Writing by hand

So here I am again, on my lunch-break, writing my blog.  The first time round, obviously.  This is actually currently me typing it up in the evening.  Jeez, I need to stop writing books where the main character is a Seer - I'm thinking in more than one time at once.

It would have made more sense for me - instead of handwriting this in one of my many notebooks - to use a staff room computer to type it up directly.  The problem is that I spend many hours of my working day staring at a computer screen, so during it again during lunch feels distinctly unappealing.

Of course I do then come home and spend a bulk of my evening in front of a computer screen but I'm a contrary being.  For a technophobe I really do spend an awful lot of time using technology.  And swearing at it.

I find that I do still write a fair bit in longhand when it comes to the actual novel stuff.  In fact, I handwrite more than I used to when I was at uni, which surprised me when I thought about it given that my lectures, not to mention the many train journeys, were generally away from computers.

I can see the benefits of writing longhand, though.  It adds in an extra drafting/editing process during the transfer from page to screen, not only for stupid mistakes (what's the handwritten equivalent of typos?) but also for when a sentence or phrase feels jarring or just plain rubbish.

Writing by hand also (at least partially) removes the temptation to compulsively check the BBC weather website.  I need to stop wishing for snow.  Everyone else seems fed up.