Handwriting

Yay handwriting!!! I know I'm going to be doing at least part of this year's Nano by hand. There's something about hand-writing that is much more satisfying than typing. I love having a bunch of physical pages all covered with writing. <3

"When writing a novel, that's pretty much entirely what life turns into: 'House burned down. Car stolen. Cat exploded. Did 1500 easy words, so all in all it was a pretty good day.'"
-- Neil Gaiman

I am! I've lost the last 3 years by typing, and I think it's because my creative juices dry up when faced with a computer screen. And the distractions, goodness!

Also, my job this year involves lots of staring at a computer screen, so it'll be a nice change to not see that glow all the time.

I'm a little curious/nervous about word-counting though. I understand how to validate in the end, but I wonder if it's easier to count once a day, once a week, at the end of every page, paragraph... or what? Anyone have any thoughts?

Eeyore was saying to himself, "This writing business. Pencils and what-not. Over-rated, if you ask me. Silly stuff. Nothing in it."

I'm doing a bit of a hybrid route. I can't imagine writing my entire novel out longhand (forget the fact I have horrible handwriting) but I am doing my planning and brainstorming on paper, scene structure, ect. Then the actual writing is on the computer.

Let's me feel close and creative, flexible, but I like the fresh, crisp look of the screen for my words.

I'll be mostly pen and paper this year.

My work hours changed and regrettably I'll be offline more as a result. Since I can't take a laptop to work, I'll be sneaking a few paragraphs in on paper during work hours.

When not at work, I might type up what I can. My kids might hate me however if I spent all night online.

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I'll be doing a bit of both, but I'm aiming to hand write half of my novel this year.

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I'll be doing both, yet probably the majority of it will be on my computer. However, I will often so the back half of my property (I live on 40 acres) to do some writing, so I'll bring a notepad with me. I'll often do that when writing wilderness scenes, just because it gets me more in the mood. My nano will probably 2/3's typed, 1/3 written.

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I did a hybrid last year, and when ever I finished a paragraph I would write the number of words in that section next to it. I would also have a running total of how many words I had written in all. That way I didn't have to count massively large amounts of words, and if my running total seemed off, I could just plug the numbers into a calculator instead of trying to recount.

I'll also be doing the hybrid thing. My handwriting weapons are a Lamy Safari (in flame orange!) and a small pile of Piccadilly notebooks.

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Wow, someone beat me to creating this thread! That'll teach me to be at work when the form opens! Ah well next year.

Though the past two years I have completely handwritten, this year I may be going to hybrid mode. It often depends how many hours I have been staring at a computer screen for my job.

Sometimes I just find pen and paper gets the ol' imagination firing better than a cursor on a blank screen...

Time to get those pencils sharpened for November!

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( Hello GE. I didn't know you were a handwriter too!)

I've used an Alphasmart Dana in the past, but since Jan this year I've been handwriting in spiral notebooks so I 'll be handwriting most if not all of this year's.

For word-count I stick to the same size notebooks. I know I write 220+ words per page so count each as 200 words. That works well for me. I only have to count pages.

( I also find it helps to prepare the notebooks by numbering the pages in red. I leave five pages at the front to make an index later, and leave a few pages at the back for ideas. The writing covers every page from top edge to bottom edge and also the margins. I underline headings / chapter / scenes in red, and use the page numbers to index them into the front later. Numbering the pages and indexing is a pain but a small price to pay for being able to locate things. One of these days I'll find an A5 spiral that comes with ready numbered pages. )

Last year, I tried typing my rough draft straight onto the computer, and while I technically won, it was a mess. I was worried about making my word count and ignored my natural writing methods.

I find it easier to hand write my rough draft, then type it, editing as I go, so I’m gonna give that a go this year, although I’ve never done anything this long. I’ve even been trying to figure out my average words-per-page to make keeping track of my word count easier.

I'm flirting with handwriting my Nano this year. I feel like I writer better with a pen and a notebook then I do staring directly at the computer screen. It feels more personal, more artistic if you will, to use a well-fitted ballpoint pen and some lovely blank college ruled paper. I also tend to get into a groove with handwriting more so than with a keyboard.

It's either this or banging on family/friend's doors until I find a decent working typewriter to keep me off the Internet until my most of my Nanoing is done for the day.

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I handwrite all my stories - it just doesn't work for me to type them out. So as I've done the last two years with NaNo, I'll be handwriting. I've got my fresh new Moleskine (the great new oversized sketch pad-type, so no lines, as my handwriting is tiny and I can get a whole lot more words on the page without lines); haven't decided on a pen type yet, but I've got time to get those.

I've done what seems to be permanent damage to the skin of the middle finger and thumb on my right hand over the last 20 years. Battle scars? ;-D

Anybody have favorite pen types? I need something with a narrow tip/nib that won't bleed through the pages, as I press down pretty hard. (Which probably explains the above-mentioned damage to fingers...)

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I'm writing mine by hand, just like I did last year. The first time I did nano, I attempted to do it on the computer... I only reached 15K. When I handwrote it last year, I wrote over 65K. It is just so much easier to find time with a notebook and pen than with a computer! My eyes start to hurt after staring at a computer screen for hours, anyways...

I'm planning to handwrite mine. I'm thinking about the Lamy Safari (fine nib) with a Moleskine, since I love the old-school appeal of having a handwritten manuscript in a moleskine. Anyone have ink suggestions for moleskines?

You can't beat old fashioned, cheap as dirt, bic pens for $2 for 10 pens. They always flow well no matter how hard or fast I write. When one gets sticky, I toss it and don't feel bad about it.

I know how you feel. I love looking at my handwriting as I write. The swirls and curves are so inspiring. When I get on a roll though I hardly notice the page or lines at all. Each word becomes a picture as I write. I have time to think and create in my mind as I write each word. I love the flow! When I'm on the computer, my mind can't keep up with my fingers and I stall out. I think I might go old school on this one. I didn't win at all last year.

I'll probably hand write, then add them into the computer at intervals to make sure I'm keeping up with word count and to have a digital copy. I suppose it's time to stock up on Bic pens. I already have tons of notebook I bought at the beginning of the semester when Staples had them onsale for $0.01 each!!

Oops, double post...

Hi everyone.

I won't be doing all that much handwritten this year, mainly using a typewriter, but I don't think anyone who has ever tried the handwriting method can deny it. Keeping up with your words can be hard but the feel of flipping through a legal pad full of writing is wonderful... nothing like it.

The legal pads serve as a back-up plan if the worst happens and both my typewriters mysteriously break.

I will do some handwriting, but on the computer. :o)

I'm usually fully a computer geek. I love to do everything I can on computers. The only thing I still write by hand is normally my diary. As a result I type much faster than I can write by hand, and when my ideas are really flowing I could never keep up with them by hand.
But I do agree that writing by hand can sometimes get the creative juices flowing again when I'm stuck. Which is why I am so happy to have discovered that my shiny new graphics tablet has a handwriting recognition function. So now I get the best of both worlds: I can write by hand, but instead of having to laboriously type the stuff up later, I can just write it directly into a Word document on my computer, while the writing on the tablet itself feels exactly like pen on paper (the thing even looks a bit like a piece of paper).
Granted, I don't end up with pages of handwritten text - but that's actually a plus for me. I have enough notes and stuff lying around as it is and a text is not really real for me until it is in electronic form anyway.

I'm really excited about this year's nano. I was afraid that my success last year might have been just a fluke, but I'm determined to prove myself wrong. Now all I need is a convincing plot ...

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This will be my third year of doing Nano by hand. As I spend my entire working day writing at the computer, it's the only way I can switch gears. I should get Barnes & Noble to sponsor me this year, I'm in there for journals so often! My favorite this year is a "Black Textured Perpetual". I use one for work notes at conferences, and everyone teases me about my "Bible" -- heavy, thick, with a black cover and a ribbon page-minder. Last year I tore through smaller notebooks and journals far too quickly. It feels good to have a heavy, thick journal burgeoning with words.

I'll probably hand write most of my first novel by hand at school and on the go, then retype it onto the computer to get the word count. I hate counting out the words on a page. Hopefully, I won't lose my pencils/pens too much during November.

I write by hand for most of the year (I even made myself a vest that included pen and notebook pockets) but I'll probably have to switch at least partially to typing for NaNoWriMo to keep my wordcount up. I'm writing economic philosophy, so my usual writing rate is generally about 200 words per hour and it's not too hard to handwrite that. But if I'm going to step it up for WriMo, my hand would get too tired.

And I definately second the feeling of satisfaction at looking through handwritten pages. I also love keeping track of how close I am to filling up the current composition book.

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I did it by hand last year, and will do it again this year, too much fun not to do it !

This is my first year and I didn't even think about hand-writing. But you're all right - I love writing by hand. I take paper with me. I have been known to pull over to the side of the road to write a scene that came together for me. I am much more creative when hand-writing. This may have saved me a lot of heartache and I thank you all.

I'll be handwriting, simply because ideas never really come when I try typing straight.
I've found that it's also rather hard to go back to ball points when one gets used to a fountain pen; I'll mainly be using the latter.

~Louise

I hand wrote part of my novel last year. I found that having a different section in my notebook for each part of the story was helpful. (I used paperclips to "divide" it up)

I don't write my novels in order anyway though, I just figure out different "scenes" and add to them when I think of stuff.

While doing a word count was a bit hard, I figured out I could get my kids to do it, they would count how many words were on each line and put that number in the margin for me, at the end of the week I would (as a reward) add up all the pages and then add up each section, I kept a dorky little spreadsheet of my "stats" and everything.

Got done with my novel in about 2 weeks. I think my "out of order" method was useful since I couldn't have writers block, also outlining (which helped give focus to each section) and the ability to carry my notebook everywhere, didn't have to have an electrical outlet, or wait for it to boot up or wait for it to shut down, just pull it out of my purse, open it and dig in!

Good luck!

Anyone who's handwritten the whole 50k got any tips for those of us who haven't yet?

Re pens: I've always used Bic biros but swapped to Staedtler Stick biros as they're a little shorter and very light.

I can't get on with a heavy pen or with gel inks as they seem to get blotchy and don't run smoothly.

Is there a good lightweight, fast, no-mess pen?

I'll be doing a mixture of writing by hand and typing by PC. I have quite a bit of time to write during school, so I'll write then and copy it over to a Word file after school :)

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