Writing by hand as proof of a creative life worth living

How long has it been since you wrote something by hand?

It's something many of us haven't done properly in a long time, and it's a skill many of us are losing. When we do write anything substantial by hand now, our grip feels unnatural, our hand aches after two lines, and our handwriting looks like a spider may as well have dipped its feet in ink and skidded over the page.

Well, mine looks like that anyway.

But, recently I've started doing much more writing by hand. To the point I've already nearly used up a notebook I've not even had all that long.

And I'll be honest, I probably started writing by hand again thanks to AI.

Sound dramatic?

Here's why though.

The AI witch hunt in creative spaces

I wrote by hand now and then in the past (mostly brief episodes of journalling or brainstorming, and occasional spurts of book draft writing), but kept abandoning it for the speed and convenience of typing. My brain works quicker than my hands, and so my handwriting gets worse as my hand tries to keep up with my head.

So much so that it's sometimes hard to read back what I've written.

But, honestly, the AI witch hunt and blame game in creative spaces made me worried. I've read all about the actual witch hunts, and the same wild fears and random claims were jumping up in the art world too. People guessing here, there, and everywhere, and it ruining lives and reputations of anyone blamed, even if they were true human creators with an honest and beautiful creative life. So with that, perhaps I wanted proof that I did my work myself.

With art, we've seen more artists showing their progress reels. And actually, the side benefit of that is that it's super cool to watch them! I'm in awe of the culmination of years of skill and practice coming together that they can make creating artwork look so easy on a reel.

So with that, I wondered how to make an equivalent of a progress tracker for writing, but I felt just watching someone typing on a screen was boring as! Let alone seeing all the random typos and millions of deletions we make all the time.

I used to find it cool when people shared images or reels of all the notebooks fat with notes and paper inserts and post-it-notes and drawing snippets to say 'all this was my first draft!' It was such a vibe, and it's a great way to show progress of writing and also just help a writer feel proud of 'omg, I made all this!' It's such a tactile evidence of effort. But as I've moved countries a few times and space was a luxury I didn't have, and I'm a bit of a minimalist naturally, having lots of items and things around me originally made me feel overwhelmed. So back then, I chose the minimal approach of 'everything all in one place on just my laptop'.

Now? I can see the downside of that too.

Mental health relating to screen time

I'll also admit that moving back to handwriting was a mental health thing.

My day job was fully computer-based, and though I'd held tolerance for a computer-based job and hobby for a few years, eventually so much work on a screen and rooted to one spot really got to me.

It chipped away and chipping away over the years until the point I felt I couldn't handle it, and didn't want to stare at a screen much at all.

I tried to fix it by going for quick walking breaks at work to break up the screen usage and spend time outside, which I love.

Then, I found ways to do things on paper at work. Writing by hand. Not looking at a screen. Just little things, like:

Brainstorming on paper.

Planning on paper.

Even drafting basic drafts for work on paper.

Minimising even by a little the computer at work if I could, so I could keep my writing time free a little more. But I found myself not wanting to sit at my laptop at home.

Ended up skipping writing days.

You know, I had to work on a computer for my day job. So I didn't want to be on one at home too.

But then I wasn't writing ... and writing is what makes me feel like me.

A creative life and writing by hand

So I tried to bring analogue work back into my writing life too, starting with writing my blogs by hand.

It felt so freeing, and I could more easily express what was in my soul and what I wanted to share. Getting my thoughts out of my head and onto paper felt good, and I think it also helped me write blogs more honestly, thinking less about the rigid 'should dos' the world has for blogging and SEO right now. (I want to write a whole piece on blogging in analogue, so I'll link back to that when it's done!)

Still, I worried I wouldn't be able to write quickly enough if I wanted to write my books by hand, but I found myself just naturally starting to handwrite snippets.

Snippets of text or dialogue came to me while I was drawing.

I'd go for a walk and have dialogue ideas. Or ideas on how to fix a plot error.

And where I used to pause and type that into my phone, I made sure to take a notebook and pen with me, so I could capture my ideas on paper instead.

And instantly after writing those ideas out by hand, my brain felt freer. Less cluttered. My eyes felt more relaxed.

Staring at a screen all the time impacts you in so many ways that you don't realise until you stop. And then, when we do go back to it even a little, we feel the impact so much more easily.

We lost the skill to write by hand, but I think this is the time we're finding our way back to skills like this.

Writing.

Drawing.

Painting.

Music.

Things AI is trying to take from us, and now we're realising, hang on, that's the bit I enjoy though! And realising we don't want to spend so much time on a screen while the fun parts of life slip away from us.

So we're taking it all back.

And now I love writing by hand. I feel like things come to me so much more smoothly. Especially ideas and plans. Drafts. I feel so relaxed to do it.

So while writing by hand came from anxiety and a way to prove my work, I feel now it has become more of a way to prove myself to myself.

Proof of living.

No, proof of living how I want to.

And finding my way back to myself.