To Write or To Type?

Thanks to a Plinky promt, I've been forced to think about an important question. What is my preferred writing medium? Do I prefer to type or to write on paper? Hm, tough question to answer, and like a typical indecisive Pisces, I can't commit to either and will have to say that I like both. My preferred medium has undergone changes over the years, and there have been interesting side effects in the process.

Back in the good old days when I was a student, I would do a lot of writing on paper. I would take lots of notes in class, and even though I had a computer I usually liked to write my essays or papers with pen on paper before typing it up. Now that I'm an "adult" and working in a cubicle—in publishing, no less—just about everything we do is electronic. Granted, we do write on page proofs when proofreading, but that's about it. Ages ago I would always write in a journal. Now I have this blog. Time has changed things and the purposes of the writing have changed, so the medium has sometimes changed with those things.

But what about the side effects? Back when I was writing a lot of things by hand, my handwriting was quite nice. It was beautiful, if I may be so bold to say. I tend to write in what we in the publishing world would call caps + small caps. Basically I write in all capital letters, but the "real" capital letters are just a tad bigger. My handwriting was always neat and clean and easy to read. But, as I began to write less and type more, my handwriting started to deteriorate. My hand would get tired and cramp up quickly. And once I began to work in publishing, I had to write differently. You can't write in caps + small caps on page proofs otherwise the typesetter will set the text in caps + small caps. That's not a good thing if they don't belong. So I had to retrain myself to write the "normal" way with real capital letters and lowercase letters. And a side effect of working in publishing is that in every day writing I occasionally write a proofreader mark here and there.

Using a computer and typing is quicker and easier. I can type my thoughts faster than I can write them. Computers also have the added benefit of spell check and it is much easier to edit electronic words. But writing things by hand is just different. It seems more personal. Any letter or note that one receives is wonderful, but a letter that is handwritten, for whatever reason, seems a bit more charming and romantic. I love receiving handwritten letters (and I wish I received more!). A handwritten journal, no matter if the handwriting is neat, messy, elegant, or almost indecipherable, just seems more alluring and seductive. When you use a computer you can pick from any number of fonts and point sizes, but that font and point size can look like hundreds of other things. Handwriting is unique.

Even though I have this blog, I started writing in a journal again. It feels nice to write things by hand again, and in my journal I can be a little more private and personal and write about things that I would not put in this blog.

So, it seems that I prefer the ease and convenience of typing, but I love and appreciate the charm of writing.