Never underestimate the power of the hand. Bet I got you scared given the title of this post combined with the first line. Well get your minds out of the gutter, because I'm simply going to tell you about my day thus far. There will be another post later this evening so this is merely a bonus because I'm in a good mood.
So as you read yesterday, my nerves have been shot by postal school . Last week I learned about Infrared Thermography in a class that can only be describes as information packed. A week was barley enough to go over all the material. This week I have Airborne Ultrasound which is basically should have been a two day course but someone decided to stretch out to five. The pace has been excruciatingly slow, so this morning I decided to try a new approach.
I got to class started reading through the day's material. i ignored the instructor and the plethora of comments from the cheap seats (those made by my fellow students) and in about forty minutes I was done.
So what did I do for the next three hours? WRITE!
To the the instructor and those sitting around me it must have looked like a was taking some very detailed notes, but in reality I finished the chapter that I started last night. I would estimate that in three hours of lecture time I penned somewhere close to four or five thousand words. It has been a long time since I wrote in longhand and not via the computer but right now, before I type it in later, I'm really pleased with what I got down. And this was a chapter in that pesky fifteen year old girls POV that normally comes very slow for me.
So maybe in the future I'll write her out by hand instead of keyboard and see if that helps.
How many of you write by longhand? Just curious.
7 comments:
Hey I like the blog so far. I'll read more later...but for now LUNCH!
I get some great stuff when I write long hand. Sometimes I need the click click of the keyboard to fuel my right brain and sometimes if I feel stale, I'll sit down with a pen and paper and just write. I write a lot long hand at the end of the day in bed in my nightstand journal. I find that I can connect with raw emotion and anger or frustration when I write by hand. That probably stems from the fact that I journal when I'm ticked off so something just clicks with putting pen to paper. I've often written while in bed or in the tub or outdoors and then typed what I wrote onto my computer later.
I've used your approach to write. I wrote 3/4 of a novel over a few months while doing a job that took me only four hours out of an eight hour day at a desk. I excelled in the job, always looked busy AND got loads of writing in :)
I happen to have short hands so writing long hand hurts..
Glad to hear you made some more useful time of our gov't's money..
Can't wait to read the new chaps.
Oh, and I'm disappointed that this blog wasn't more lude in nature
I used to try writing by hand, but the words and thoughts just flow better when I can go at my normal typing pace of 80 words/minute. Also I occasionally have trouble reading my handwriting.
The only time I write long hand is when I write my Poetry. I just can't see myself typing those words. I am usually outside somewhere.
Thanks for stopping by my blog. Yours rocks!
It depends for me. For fantasy I can't seem to get it out if it's on paper- and chick-lit doesn't want to come out on the screen!
Since most of my chick-lit notes started flowing on post it notes, I've actually begun writing that book exclusively on post its. It works pretty well since I know approximately how many words fit on a post it (negating the need to constantly check word count), and should it ever get published I'd have a cool give-away for book signings, etc.
I prefer to type my stories even in prewriting-idea-jotting-stuff. :P I think the rhythm of typing helps me, but I know a lot of poelpe do shorthand better. I think that short hand is much slower for me and I in turn lose ideas while I am trying to catch up. :P My two-cents!
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