I Did IT!

Susan Coffin · Feb 8, 2011

I've often said that I cannot write my stories in longhand because I can't read my own writing. In fact, I would be lucky if anyone else could decipher my horrible penmanship.

Well, yesterday during lunch break when I realized I had forgotten my Koontz book to read, I went to the bookstore and bought...

A notebook.

Yes, a $6.95 blue notebook with pretty rainbow colors on the edges of each page. I have never bought a notebook for that much, but I just had this "itch."

Yesterday, I sat down with my notebook and pen and I wrote about a page and a quarter on my work in progress. Just stuff- a scene, more or less. Last night, I transcribed it to my word processing program. Made some changes, then decided I would use just a few sentences.

Today, I wrote four pages longhand of my work in progress!! Today's writing was so much better! I felt like I was concentrating more on the words I use, the sentence structure, and really taking my time.

This is all so new for me, but I will continue writing longhand as much as possible. Oh, I wrote slower and tried to print more, and I'm able to mostly read my stuff.

Do tell- in the writing sense, what is new for you? What are you doing now that you haven not done before? I would love to hear about the evolution of your writing experience.

Cella · Feb 8, 2011

I've started jotting small, maybe insignificant, notes down instead of waiting for a groundbreaking, earth-shattering idea to hit me over the head.

LaceWing · Feb 8, 2011

I've been writing more in long-hand and jotting down lots of odd little notes, too.

I've been using the games forum here as prompts for discovering scenes that my WIP seems to call for.

writein · Feb 9, 2011

Ah, a fellow Koontz fan. How nice, I think we’re a dying breed.

Yeah, I always find that the words flow better when I write longhand. Try writing your query longhand, you may be surprised at the results.

Phaeal · Feb 9, 2011

I love cool notebooks! Moleskines are my ultimate favorite, in all sizes and colors. However, I much prefer composing on computer, where every word is infinitely mutable at the touch of a few keys.

My handwriting is super legible, thanks to the nuns.

Maryn · Feb 9, 2011

I recently got a laptop, and find that changing my writing environment makes a big difference. Seriously, sitting in the lone tidy room of the house is somehow better. (Certainly better than cleaning the others, yes?)

I've tried longhand in the past, but it's not for me. But for those it works for--go, writers, go! Easy to transport, no cords or batteries, no internet distractions, inexpensive, supplies available everywhere in many designs... It doesn't get better than the basics.

Maryn, who should send the pretty notebooks to somebody

Namatu · Feb 9, 2011

For this WIP, I'm writing the first draft longhand. Not with all the nitty details, and not sequentially. That's very new for me. I like writing longhand, but in the past I've used it as the go-to process when I'm stumped, not as the primary means of production. So far I've been lax at translating the handwritten to the typewritten. Also fairly new for me. It's weird. I kinda like it.

LfB · Feb 9, 2011

I like the long hand approach. It keeps me more focused on the story/scene than on how much written progress I've made. Plus, I'm not tempted to go online or "just send one little email"

I also like being able to write wherever.

A new thing for me is to keep two notebooks per wip. One is for when I'm writing the story. The second's for notes and outlines, random scenes, and snippets for said story...I tend to write in a very linear fashion and cannot write a scene from chapter 5 when I'm only up to chapter 3 in the first notebook.
By the time I get to typing the story up, I can focus in on adding more detail or tying loose ends.

Susan Coffin · Feb 9, 2011

Thanks for responding, guys.

When I was younger, everything I wrote was longhand, even though we had a typewriter. I had a notebook journal, another notebook for my writing, and probably another notebook just to doodle in. For me, longhand writing was a way of escape, it didn't make noise (as opposed to the typewriter when people wanted quiet), and I could do it anywhere.

I guess I can do that with my laptop too now too, but why lug it around? A notebook is so much smaller and lighter.

Ah, a fellow Koontz fan. How nice, I think we’re a dying breed.

Yep, Koontz could write a whole book in pig Latin and I'd still read it.

I love cool notebooks! Moleskines are my ultimate favorite, in all sizes and colors.

Scarlett P was talking about this exact type of notebook in another thread.

I recently got a laptop, and find that changing my writing environment makes a big difference. Seriously, sitting in the lone tidy room of the house is somehow better. (Certainly better than cleaning the others, yes?)

That's 'cause you're in shut-the-door time-Stephen King says this is the most important phase of writing.

So far I've been lax at translating the handwritten to the typewritten

What's I'm finding is I add more during transcription. My writing in the notebook is more like short paragraphs, or maybe even incomplete ones. I suspect I will get it down as I practive.

Susan Coffin · Feb 9, 2011

Plus, I'm not tempted to go online or "just send one little email" I also like being able to write wherever.

Yep. I know this temptation.

A new thing for me is to keep two notebooks per wip. One is for when I'm writing the story. The second's for notes and outlines, random scenes, and snippets for said story...I tend to write in a very linear fashion and cannot write a scene from chapter 5 when I'm only up to chapter 3 in the first notebook. By the time I get to typing the story up, I can focus in on adding more detail or tying loose ends

.

I like the idea of two notebooks- one for ideas and other for the story.

Namatu · Feb 9, 2011

Susan Littlefield said:
What's I'm finding is I add more during transcription. My writing in the notebook is more like short paragraphs, or maybe even incomplete ones. I suspect I will get it down as I practive.

I add more detail then too, which is probably why I'm avoiding it. I don't want to get sucked in to refining when the initial process is going so well. I'm more concerned about forgetting I already wrote something. At this point I have material in three different notebooks. Four if you count the handful of lines jotted down in the very tiny notepad that lives in my commute bag.

Cella · Feb 9, 2011

Speaking of journals, Mead makes a hardcover 8.5x11 one with ruled pages. It was about $9 at Wal-mart. Kinda expensive for what it is, but I love it. They call it a Jumbo Journal.

jamesn65 · Feb 9, 2011

I love the feeling of writing longhand, but what gets me is the need to then retype it into a computer. It's the one reason I can't use pencil and paper. I think, just knowing that I had to transcribe it electronically, I'd never finish.
But you're right... it's a completely different experience and has a definite effect on the writing.

Kate Thornton · Feb 9, 2011

I used to love writing longhand, but then lost the use of my writing hand. I find I'm a pretty good one-hand-typist and love all keyboards. I carry a small one around with me in my purse to write whenever I like - I think of it as the other side of my Kindle, which allows me to turn pages one-handed. I love technology - it allows me to do nearly everything I used to, including walk.

And my Kindle is stocked with Dean Koontz, too. (Just finished The Darkest Evening of the Year...)

..

Alitriona · Feb 9, 2011

I write everything with a nice pen into a nice notebook. It encourages me to try to write neatly so I can read it back to myself. I often fail miserably and it ends up like chicken scratches.

I consider my notebooks my first drafts.

Kenra Daniels · Feb 9, 2011

I used to write everything longhand, then transcribe, but I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and holding a pen became nearly impossible. So I started using the computer for first drafts. I had surgery for the CTS, and while my hand no longer goes numb from holding a pen, I'm no longer able to write much more than a short grocery list by hand. My doc thinks it's likely because of the progressive nerve damage I'm experiencing.

I used to be a Koontz fan, too. Maybe my tastes in books has changed, or maybe his writing has changed, or both, but his work no longer appeals to me. I just donated a huge stack of his hardcovers, almost everything written before Dark Rivers of the Mind, to my local library. I would have kept them, just because, but I needed to make space for the books that I read over and over, and that just no longer includes Koontz.

deborahlea · Feb 9, 2011

My laptop's battery died while I was working on one of my books in Japan. I ended up writing most of the book with folks oohing and aahing while I painstakingly wrote longhand on the train. It took a fair deal of extra time, but the conversations I had and the difference of that experience--compared to typing it all out--made it well worthwhile.

As for what I'm doing differently? Typing a couple hundred words a day for many, many days instead of writing at exhaustive paces for short periods, following which I don't write at all for years!

Susan Coffin · Feb 10, 2011

RedWritingHood said:
Speaking of journals, Mead makes a hardcover 8.5x11 one with ruled pages. It was about $9 at Wal-mart. Kinda expensive for what it is, but I love it. They call it a Jumbo Journal.

When I was a kid, I kept journals of everything. I think a drugstore notebook was under a dollar--the spiral with around 300 pages, that is.

Susan Coffin · Feb 10, 2011

I used to love writing longhand, but then lost the use of my writing hand. I find I'm a pretty good one-hand-typist and love all keyboards. I carry a small one around with me in my purse to write whenever I like - I think of it as the other side of my Kindle, which allows me to turn pages one-handed. I love technology - it allows me to do nearly everything I used to, including walk.

That's a tough one. Do you carry the NEO with you? I've other talk about it, and they seems to like it. It's very small, long battery, and can be carried in one's purse.

I often fail miserably and it ends up like chicken scratches.

I know this feeling!

I used to write everything longhand, then transcribe, but I developed carpal tunnel syndrome, and holding a pen became nearly impossible.

So far, I've been very lucky not to have any CP problems, even though I work at the keyboard all day long.

My laptop's battery died while I was working on one of my books in Japan. I ended up writing most of the book with folks oohing and aahing while I painstakingly wrote longhand on the train. It took a fair deal of extra time, but the conversations I had and the difference of that experience--compared to typing it all out--made it well worthwhile.

As for what I'm doing differently? Typing a couple hundred words a day for many, many days instead of writing at exhaustive paces for short periods, following which I don't write at all for years!

There was a time if my computer gave out, I would not even think of writing longhand. I'd probably would have stewed until I got my laptop charged again. However, it sounds exciting writing longhand on a train.

I cam see how writing for long exhaustive periods can be...well...exhausting. I've never done that before. For me, it's usually about an hour or so a day. Except, now, with writing in my notebook, I feel like I gain about about 45 minutes!

Anne Lyle · Feb 10, 2011

I'm almost tempted to try when I next rough draft a new book, but I'm worried my hand will cramp up - typing is so much more ergonomic, especially with the Dvorak layout.

OTOH I love writing my planning notes longhand - having done far longer than I've been able to type fluently, it's totally intuitive and doesn't get in the way of my thoughts. Plus there's so much more freedom to doodle and lay out the paragraphs and bullet points any way I like!

Susan Coffin · Feb 10, 2011

Anne,

Today I had an appointment at lunchtime, so I could not write long hand. I missed it so much! I think I'll do it before bed tonight. In fact, I'm going to do IT now!

smcc360 · Feb 12, 2011

I have a notebook for jotting down ideas, situations, characters, and lines of dialogue that jump into my head. But it has to be a crappy spiral-bound thing you can buy in packs of three at a stationary store. Anything really nice, like a Moleskine, I don't want to ruin it.

Victoria · Feb 12, 2011

I still have the callous on the middle finger of my right hand from writing longhand so much. I unconciously pick at it sometimes, making it bleed. I figure it is a permenant reminder of how much writing means to me. I rarely write longhand anymore, just notes or spur of the moment scenes, but it still feels good. I've just gotten lazy is all.

Kaylee · Feb 12, 2011

I just got a Koontz novel for my brother's birthday present. I love writing in my note books. I have insomia. I keep one under my bed and at night is when I do most of my writing.

chrysalnix · Feb 12, 2011

I think writing longhand helps me when I get stuck in a WIP. It's usually pretty bare bones stuff, but as I'm typing it from the notebook into the computer, I'll add more detail. By the time I've transferred everything and added a little here, taken a little out there, it's pretty polished and I can move on.

I Did IT!

Tell it like it Is

Cella

Whatever I did, I didn't do it.

At Sea

Lost in mental space.

...

Tell it like it Is

Tell it like it Is

Lost in mental space.

Cella

Still Happy to be Here. Or Anywhere

Attends The School of AW

queen of wandering

Tell it like it Is

Tell it like it Is

Fantastic historian

Tell it like it Is

I've Got An MFA In LEO

practical experience, FTW

New kid, be gentle!