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I was just thinking, for all of us writers here when you have a story idea or a story you are working on do you have a preferred method of getting it down? Do you prefer to write it out first (knowing there will be mistakes and changes along the way before finishing) or do you go straight to the computer to type it out and correct/change as you write (which actually would be typing)?
For me I have the annoying habit of doing both . I start to write it and will switch over to typing it out. My preference would be to write it first then type it with the corrections and changes.
I type, but recently was afflicted with a stomach ache so bad that I couldn't get out of bed to get to the computer. I wrote in one of many blank journals that I have been given by well-meaning friends who know that I like to write and I banged out 5 articles (I write for Helium) in about an hour and a half. It takes me weeks to do that on the computer. The internet distracts me. It provides waaaaay too many opportunities for procrastination (like CD). I might be making the switch to good old pen and paper. (And I still intend to try the voice recorder thing I had mentioned in another thread, but haven't gotten around to it).
Editing while writing also poses a problem. I'm a perfectionist and that delete button beckons to me all too often. Using pen and paper makes it easier to just allow the words to flow.
I generally type because I can't handwrite for what I do, for one, and I type a lot faster than I can write with a pen. As for city-data and other distractions, I can just disable my wi-fi connection so I can't do any of that
The 'pooter only. I always joke that real writers type with two fingers and stare out the window a lot. No window in my office, but I can use the internet as one.
When I get stuck, I use forums like this to simply get the physical act of "thinking with my fingers" going again. See? that little phrase is an example.
How can I put this? This here, on the forum, is of course typed, and the thoughts run from my head to the keys without putting pen to paper. Any form of business communication...that would be typed also.
But I've found that if I want to write poetry, I will always put pen to paper, get it how I like it, and THEN I can type it out.
Most of the time I type. However, when I am programming I find it easier to use a yellow legal pad to get the main code down. Typing works when all you need to see are the current ten or so lines. When you have to refer back more than a screen, it all breaks down.
I write. I keep a smallish bound journal with me almost everywhere I go. I jot down things as they occur to me, and then transcribe them into a Word document for later use.
After all, thoughts don't simply occur to you when your fingers are on a keyboard. In fact, I would argue that most of them occur to you when you're doing something besides writing and, if you wait, they're lost forever.
Get in the habit of doing this and you'll be amazed how much stuff you come up with, as well as how much idle time you have. I practically wrote my entire first novel at soccer games and swim meets--time that would have been lost to me if I had been keyboard dependent.
I write. I keep a smallish bound journal with me almost everywhere I go. I jot down things as they occur to me, and then transcribe them into a Word document for later use.
After all, thoughts don't simply occur to you when your fingers are on a keyboard. In fact, I would argue that most of them occur to you when you're doing something besides writing and, if you wait, they're lost forever.
Get in the habit of doing this and you'll be amazed how much stuff you come up with, as well as how much idle time you have. I practically wrote my entire first novel at soccer games and swim meets--time that would have been lost to me if I had been keyboard dependent.
Exactly, I feel the same. For this very reason I carry notepads with me always. Another thing I find is that writing, the actual use of pen onto paper relaxes me much more than typing does. I have never been a great typist so that could be one reason.
I'm a lousy typist: two fingers while I look at the keys. But I've churned out upwards of 12,000 words a day.
Those two little boogers were flying! And they sure got sore, especially after a couple weeks of that. But they just about kept up with my thoughts.
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. I start to write it and will switch over to typing it out. My preference would be to write it first then type it with the corrections and changes.
