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writing

There is just something about writing longhand. But why write longhand when we have the convenience of computers? It seems as if writing longhand is a lost and dying art, and to a certain degree it is. Perhaps you are reading this right now, thinking this article is pointless. Perhaps it is, but writing longhand is something that must be revived in an age when computers, smartphones, and tablets dominate our lives.

Growing up I always loved to write and create stories with my notebook and pencil. I also enjoyed practicing my cursive, but as I climbed into my late teens technology grew. Like any kid I wanted what was new and shiny. So I dumped my notebooks and my trusty no. 2 pencil for a keyboard. I mastered the keyboard, I felt like I could tickle the keyboard as Beethoven tickled the keys of a piano. My mind would always race with ideas and my hands could keep up on the keyboard. I had long forgotten the ways of handwriting in college. Sadly all our elementary schools have forgotten the same thing with the new Common Core standards…After Kindergarten and First Grade, emphasis on penmanship transitions to the clanking keyboard…Oh, and no more cursive

Thankfully in college a good friend of mine reminded me of my love for writing longhand in the form of a fountain pen. I was already fascinated with all things vintage, but when my friend let me try out his Lamy Vista fountain pen it was as if I was doing life wrong. It was the way the nib felt gliding across the smooth, pristine paper. Nostalgic memories of my past imagination smashed me across the face. This must have been how it felt when Tolkien got the idea for The Lord of the Rings. 

At that very moment I purchased my first fountain pen, A black Lamy Al-Star, black ink, and a Leuchtturm1917 notebook to compose all of my creative thoughts. I had fallen in love with something as silly as writing by hand. In the words of Obi-Wan Kenoboi in Star Wars,”It’s an elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.” My fountain pen was an old lightsaber relic that took me to distant galaxies of creativity. Since then I’ve discovered different colors inks, sizes in nibs, and notebooks…All thanks to a small business that specializes in fountain pens called, The Goulet Pen Company. My arsenal has changed over the years so has my creative process. The tools/weapons I use to compose my work are my trust Lamy Al-Star fountain pen with Noodler’s 54th Massachusetts Ink, a Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 pencil, a Leuchtturm1917 notebook, and a small Field Notes journal I always have crammed in my pocket.

So after all of these years writing longhand I’ve discovered numerous benefits I must share to a world consumed by technological toys.

1. Writing By Hand Is Slow: That doesn’t sound like a benefit, being able to write fast is better, right? Not always. Yes I can smash the keyboard away like a piano and have a piece of work thrown together, but it doesn’t mean it’s going to be best in the creative process. My mind can race with ideas but that doesn’t mean my hands have to catch up. Writing longhand forces you to slow down your brain and to collect your thoughts. I will typically write an article, screenplay, or sermon by hand first, then type it up later. Doing this helps me filter through my work twice, it requires focus, it gets the mind and creative juices flowing.

2. You Won’t Be As Distracted: When I go to the coffee shop to write I don’t take my laptop with me anymore. I learned that the hard way repeatedly in college. I have a big A.D.D. problem, It’s a bear trying to focus. I turn on my computer, get into a creative groove, then …”BLOOP!”… Facebook/Twitter message. I tell myself, “I’ll just check that one notification.”… 30 MINUTES LATER! … I’m looking at meme’s, BuzzFeed, scrolling on Facebook, pinning Youth Group game ideas … and so on … “I’ll just turn off the wifi.” I tell comfortably tell myself … 10 MINUTES LATER! … “I need to look up that one fact, or that word”… It’s a vicious cycle of distractions folks. It’s tough to part from our precious tech, but leave it at home. You only need a pen and paper. As for your phone, turn it off or mute it.

3. It Improves Your Penmanship: I’ve heard it before, “I don’t write by hand because my handwriting stinks.” Your handwriting wouldn’t stink if you write more often. Like riding a bike or mastering a craft, it only improves with time.

4. It’s Convenient and Practical: Laptops, tablets, and phones need charged, hard-drives crash, and files randomly vanish when you need them the most. Heck, I remember the frustration of taking my laptop to a coffee shop to write a paper, just to find all the outlets have been taken. You don’t have that problem with a pen and paper. Yes, paper can get destroyed or lost, but I have older handwritten documents that have stood the test of time, over a word document in my laptop. Plus nobody wants to steal a pencil or journal, unless you allow someone to borrow your pencil, it’s gone! Luckily they are cheap.

5. They Are the Tools of Master Writers: Lastly, there are numerous writers who compose their work the old fashioned way first. This isn’t really beneficial to making you write better, but to show you that great writers don’t always need the best laptops or software to create their work. Here are just a few…

  • Quentin Tarantino, writer and director who’s best known for his dialogue in movies like, Inglourious Basterds, Pulp Fiction, and Django Unchained. He writes with red felt pens in a notebook.
  • George Lucas, the creator of Star Wars, a series that is known for using state of the art technology uses the simple No. 2 pencil and loose-leaf paper in a binder.
  • Neil Gaiman, a well known author in Scifi, like Stardust, writes his novels by hand.
  • Ernest Hemingway, writer of A Farewell to Arms always wrote his novels by hand before putting the words through a typewriter.
  • J.K. Rowling, writer of Harry Potter says, first pens her books to paper before retyping them up on the computer.

I feel like I’ve only scratched the surface on the topic, perhaps I will write future articles on the art of longhand writing. I might also write some reviews on some of the tools I use. I hope this article has sparked an interest in you and that you will spend more time writing by hand, so that it sharpens your mind and spurs you creatively. So grab a pencil and paper, go outside, and write.

-JL, Written with a Dixon Ticonderoga Pencil.