The Sweetness of Paper
The whole process of writing is tasking, but it gets easier as your confidence grows.
Hello and Salaam my friends,
I hope you’re faring well and your writing is going smoothly. We’re back again with another guest post about the joys of longhand writing. I turn to longhand when I feel stuck or I’m unable to get into the kind of flow I’d like, so it’s a pleasure to hear someone else go through a similar practice.
I am writing this essay during work hours in between tasks. I was going to wait till a suitable weekend came along where I would have enough time to complete an essay in one sitting. However, this Thursday presents itself with pockets of idle time which I’m glad to take advantage of to discuss the sweetness of writing with pen on paper.
Last year, after having graduated university and commencing a full-time role, I discovered that hidden anxieties awaited me whenever I approached the task of writing using a keyboard or a screen. The year before, I’d typed and published several short stories with just a few hiccups in the process. I enjoyed watching the words come together neatly, line after line, in Calibri type 12. It seemed odd that the same process that brought me joy would eventually turn me away from writing for long periods of time.
I’d been writing longhand years before I got a mobile phone and a laptop. So I didn’t need much convincing to turn away from the screen and try my hand at completing a short story on paper. And these days, whenever I write in my notebook, I am not scared nor do I shrink away from the task of creativity. My words ring with sincerity and my ideas are eager to descend from mind to paper.
The whole process of writing is tasking, but it gets easier as your confidence grows. I have found that this anxiety-free method of writing has built my confidence around writing. Moreover, my confidence grew from the awareness that many of the novels I’ve enjoyed were written by authors who adapted this method and stuck to it for years.
My friend once joked that the longhand writing style is suitable for rich authors with secretaries. Jeffrey Archer, one such example, would handwrite up to seventeen drafts of a novel before having his secretary type it onto a computer for him. Toni Morrison did not have that luxury, but she still favoured writing with a pencil and a yellow pad over mechanical ways of writing. Joyce Carol Oates wrote the first drafts of her first novels on a typewriter but later switched to writing longhand. Elizabeth Strout wrote all her novels in longhand as she believed the words had to earn their way through her hand.
Writing longhand is an absorbing process that has helped me unearth deep memories that shaped my person. I still get discouraged when I think about having to type up everything I’ve written on paper. Regardless, I remind myself that the process of transferring it onto a screen is a form of revision, and that being away from a screen while writing minimises the chances of getting distracted.
My process is quite simple. I start by setting a timer for how long I hope to spend writing. I keep my phone away from me. I turn to an empty page, write the date, and begin the story with a scene that has been on my mind for some time. It may take a few weeks for me to complete the story. Afterwards, I type it onto Google docs, review the story, and publish when I’m satisfied with the revisions that have been made.
What are your thoughts on writing longhand? Would you be willing to adapt the style for your next writing project?
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Till next time,
Suad