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The Grey Elf
Grey Havens
Mar 27 2015, 2:03pm
Post #1 of 29
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Do you still enjoy using a pencil or pen?
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It's the digital age, and yesteryear's No. 2 or leaky ballpoint may be things of the past for the next generation who only know them as a primitive kind of stylus. Sometimes we have a choice though. Whether for school, work or a pastime, who prefers to reach for an old-fashioned stick?
For myself, when it comes to figures, though I'll use a calculator a lot of the time, sometimes I do prefer a pencil, especially when it comes to measurements or drafting out a design for sewing.
Pens, I love. The smell of the ink, the way it seems to be a conduit of electricity between my brain and a piece of paper. It creates flow in more ways than one and I truly believe I connect with my imagination better using a pen and paper over a keyboard and screen.
Mine may very well be age-related preferences shaped by what I was given to use when I was a youth. Not unlike whether you prefer to read an actual book made of paper over reading through a glass screen. Or maybe it's just my personal taste. What is yours? 
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Mar 27 2015, 3:15pm
Post #2 of 29
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of using a pen on paper works my brain differently than using a computer does. Of course, there's the tactile experience of typing, but actually physically moving paper around just helps me think and stay organized better than clicking to cut and paste. I tend to think geographically, and being about to move my thoughts around in space helps.
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Annael
Immortal
Mar 27 2015, 3:20pm
Post #3 of 29
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Although most of my work is done on the computer, I will still print something out to review and edit it. I can just make sense of things better on paper.
I'm speaking at a conference next week, and my paper has been written half on computer and half using pen and paper. It's much easier organize my thoughts on paper first, then type out what I want to say. I then review it in hard copy and make more notes, go back to the computer, and revise it.
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Magpie
Immortal
Mar 27 2015, 3:33pm
Post #4 of 29
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I will use both digital and practical methods of writing and I'm adapting over time
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Being able to use a word processor instead of hand writing notes was a huge plus for me. I am such a perfectionist that when I made a mistake with something hand written, I'd throw out the paper and start over again.
As I've used the computer more and more, I have lost the muscle tone to hand write neatly so if I'm writing a note longer than will fit on a card, I will type it because it will be unreadable no matter how hard I try by the end of the letter.
Forever and a day, I've written all my menu and grocery lists by hand but I've just switched to using a digital version that sits on my phone (my first phone that I've only had less than 6 months so I'm late to that game). It's nice because I can check off items with a touch and it's easier to keep track of what I haven't purchased yet. The same with my menus. I'd write them on some scrap of paper that would get lost and now they don't get lost.
The one place I'm still using a lot of handwritten notes is in genealogy research. I have a pile of postcards my work threw out because information was outdated. (One side is printed, the other blank.) I just pull one of those off the pile and make tons and tons of handwritten notes as I'm researching. I would take a photo of my desk area covered with these notes but that would reveal how messy my work space can get (at home... my work space at work is very tidy!)
But, once I get to an expansive amount of info I need to track, I'll move to a spreadsheet or text document.
When I'm handwriting notes, I 100% prefer a Ultra Fine Point Sharpie. I have a bunch in different colors and I like the amount of drag they give on the paper (I can't write with ink pens that are super glide-y) and I like the bold line that makes it easier to read with my fading eyes. In fact, all my menus, grocery lists and hand drawn maps or driving directions I use to make before my phone were all done with Sharpie markers. I also use a lot of Flairs at work to make markup notes on documents.
I will use both pencil and pen for stuff but that is in ever decreasing amounts. When I find a pen I like it's a joyous object to have and keep track of. And I do have the supplies for doing calligraphy in the house although I haven't used them in a long time.
(This post was edited by Magpie on Mar 27 2015, 3:34pm)
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Brethil
Half-elven
Mar 27 2015, 4:39pm
Post #5 of 29
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I have always had a problem handwriting things
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As I can't write fast enough and its very frustrating. I have poor writing in the utilitarian sense because of it; I love doing calligraphy but that's not to express forming ideas - its art so that's different.
Keyboards are much less frustrating for me as they are much faster.
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Dame Ioreth
Tol Eressea
Mar 27 2015, 4:58pm
Post #6 of 29
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Ir ead an interesting book years ago
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called The Artists' Way by Julia Cameron. It is meant to help people unlock their creative brains. One of the exercises in the book is morning pages - basically a first-thing-in-the-morning brain dump that is meant to unload all the junk you think about instead of being creative. One of the stipulations of Morning Pages is that they are hand-written because this seems to unlock the part of your brain that leads to creativity.
I was thinking about this awhile ago when I saw my daughter working on her computer. Even though she was an art student and loved the tactile creation of art, she did almost all of her writing on a computer. It made me wonder if hand written Morning Pages would work the same in her generation as in my generation, or if brains of each generation are being wired differently. Will the same access come from a keyboard in the younger generations?
I type faster than I write and I have arthritis in my hands so typing for longer periods of time is just easier. Depending on the day, even my signature changes because of the stiffness in my hands. But when it comes to editing, I like to see it on the written page. It seems to make more sense to me there. I can see it all, access parts of it with a turn of a page, go back-and-forth.
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BlackFox
Half-elven
Mar 27 2015, 5:06pm
Post #7 of 29
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For example, I make all my notes in class with pen -- I don't have my laptop with me in school, I find it too much of a distraction.
(This post was edited by BlackFox on Mar 27 2015, 5:08pm)
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Arandiel
Grey Havens
Mar 27 2015, 6:42pm
Post #8 of 29
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I use mine for to-do lists, on 'one-side' paper (use only on one side, that is).
There's something so satisfying about checking off a completed item with a big Sharpie swoosh!
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Riven Delve
Tol Eressea
Mar 27 2015, 8:41pm
Post #9 of 29
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I do still love pens, and I love having just the right kind of pen--perfect grip, perfect tip, perfect ink flow, especially when I want to write something creative. It just feels cathartic and exciting then when I start to write, and the ink flow is metaphoric! When I write for pleasure (rather than for work) I still, in the mode of childhood, curl up in a chair with a pen and some loose-leaf notebook paper and tear into it. (The work writing, alas, must be done in a timely manner and on a computer.)
However, if I'm doing large-scale editing, it's got to be on a computer because of the logistics involved in moving text around without going cross-eyed, so that means there's this annoying typing project that has to happen in between...such a time-waster!  But to me it's the function that I'm doing that determines (if I have a choice) whether I use a pen or keyboard.
And also...I still love paper books. I bet I will still do so when they're antiques. 
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 27 2015, 9:23pm
Post #10 of 29
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so yes, pens are necessary. But I also use a computer keyboard just as often.
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Aunt Dora Baggins
Immortal
Mar 27 2015, 11:08pm
Post #11 of 29
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I write the first drafts of my novels in pen.
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And my daughter and I really love shopping at office supply stores. <3
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RosieLass
Valinor
Mar 28 2015, 4:29am
Post #12 of 29
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I have a "thing" for writing materials.
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Pens and paper and writing journals and all that stuff.
There's just something about seeing the words flow across the page as you write that's special in a way that typing them out on the screen can't capture.
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Fimbulfambi
The Shire
Mar 28 2015, 9:33am
Post #13 of 29
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I use pen when writing notes at lectures, all the time. It looks a mess because I write very quickly. I can read it though. When I started uni. I usually rewrote it on the computer, but I stopped doing that. I also use pens for notes, and grocery lists, shorter texts and when I need to write something down from the top of my head. I always carry around pens and pencils. Might be because I draw a lot, but I often find myself taking notes on my palms as well.
If I write longer texts I prefer to use the computer because of the option of moving large chunks of texts around.
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Annael
Immortal
Mar 28 2015, 3:51pm
Post #14 of 29
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I always looked forward to getting the new pencil box and notebooks for school. (Remember pencil boxes?) When "empty books" came out everyone gave me them - and I used them!
James Hillman in The Soul's Code says that most people have a "soul purpose" in life and you can often tell what it will be when they are small because they will be drawn to the "tools of their profession" even then. In my case, absolutely true.
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Ciars
Rohan
Mar 28 2015, 6:40pm
Post #15 of 29
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I prefer using a pen, although increasingly I have to use a word processor in work. I find that I will still make notes though first for any reports etc with a pen first before the final write up using word. Although using a computer is fast and eradicates errors easily I love making my own mark as it were. I suppose I like seeing my writing, it's more me than a typeface produced by some company on a computer, don't get me wrong, I do use a computer to produce reports/data/colourful charts but I just don't connect the same way I do with a pen.
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Ciars
Rohan
Mar 28 2015, 6:44pm
Post #16 of 29
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I love my stationary day, every August, I root around stores and find lots of fun stationary items to brighten up my desk. In fact a friend and I laughed last year when we discovered we do the same thing, there's something so special about picking out new stationary to suit you, and to bring a freshness to a new academic year.
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Eruvandi
Tol Eressea
Mar 28 2015, 7:26pm
Post #17 of 29
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I use both pencils and pens all the time. Pens when I don't have to worry about permanece and pencil when I know I'll want to correct a lot or if I'm just writing a quick note and want to reuse the paper so I don't feel wasteful. Having said that, I think I use pencil most often.
When I was still doing my college courses I used pen to write down my assignments. When I was taking my algebra and statistics courses I had to hand write pages and pages and PAGES of notes and calculations in pencil along with using the calculator because there was simply no other way to keep track of it all.
When I'm writing my fantasy novel I've gotten so that I'll hand write some scenes in pencil in a notebook. It's slow going but it means that I don't have to spend all my time on the computer. I can also take my writing with me that way. When I finish the scene I type it out on the computer for editing.
My only complaint about hand writing things is that I'm left handed and writing a lot turns the side of my hand the same color as the pen or pencil I'm using because I have to drag my hand through everything I write.
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SirDennisC
Half-elven
Mar 28 2015, 9:56pm
Post #18 of 29
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I do all my off-computer writing with Staedtler norica 13246 HB2 pencils. They're wood and graphite, painted blue with white gum erasers. When the eraser wears down I grab a fresh pencil from a box I keep handy. It's one of my indulgences.
I guess my preference for pencil grew out of becoming spoiled by being able to edit on the fly while writing on computer.
Incidentally, my preferred media to write on are pale green "steno" pads by Cambridge.
(This post was edited by SirDennisC on Mar 28 2015, 10:00pm)
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Eruvandi
Tol Eressea
Mar 29 2015, 1:04am
Post #19 of 29
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I find shorthand interesting...
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I couldn't use it to save my life, but I still find it interesting. :) I have a vague familiarity with it because of (odd as this may sound) a video game. One of the Nancy Drew computer games from Her Interactive to be specific. You had to learn about shorthand in order to decifer some clues that someone had written for the character you were trying to solve the mystery for. I thought I was getting fairly good at it at first but then it took me nearly a half hour to figure out this one word that was crucial to the clue because I had failed to notice one tiny little squiggle at the end of a symbol that made it a different word than I thought it was.
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cats16
Half-elven
Mar 29 2015, 5:37am
Post #20 of 29
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For time-sensitive tasks, I write by keyboard.
For most other things, by pen. Class notes always go on paper. My journaling, poetry, short fiction tend to land in the same notebook, so I prefer to let it all out as it happens on paper. Although, if I'm developing an idea into something a bit longer, or if I feel that writing by hand is taking too long, I switch to my laptop.
I like both, but try to stick with pen and paper when I can.
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Ataahua
Forum Admin
/ Moderator
Mar 29 2015, 6:18am
Post #21 of 29
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Being stumped by one crucial outline is a feeling I know well!
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Loresilme
Valinor
Mar 30 2015, 2:41pm
Post #22 of 29
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Specifically I use Papermate Sharpwriter #2. Love 'em!! I use them for everything. Taking notes for work, creative writing, everything.
My creative writing, especially, is all done using Sharpwriters, on notebook paper. And I double space so I can edit and move things around.
Sometimes after I type up what I've written into my computer, I can get on a roll and continue typing first draft directly into the computer, but it doesn't feel as natural and flowing.
Overall, even though I am a fast typist (having learned in high school in the days when they still made girls take secretarial classes), and I enjoy typing, I still find that ideas flow much more freely when using pencil.
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sherlock
Gondor
Apr 1 2015, 5:45pm
Post #23 of 29
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I can't write very well at all
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These days because my right wrist is damaged from years of working at a keyboard.
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RosieLass
Valinor
Apr 2 2015, 4:15pm
Post #25 of 29
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If I'm going to be writing large blocks of text, and editing it afterwards, I much prefer the computer just for the convenience.
But I love writing letters, keeping a journal, and that sort of thing with pen and paper because it's more personal that way.
I try to keep shopping lists and stuff on my phone because sticky notes tend to get lost.
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