A time for writing by hand, and a time for typing | Pinnacle Newsletter #76
#76 A time for writing by hand, and a time for typing
Regular readers will probably know that, when it comes to professional writing, I’m a big fan of getting the first draft done by hand. There are several advantages:
It’s inherently distraction-free. Your notebook won’t ping a notification at you and break your train of thought, and the temptation of browsing Twitter or your news site of choice isn’t just a click away.
You can scribble out words, but you can’t edit intensively. This encourages you to get the words down and worry about perfection later.
You have to type the draft into your computer when you’ve finished. This is a huge advantage because it gives you another chance to edit, and offers a different perspective on your words as you type them up.
A pen slows you down. Experienced typists can often type as fast as they can think, which doesn’t always result in quality work.
It’s more tactile and more fun!
For these reasons, I usually produce most of my work by hand first, with a pencil or pen. I find that the quality is usually better when I do things this way. However, this week I’ve once again been confronted by the fact that this is not always the best way of doing things, and that sometimes you have to put the pen to one side.
Writing the first draft by hand is all very well and good when you have plenty of time and your deadlines are not too pressing. When things get busy, when you need to be efficient, the keyboard is a better tool for getting the words down. Sometimes the subtler advantages of pen and paper have to take a back seat to the need to meet deadlines. Fortunately, I find that getting distracted is no longer an issue when deadlines are pressing – nothing sharpens the mind like the knowledge that you have to crank out 6,000 words in the next two days or you won’t get paid.
This week, I’ve secured a number of commissions – features and longer-form work alike – and I’m going to have to be efficient in order to meet my deadlines. I’ll certainly make use of pen and paper when I get stuck, or when I need a different perspective on what I’m doing, but I think the time has come to get my head down and focus on word count. Pen and paper are vital tools in the toolbox for me, but it’s a mistake to fetishise them, and sometimes what I really need is a mechanical keyboard and an empty text document.
The future of this newsletter
I’m starting to wonder if the weekly format of this newsletter has run its course. It isn’t that I’m running out of things to say, but I’m entering a spell where I’ll be doing fewer interesting outdoorsy things and working more, and after almost two years I’m not so sure that a newsletter every week works for me any more. I might experiment with either one or two a month. Thoughts?
In other news…
I’m now fully booked for editorial work until well into summer 2019. Full details here.
My brother James Roddie has been shortlisted for the Trail magazine UK Mountain Photo of the Year 2019 competition. Vote for his image here! His is the monochrome image depicting a snowy scene with a single walker.
Recently published
What I’ve been reading this week – this week’s links on the environment, nature, and the outdoors.
A Single Moment: Alpine Bivouac – first published in Sidetracked magazine, this short piece describes an anxious bivouac I spent on the summit of Stockhorn in the Swiss Alps.
Until next time,
Alex
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