Thank you for your post, Benjamin. I've been struggling with journaling for the past few months, but last week I installed Dayone and used it. I was doing fine until your essay here and this sentence: "This makes the prose more polished, but the thinking less exploratory."
I used to write all my creative work by hand in the middle of class instead of paying attention to my professors. It was my most inspired work and it would flow effortlessly. It also prevented me from editing while I wrote which is a serious issue I have when typing. Reading this tells me it’s time to get back to handwriting after all these years.
Wireless technology emits EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) which adversely impact the human body at the cellular level, despite INDUSTRY claims to the contrary. Distance from the offenders is our friend. Better yet, turn modems, routers, phones off at night. Including NBN. If you have a smart meter arrange through your provider for the wireless component to be removed entirely and have manual readings every three months instead. How can one expect to zone into the creative consciousness if our cellular health/function is being undermined. Hard wire your devices where possible. Better yet, find a tree outdoors to sit under with your Fulgor Nocturnus and notepaper and write to your heart's content!
Drafts and ideas, paper. Notecards work wonders because you can play with structure fairly easily, and if you leave them as ideas (bullet points, etc.) it makes putting the structure together wonderful. Actual writing? Laptop - speed and easy to edit. Ideas, slowly. Production and perfection, quickly.
Writing by hand helps me quiet my compulsive inner critic so I feel free to create in a low stakes environment. I'm just scribbling in a sketchbook. It makes it possible for me to defer the improvements and clarifications that will come during rereading and rethinking. I've found that asking oneself, "Is it good?" in the throes of creation is not the right question. For me, a more fruitful attitude is, "What can I do to make this more fun, more exciting, more honest, more soul-scraping, more significant?" Even when writing is an inescapable chore, I can string words into a scaffolding that might later support something worthwhile. Sometimes you are surprised. Discovery is ideal.
Thank you for your post, Benjamin. I've been struggling with journaling for the past few months, but last week I installed Dayone and used it. I was doing fine until your essay here and this sentence: "This makes the prose more polished, but the thinking less exploratory."
Back to the drawing board, I guess. :):):)
I used to write all my creative work by hand in the middle of class instead of paying attention to my professors. It was my most inspired work and it would flow effortlessly. It also prevented me from editing while I wrote which is a serious issue I have when typing. Reading this tells me it’s time to get back to handwriting after all these years.
Wireless technology emits EMFs (electromagnetic frequencies) which adversely impact the human body at the cellular level, despite INDUSTRY claims to the contrary. Distance from the offenders is our friend. Better yet, turn modems, routers, phones off at night. Including NBN. If you have a smart meter arrange through your provider for the wireless component to be removed entirely and have manual readings every three months instead. How can one expect to zone into the creative consciousness if our cellular health/function is being undermined. Hard wire your devices where possible. Better yet, find a tree outdoors to sit under with your Fulgor Nocturnus and notepaper and write to your heart's content!
My go-to fountain pen is a Grey Houndstooth Pilot Metropolitan, F nib, Noodler's X-Feather Black ink. Great post.
Drafts and ideas, paper. Notecards work wonders because you can play with structure fairly easily, and if you leave them as ideas (bullet points, etc.) it makes putting the structure together wonderful. Actual writing? Laptop - speed and easy to edit. Ideas, slowly. Production and perfection, quickly.
Writing by hand helps me quiet my compulsive inner critic so I feel free to create in a low stakes environment. I'm just scribbling in a sketchbook. It makes it possible for me to defer the improvements and clarifications that will come during rereading and rethinking. I've found that asking oneself, "Is it good?" in the throes of creation is not the right question. For me, a more fruitful attitude is, "What can I do to make this more fun, more exciting, more honest, more soul-scraping, more significant?" Even when writing is an inescapable chore, I can string words into a scaffolding that might later support something worthwhile. Sometimes you are surprised. Discovery is ideal.