8 Comments

deary me .. here I thought i wuz an adult ‘writer

could ‘conceive or ‘envision and safeguard an original creative thought !

or might even interpret & execute a corporate assignment

‘develop & ‘hold safe, fulfill ? via Bear, Notes, Word, substack - ‘memo to myself

if I ‘see - perceive or read ‘something’ .. papyrus and/or scanned

or ‘jot’ atop of my current ‘sticky pad.. so - it returns to me - ‘consider later.. ?

& then - oh Holy sublimation .. seize my pistol -> pen or pencil ?

Where oh where does this ‘freehand’ begin & end ?

Typewriter ? ballpoint ? Photocopy ? Fax ? Extinct Typesetters ?

‘Adobe’d to ‘The Cloud ? th mighty Stack ? ‘it’s in RAM ?

i’ve ’overlooked this ‘tip’ for perhaps 70 of 73 years .. ?

Yet somehow - your ‘opinion reached me ! Freehand ?

(jotted none of this down btw .. quite ‘freely too .. !

🦎🏴‍☠️✂️

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"The mess is advantageous: it makes me less likely to read back through what I’ve written and keeps me moving forwards."

I never thought of that. Interesting.

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I don’t draft the actual book on paper, but I do brainstorm and sometimes outline that way. If I get stuck I start writing about what I’m writing in a notebook. Or on a napkin, whatever is handy. 😂 If helps!

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When proscatination (laziness) kicks in, I just want to go the other way (typing).

Writing freehand works for me and it is an absolutely beautiful form of making art.There's something perculiar about it.

It sort of makes me feel empowered, energized and determined to write. Thus, I appreciate it more.😌

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Ya know I’m also a pen and paper gal. At least, mostly. But mine isn’t in shorthand! I am in all sorts of awe at that!

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I wrote 80% of the draft for 'The Cooperatives' by hand because I couldn't make any progress on my laptop. It's a mystery that your article started to clarify. I like the idea that the stories come from somewhere else and we're only a channel of transmission.

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I've done a middle-ground version of this -- I'll sometimes brainstorm on paper, which I find beneficial. I also do some editing by printing out the pages and marking them up with a red pen, which allows me to test out some rewriting in the margins.

But now you've got me curious to try it out for an actual draft.

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So many perfectly written lines here. Loved this. Going to try it the next time I’m taking a crack at my novel.

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