannot get my ideas down fast enough and as a result by using the computer for my first draft, I will often lose the idea. So I go from paper and pen, to computer, to revision on computer. For me, it certainly fits with your thoughts on RAS.
Everyone is different but it works for me.
Loved your the post! You reminded me something that I have done last year and help me, and still do. Writting my goals. And it’s happening! People really should took very serious this kind of information, because it’s life changing information and always goes where we want.
If we think dark, badly of the others. We end up see only bad in us. I guess in the end karma it’s real. 🙂
Yes, I definitely write in notebooks first – it’s a completely different process, I find. Allows me have many pages at once in mind or in view and put arrows all over the place as I flit back and forth. The result’s an absolute mess, but that makes seeing it typed out a real pleasure.
I agree. If I don’t write first it doesn’t flow nearly as well for me.