When to Stick to the Basics: The Revival of Pen and Paper

Sitting uninspired in front of the blinking cursor of a blank document, I remember the days when a first draft meant pen and paper, while computers were reserved for final drafts. In fact, I remember when I avoided typing even final copies unless a teacher required it. Why spend all that time typing up what I had already written? My handwriting was quite nice, and my index-finger-17-words-per-minute-style typing hardly seemed efficient.

But now, writing on my laptop has become such an automatic habit for me that many of the advantages to pen and paper had withered away. True, I still carry a notebook for scribbling daily to-do lists and making note of those epiphanies that I’ve learned are not so unforgettable. I also turn solely to notebooks and journals for recording personal musings and poetry; although I’ve happily adopted blogging, I can’t bring myself to create one of those bare-all blogs, and a Microsoft Word journal just won’t cut it.

Yet when it comes to stories, articles, and any documents that others will see, I inevitably begin by opening my laptop. The tedium of typing something I’ve already written out is again a strong consideration, but since my typing skills now hover around 78 wpm, technology is winning out.

Technology Isn’t Going Anywhere Fast

The benefits of technology are clear: the product immediately appears polished, the Internet provides several avenues for instant publication, and both editing and formatting can be done efficiently without rewriting an entire document. Multimedia opens new doors and sharing becomes simple with networks and viral marketing.

But the drawbacks of technology quickly make themselves apparent too. Anyone who’s lost a document to the black hole of hard drives can attest to technology’s unreliability. At times, the speed offered by the Internet can also facilitate blunders that may not be so harmless: a snarky e-mail unknowingly forwarded to the butt of the joke; a query letter swiftly delivered to an editor with a glaring mistake in the subject line; or a confessional instant message sent off to the wrong person.

The most pervasive negative effect of technology is the wealth of distractions dangling in front of us. Writing can easily be interrupted by the pressing need to research a point, and most of us have witnessed the avalanche of tangents released by opening one little Wikipedia page. And regardless of what some people say, multitasking wastes more time than it saves (I’m not alone in this conclusion-if you’re in need of a distraction, google “multitasking” and browse through the first page of results).

Evoking Forgotten Times: Pulling Out the Pen and Paper

I decided to put my trusty Bic ballpoint and Moleskine notebook to the test with the writing of this article. Word processors aren’t very conducive to brainstorming, so I tried a method I had abandoned for no apparent reason: drawing mind maps. These diagrams (another distraction for you to type into Google), though a bit obscure, offer a means of brainstorming, studying, or making decisions without resorting to the confines of lists.

I began by writing “TECHNOLOGY VS. PEN & PAPER” in a circle at the center of the page. Restraining the urge to edit and censor my thoughts, I found myself drawing branches, links, and sidebars with words and phrases peppered about. It was actually painless and surprisingly productive.

I didn’t go so far as to write out the first draft by hand, but I was impressed with how useful the pen and paper had proven in actually getting words to flow. The blinking cursor on my screen was no longer so intimidating, and so I sat down to begin writing this article.

But my Bic and Moleskine were not to be relegated to simple brainstorming–my next test was writing outside the home office. Although I have a seemingly indestructible laptop case and a sleek backpack to go with it, I’m not always keen on toting my laptop around for the day. I decided that work requiring Internet use was better done at home, but my creative writing, for example, could easily be done elsewhere. I closed my laptop and headed to a café.

An hour later, I skimmed what I had written—no planning, no outline, simply writing. I noticed that writing by hand had allowed ideas to glide more freely across the page, but had also encouraged a flurry of tangents, creating an erratic narrative flow that echoed the chaotic logic of our thoughts. The physical act of writing had engaged my mind more readily than tapping the keyboard.

When to Keep the Notebook Handy

The value of pen and paper emerged plainly in two areas: greater portability and a less restrained stream of writing. For to-do lists, brainstorms, and rough drafts, my notebook proved superior to my laptop. Writing by hand is more intuitive, and so encourages a more organic form of writing. Anyway, carting around a laptop for the ability to jot down ideas and lists at whim is far more burdensome than convenient.

But writing that calls for a more polished format requires the laptop—rewriting and changing layouts by hand is simply inefficient. When I work on my freelance writing, I nearly always begin the first draft on a word processor; brainstorming, on the other hand, is usually entrusted to my notebook.

I could never criticize technology without touting its benefits. Nobody would see this article if it weren’t for the Internet, and the article would likely have suffered in organization if editing had been done on a handwritten copy. But with equal conviction, I am certain that my various notebooks will not be giving up their place on the shelf.

Tagged as: brainstorming, creative, technology, Writing