Why I Write By Hand (And You Should Too!)
I’ve always enjoyed writing by hand because it conjures up pleasant memories of childhood in the Philippines, but I didn’t start doing nearly all of my creative work by hand until fairly recently. I tend to be a restless, hyperactive person, so being able to keep up with my racing thoughts has always been a big advantage of writing on computer.
But as I started writing for a general public and became more active on social media, I found that the Internet kept interrupting my thoughts, and that it was always a looming presence even when I wasn’t using it. One of the biggest pleasures I get form writing is a feeling of uncluttered focus, or a flow state as it’s often been called, and I can no longer get that on a computer. So as soon as I started writing by hand, I re-discovered that sense of calm again. Even though it’s slower, I can do it for so much longer uninterrupted than I can on a computer.
Also, as a former visual artist who shifted to writing, text on screen can feel so abstract, and I love the tangibility of pen on paper, as well as creating an aesthetically-pleasing object as I write. I know a lot of writers who bake and garden for this purpose, and writing by hand, I do feel like I’m killing two birds with one stone. I’ve recently gone all-in and shifted to using fountain pens with different-colored inks, and that has made the experience of handwriting even more immersive and wonderful, something I look forward to instead of treating as a task.
So if you find yourself unhappy with getting interrupted on your computer, try handwriting! Like any other habit, it takes a while to develop so start slow, maybe just a paragraph or two a day at first until you get comfortable. But who knows, you might just enjoy it so much that you end up turning into a handwriting addict like me!
(Written with a vintage Mabie Todd Swan fountain pen from Fountain Pen Hospital and Pilot Iroshizuku ink from Goulet Pen Company (in Chiku-rin with a tiny bit of Kiri-same) on a ruled Leuchtturm 1917 composition notebook—it has page numbers!—from JetPens.)