I haven’t physically written anything in a very long time, as most of my written communication is done digitally. E-mails, texting, writing reports, evaluating student assignments, and all other written communication is done via laptop or smartphone. I have found that I can type faster than I can write (on a laptop/desktop, rather than on a phone), so getting my thoughts on paper tends to flow faster by typing rather than manually writing.
I found this task quite difficult. Because I usually don’t write anything by hand, it took me a long time, as my ‘writing muscles’ are stiff. I also found the word count challenging. Because I don’t write by hand, I had no idea how long a 500-word written paragraph should be. Doing this in a word processing program like MS Word is easy. I found I was manually counting the words as I went.
By using a FriXion© erasable ink pen, I was able to get around the mistake issue. I now use the erasable ink pen all the time, for when I do write my notes, so I can easily erase or correct things. Editing is out of the question in a written document – if you want to move a paragraph or change a sentence in a manually written document, you must start over on another piece of paper.
Using digital word production is my preference over manual writing due to the ease of use, ease of correction, ease of editing and speed of production. For someone who is not particularly eloquent and socially awkward, it is good to be able to take the time to type something out and easily correct it to ensure my message comes across the way I mean it to.
Even this post has been edited several times before posting.