Back to the Pen

I’m trying something new today. I was recently explaining to someone about my writing process and how I don’t seem to be able to create when I’m typing. How I always need to handwrite everything. They said ‘that’s quite a process’ and I felt judged. I doubt they meant it that way though maybe they did. Whatever their intent, I still felt judged.

I’ve been stewing on this and wondering if it’s a self fulfilling thing. I can’t because I say I can’t. So this morning I thought I’d give it a try.

And I am struggling.

When I put pen to paper, or more recently pen to reMarkable, the words just flow. I don’t really worry about a misspelled word or if the grammar isn’t quite right because I know I can fix it on edit.

But when I type and the computer red-lines something, it completely stops the flow of my creativity. I literally lose my train of thought.

I also can’t type as fast I used to. Back in the olden days, before computers were a household thing, I could type close to 100 words per minute on my electric typewriter. I wasn’t creating though.

I’m in a writer’s group where we do 20 minute sprints for 3 hours twice a week. The moderator of the group is a well established writer with multiple books under several pen names and she can create and type a over a thousand words in a 20 minute sprint. It’s mind-boggling and I’m envious, but I’m trying to remember it’s not a contest.

Sometimes it’s good to be challenged to examine what we do because we learn that we need to change what we’re doing. However, sometimes we get confirmation that what we’re doing is right for us.

So I managed to get words on the page and I’m going to post this. But I did not like or feel comfortable doing it this way. I’m going back to my process because it works for me.

Be well my friends.