Because I am known to write using a fountain pen on paper, a number of people have pointed me to this post and its underlying research. I won’t rehash what is said in those sources, but the gist of it is that when you write things down by hand you’re recruiting more of your brain, which is a good thing.
A few questions about the pipeline here for books--at what point do we go from handwriting on paper to organized bits in a computerized format (and how)? Do you re-type these, or hire someone to, or does your publisher just get a large box in the mail and hand it to an intern?
I'm also curious whether you do the bulk of the editing/rewriting on paper or electronically. I know people who take hand-written notes, and then in the act of typing them up revise them, which could make sense.
(It was only this year that LLMs got good enough that they could accurately transcribe my handwriting, at least for chess game logs, which is the only thing I've attempted in any volume. Even last year's Opus came up with nonsense.)
I am wondering the same! I've switched both my art and writing to digital and using LLMs. I miss my caricature artist era at theme parks with actual marker and paper!
Hello! As a teacher who has spent a big chunk of time teaching kids cursive (as well as using it myself in my own work) I appreciate this post. I wanted to add that if someone does like using pencils, there are some options out there whose design beats hand fatigue. I tired to post a pic here of some pencils from Japan that are very popular with my students (and which I use myself) but I couldn’t post the pic here so it’s posted to my own stack. Anyway, those pencils are slender like a pen, triangular and have spaced out oval grips. :-)
Appreciate this post. I started drafting by hand about two years ago and now do about 70% of my initial drafting that way. Removing the screen stops me from trying to edit as I go and provides a more direct brain/hand connection. I've also experimented with different pens / pencil / paper combinations and now I have some new options to geek out over! I actually prefer a mechanical pencil while drafting because I like to erase words here and there. Bic pencils are my favorite.
How is Substack at processing your handwriting? Or, what is the process for composing a piece like this from idea to clicking Post? Is handwriting involved at all?
My first college roommate and I have been corresponding via handwritten letters for 30+ years, because he prefers the medium. His handwriting is almost unchanged over that timeframe, uniformly irregular and often challenging to interpret. Mine is all over the place, but I second all the points re: fountain pen vs other tools. I still use the same pen I bought in 1990, and never have suffered from it.
Many years ago, I happened to be getting somewhat drunk with Larry Niven, and we were discussing lots of things (the physics of an infinitely stiff wire such as the Slaver variable-sword was one), and he said that he could tell the difference between writing a work on paper vs typing; he preferred typing because he felt it engaged both sides of the brain. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
On the iPad topic, there are various screen overlays that better approximate the “writing on paper” experience. My main issue with writing by hand on an iPad is the edges - the device is approximately a quarter of an inch thick so at some point, your hand no longer fits on the device in writing position. Maybe I need a custom writing desk where the iPad lies flush with a larger surface. But it works for the small jobs I need it to do; I’m not writing 800-page novels on it 😉
A few questions about the pipeline here for books--at what point do we go from handwriting on paper to organized bits in a computerized format (and how)? Do you re-type these, or hire someone to, or does your publisher just get a large box in the mail and hand it to an intern?
I'm also curious whether you do the bulk of the editing/rewriting on paper or electronically. I know people who take hand-written notes, and then in the act of typing them up revise them, which could make sense.
(It was only this year that LLMs got good enough that they could accurately transcribe my handwriting, at least for chess game logs, which is the only thing I've attempted in any volume. Even last year's Opus came up with nonsense.)
I am wondering the same! I've switched both my art and writing to digital and using LLMs. I miss my caricature artist era at theme parks with actual marker and paper!
Hello! As a teacher who has spent a big chunk of time teaching kids cursive (as well as using it myself in my own work) I appreciate this post. I wanted to add that if someone does like using pencils, there are some options out there whose design beats hand fatigue. I tired to post a pic here of some pencils from Japan that are very popular with my students (and which I use myself) but I couldn’t post the pic here so it’s posted to my own stack. Anyway, those pencils are slender like a pen, triangular and have spaced out oval grips. :-)
Appreciate this post. I started drafting by hand about two years ago and now do about 70% of my initial drafting that way. Removing the screen stops me from trying to edit as I go and provides a more direct brain/hand connection. I've also experimented with different pens / pencil / paper combinations and now I have some new options to geek out over! I actually prefer a mechanical pencil while drafting because I like to erase words here and there. Bic pencils are my favorite.
How is Substack at processing your handwriting? Or, what is the process for composing a piece like this from idea to clicking Post? Is handwriting involved at all?
My first college roommate and I have been corresponding via handwritten letters for 30+ years, because he prefers the medium. His handwriting is almost unchanged over that timeframe, uniformly irregular and often challenging to interpret. Mine is all over the place, but I second all the points re: fountain pen vs other tools. I still use the same pen I bought in 1990, and never have suffered from it.
Many years ago, I happened to be getting somewhat drunk with Larry Niven, and we were discussing lots of things (the physics of an infinitely stiff wire such as the Slaver variable-sword was one), and he said that he could tell the difference between writing a work on paper vs typing; he preferred typing because he felt it engaged both sides of the brain. Different strokes for different folks, I guess.
On the iPad topic, there are various screen overlays that better approximate the “writing on paper” experience. My main issue with writing by hand on an iPad is the edges - the device is approximately a quarter of an inch thick so at some point, your hand no longer fits on the device in writing position. Maybe I need a custom writing desk where the iPad lies flush with a larger surface. But it works for the small jobs I need it to do; I’m not writing 800-page novels on it 😉