Mightier Than The Sword And It Fits In Your Pocket A Lot Easier
by Jeff Baker
“I’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.” —–Wm. Shakespeare.
A review for Goodreads and my recent flash fiction story about superheroes. What they have in common is they weren’t initially written by my typing them up on a laptop but by writing them up by hand in a spiral-bound notebook.
So why is it that I do not always opt for the convenience of a laptop, where I can create quickly, edit easily and with less onscreen distractions. But electronics aren’t as convenient as all that. There’s the power cord; finding someplace to set the laptop up and always the worry in a public place (like the downtown Public Library where I do some of my writing) that the laptop could be stolen.
With a notebook, I can carry it anywhere, take it with me when I go to the restroom and all I have to worry about is carrying a supply of pens.
There’s a different feel to writing with pen on paper. The words don’t always flow smoothly but when they do the feel is accentuated by the feel of lines being drawn across the page. Another plus is that if I want to edit something, I can. My notebooks are full of crossed-out words, crossed-out paragraphs, circled sentences and pointing arrows marked “INSERT” for moving words around in a handwritten document.
On the other hand, my laptop has spellcheck.
I feel I can write just about anywhere with pen and paper and it’s less conspicuous in public. I’ve written in parking lots, in restaurants, bars and laundromats. Among other places. And I can write anything. In fact, I’m writing this with pen in a notebook right now.
But the irony is that my handwriting is so illegible I once had to change a whole line I had written because I couldn’t make out one of my words.
—end—
Jeff Baker blogs about Fantasy, Sci-fi and horror and other sundry matters around the thirteenth of each month. Contrasting his latest post, he typed this. He has a story in the recent Live Real Press anthology “Five Seconds Of Power” and he regularly posts fiction on his blog https://authorjeffbaker.com/ and wastes time on Facebook, https://www.facebook.com/jeff.baker.524042 Blue Sky https://bsky.app/profile/jeffbakerauthor.bsky.social and Mastodon (as “Mike Mayak.”) https://mastodon.otherworldsink.com/@MikeMayak