h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I spent an hour and a half last night writing 136 words. 136 very important words, but an hour and half! Ye gods.....

Do you experience any difference in your writing style, vocabulary, expressions used etc when you write by hand rather than tapping away on a keyboard?

I think I've fogotten to write by hand! These words were typed, deleted, changed, moved, and typed again.

My hand-written stuff tends to be less well crafted because, like Ben, I like to re-arrange and re-shape things over and over again until I'm satisfied. If I'm doing it by hand I give up more easily!

The only hand-writing I do is in my journal.

Actually that's a lie (sorry Ben!) I have a notebook by my bed, and if I can't sleep because of all the thoughts jostling for position in my brain I'll write them in the notebook so that they're out of my head and onto solid paper. Boy, trying to decipher some of them in the morning is a task and a half!

I had journals like that, real streams of consciousness scrawled illegibly in gel pens in worrying colours. What was interesting was re-reading them for an autoethnographic thing I did when I looked at how I'd negotaiated my divorce. So much I'd forgotten. Z said it was self-indulgent twaddle and was amazed when I got a distinction for it.

Dictate them into the voice recorder on your phone. Then you don't have to switch the light on to jot them down. If you're not alone and don't want to disturb anyone, type them into your mobile phone's notes, but I'll grant that's more tedious.