I have gone back to pen and paper lately. I’m finding that my creativity and productivity are both increasing as a result. After much reflection, I have identified the following as at least a few of the reasons for this:
1 — Privacy. I am using journals to do my writing now. That gives me a feeling of privacy that I don’t have using the computer. In On Writing, Stephen King offers his theory of writing “with the door closed” for the first draft. I like that idea a lot. By keeping the door closed, I can feel much freer to write just pure shit, knowing that no one else will see it. That privacy is just an illusion, of course, but I can control access to a journal a lot better than I can to the computer.
2 — Security. I don’t have to worry about my journal and pen crashing and losing everything. Sure, it could get lost, stolen, or destroyed, but by keeping it close at hand, I can be sure that whatever gets it gets me, too, thus obviating the problem. Again, an illusion of security, but one that is working extremely well for me.
3 — Productivity. One of the greatest of life’s paradoxes is that you sometimes need to slow down in order to increase output. In my case, there are two main reasons why this works.
First, by slowing down, I minimize spelling and punctuation errors. I have a severe OCD in this regard. I simply cannot move forward with that squiggly red or green line glaring at me accusingly from the screen. My Internal Critic has gleeful conniptions about that. I am compelled to fix them before I move ahead, derailing my train of thought.
Second, my fingers are often faster than my thoughts, leaving me sitting idle while my mind works. The Solitaire temptation is sometimes far too strong to resist, which takes out of the world of the story and focuses my mind on mundane matters again. No more writing that day. Writing with a pen forces me to slow down and take care to write legibly, a real struggle for an old southpaw. My mind feels more relaxed and can move at its own pace. I am finding that my ideas are more off-beat than before, more twisty and surprising, more delightful.
4 — Portability. I have my journal and pen with me wherever I go. I write on my lunch hour, sitting out on the porch in front of the cafeteria overlooking the pond and listening to the fountain. Very relaxing. At home, I sit out in the yard on the glider and write for an hour at a time on weekends and days off. If I want to, I can stop at Books-a-Million and write on my home from work sometimes.
No more excuses. No more distractions. I am now writing virtually every day. I don’t know how many words I’m getting. I don’t care. I only care that I am writing and producing and making forward progress. Sometimes less really is more.
