Title: Write your first drafts with pen and paper (...if you are able to, at least)

Date: 2024-02-10

Why would you ever do this?

If the absolute volume of activity online is stopping you from undertaking creative activities, this might be a good way for you to more or less pretend they do not exist.

At least, that is what Freewrite says, the creator of many devices and online platforms that help you write in a low-noise environment and then export it to your editing software. The freewrite typewriters purport to minimize distractions and let you focus on getting your ideas out on the medium as fast as possible.

Freewrite

[image: freewrite alpha, writing tool with a small LCD screen and a keyboard in a tiny form factor]

**The cheapest freewrite device stands at USD 350**

The issue for me is that they also cost a lot, more than many laptops, which I cannot abide. To me they are just a combination of a microprocessor and an e-ink screen (EDIT: the cheapest version does not come with an e-ink screen, it's LCD). No shade to the creators, but I feel like I'm getting the same results out of the really fancy fountain pen and matcha green ink my partner got me, which looks much prettier than an 80-column monochrome screen, and is about 1/50th of the cost to boot.

Here too, there is nothing to distract you while you write, no notifications, no way to accidentally switch desktops and end up on an open browser window with some useless website open that has nothing to do with what you're writing.

There might be less pressure to get everything perfect based on how you view the medium of handwriting, for instance if it feels less permanent to you, less *final*

How do I write **bold** text

You can use light-weight markup to indicate how you want your text to be styled, like *this* for bold. This corresponds to how I write my blog anyway, but might be a bit foreign to users of editors such as LibreOffice Writer.

The downsides

Typing everything wholesale, after you've already written it down

You have to get your words to other people in some way, and the most likely way to do that is to use a computer. If you've started by writing everything out on paper, you will now have to type out everything you've written a second time, just to get it in a usable medium. You could use Optical Character Recognition, which tries its best to digitize everything you've written by scanning your words, but your results will depend on how legible your handwriting is in the first place.

You're probably going to be slower

Most people type much faster than they can write, on account of typing using both hands (ideally). It might get a smidgen frustrating having to slow down your thoughts for the benefit your pen. You could try learning how to write shorthand, but personally, that seems like a waste of time to me. Experienced practitioners can get up to 100WPM using the Teeline system linked above.

shorthand

Some people have horrendous writing

Your handwriting needs to be readable, at least by you. I went to school with a few people who could not read what they'd written in haste just days ago. Make sure this isn't you.

Prior art

Of course, I am not the first person to ever think of writing drafts down on paper. Here are a few articles I've seen online about the topic, for your benefit. Endorsements from published writers might carry more weight as well.

Why I Handwrite First Drafts (and why you might consider it), by Diana Zahuranec

Why I Handwrite First Drafts (and why you might consider it), by Diana Zahuranec

The benefits of writing a novel by hand, by Bryn Donovan

The benefits of writing a novel by hand, by Bryn Donovan

A confession

While I thought I had the meat of the article all set when I was done writing it on paper, in the process of transferring it to Emacs, I felt like adding more stuff, reordering headings, and the sort.

I suppose it adds up to more than simply an editing phase.

There is also the fact that while editing for a hyper-textual medium you need to get references and outbound links to make your document livelier. This requires you to surf websites anyway, and maybe you'll find interesting things you'd want to add to your writing. It might be beneficial to integrate this earlier in your writing process, which the distraction-free clique says you should not do.

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