Grab Pen & Paper To Let The Creative Juices Flow!

1000 Hours of Writing: 180 - 200 Hours

My goal had always been to managed 20 hours of writing in ten days. Thanks to the wisdom of math, I know that this would mean an average of 2 hours per day. On the 19th I bravely started my new set of 20 hours. Before I knew it I had collected the next 20 in ten days.

How did I do that? You may wonder, and so do I. I had been all over the place, my mind racing with ideas, and my fingers hitting keys, producing written content ...

The big breakthrough was on a Wednesday: A cold morning, when I shuffled out of the house, huddled into many layers of clothes, and squeezed myself through the front door of the office. I sat down to start up the computer, and ... nothing. "Hmm," I very eloquently thought to myself. Later it turned out that the phone had given up as well. The whole system had broken!

I sat there, twiddling my thumbs, waiting until the clever people of IT would fix everything. After a few rounds of Battleship, I saw a piece of paper. It whispers, "you still need to write a post for this week. Write on me." Seducing me with its calming voice. Even the pencil chimed in as it promised that it wouldn't leak. Instead, it would be gentle.

"Use me," it whispers soothingly

Usually I don't write by hand because my brain creates sentences faster. I type as fast as I think, but I don't write as fast. Flashbacks to wrist injuries and broken pens floated back to me. What if it would explode and a piece would end up in my eye?! Furthermore, editing is a pain in the sitting platform. You can't move whole paragraphs, and so you're going to resort to unaesthetic arrows.

"Then again ..." my brain began to argue "... it isn't like I have the great post idea that would run away." I had the type of idea that needed careful drafting, nudges with a gentle hand, followed by moments when I would lean back and wonder if that is enough.

With a small sigh, I gave in to the seduction of pen and paper. I created the first draft of the currently most popular post on my tribe. It is a simple post, and not even that full of non-sense, even though the conclusion is quite obvious. I thought that this event would be a one-off, a momentarily slip.

However, the following Monday, I found myself short of another motoring-themed post. Again, this time technology was the problem but in a different way. Instead of writing, I learnt about the Spitfire, figured out if you can put diesel in a petrol car and vice versa, I online window-shopped for cameras, and came to the realisation that I can't actually change a tyre. Then I wondered, that even if I could, would I REALLY get into that car?

Before I could look up how to change a tyre, I shut the laptop down, put it aside, and found the now familiar paper and pencil. Suddenly I had no cute cat video to distract me in the middle of the sentence. It was joyous!

Sir Cat being helpful

If you ever lack an idea, writing by hand is a great way to get the creative juices flowing. Unlike the frantic typing, it is relaxed and easy. It's the gentle walk through the park when you don't have the energy for a sprint.

It's never too late for your own fancy pencil and piece of paper!