A day writing on paper

Ever since I started writing online some 15 odd years ago, I have always found it convenient to draft my articles directly online or at least digitally first. Find a word processor or text editor of choice and then type away my little stream of thought until words start making sentences that start making sense. That has been the process, for years.

I can type relatively fast and can maintain a train of thought long enough for my fingers to type in sentences at a relatively good pace. But, over a period of time, my blogs and my personal information management systems (read Apple notes or Logseq) have gathered a bunch of drafts that have never been published. Most of these are the result of distractions that are easy to find when you are equipped with a computer that is connected to the internet.

I have restarted my reading habit again and as usual while going down the rabbit hole of channels that talk about reading on YouTube, I came across a video that emphasised the importance of writing the first draft by hand. By hand in this context means using pen (or pencil) on paper. Later down the same path I learnt that legendary Stephen King wrote all of his first drafts on paper.

I was reading one of the amazing essays by the prolific Wendell Berry this morning and it sparked an idea for an essay in my mind. Instead of reaching out for a word processor, I decided to reach out for the black bound notebook in my backpack. I started writing and felt like I was able to make the connection between my mind and the pen perfectly. Words were flowing more easy and a long lost art suddenly felt like it is making its comeback.

Within a few minutes, I realised that I was in a flow state, just converting thoughts to scribbly lines on the paper and making perfect sense of everything. I realised why some people emphasise on writing on paper, at least the first draft.

Writing the first draft on paper also gives an opportunity to edit while moving from paper to digital, one extra layer of edit and polish. I am loving it and going forward I will be sticking to this workflow. Paper first, then digital.

Ironically, this entire article was written directly in markdown format on Visual Studio Code, which is my text editor of choice. I needed to see the difference and I am definitely going paper first, digital second from now on.

The article I drafted using pen and paper can be found here: Finally a native