Writing by Hand

I ask my beginning writing students to do a lot of in-class writing. There are a number of reasons for this, but none as important as encouraging them to maintain that creative connection between mind, hand and paper. It is vastly different than the connection between mind, hand and keyboard that they're so used to. Our minds process information in different ways when we write the old-fashioned way with pencil and paper. Different neural pathways are utilized with tactile writing and the result is more creative, more unique writing than the writing that appears on a computer screen at the tapping of keys. When you write with pencil and paper, you feel what you're writing. You connect with it more and it's more meaningful to you. You also see it with clearer eyes and can spot the flaws in your writing much easier than you can on a computer screen that makes even bad writing look good. It's not a bad idea to write all your first drafts by hand and then do the tedious editing and polishing work on a computer. You may find that your writing is richer, more nuanced, more on target than writing that is originally produced with the sterility of a computer screen. At the very least, it's good to occasionally write by hand just to maintain the ability to do so. We are rapidly becoming a society in which handwriting is a lost art. And when we reach that point, our writing skills, our communications styles and our creative neurons will be changed forever. Can we afford to lose this vital connection for the sake of convenience?