Paper or Plastic?

"You can't write your paper without a computer!? Back in my day we wrote everything by hand, and if we were lucky enough, we might have used a typewriter!" I'm sure we could all hear our parents and grandparents disgruntled reply to our generation's reliance on word processors.

The truth is, for those of us growing up in the computer age, using a word processor to work on a project from start to finish has become second hand. What need is there to handwrite a draft when you can type faster with a keyboard? There's no spell-check when writing by hand, and besides, you can get hand cramps from writing too much, right? Although there may be some truth to all those statements, perhaps the abandonment of handwriting may not be entirely positive.

When we type on a word processor we are always thinking of the finished product. When we feel something isn't right, we erase and type over it, sometimes losing valuable content. Perhaps a sentence you wrote was actually better than the one you replaced it with or maybe something you erased could have actually been used in your piece. You could always "undo" your corrections, but even that doesn't always work out.

The only way to make real time corrections and keep all of our content on paper is to actually write it out by hand.

Yes, I’ve listed most of the negatives associated with handwriting, but there all also positives to be gained from the process. By writing your pieces out by hand, you can cross out things you feel don't work, write notes to yourself, and even change the order in which sentences and paragraphs are organized without ever losing one word of content. I'm sure you can see how this process may help more than it could hinder.

Speed is and ease is always great, as is allowed by using a word processor, but perhaps good old fashioned handwriting may benefit you more.