Do you normally write by hand or type?

While writing by hand or typing on a computer are both normal for me, I predict I generally write about a thousand words through typing for every word I write by hand.

Did you find this task difficult or easy? Explain.

I found this task easy because I have manually written throughout my life. Even so, editing with the goal of producing a composition for others to read seems much easier in a word processor environment than manual writing.

What did you do when you made a mistake or wanted to change your writing? How did you edit your work? With an understanding that this is a first draft, I scratched out or added parentheses around words when I wanted to edit. If I thought of an idea later which I wanted to insert with a previous thought I drew an arrow to make the connection.

Did your choice of media play a part in how you edited your work?

My choice of non-erasable pen and pedestrian paper contributed to my comfort in scratching out words and drawing arrows to make edits. For context, through college I much preferred pencils to pens because I liked the ability to erase. However in the last 15 years I have accepted writing in pens and having messy non-final drafts; when I write on nicer paper for a final draft I like a clean presentation.

What do you feel is the most significant difference between writing by hand and using mechanized forms of writing?

Mechanized writing on a computer is more efficient than handwriting as it allows for quick editing, saving, collaborating, copying and pasting, searching, formatting, sharing, safeguarding, and mass production. However, this efficiency represented in mechanized writing’s standardization is at the cost of handwriting’s inherent revelations of the writer’s personality. Even if a reader’s handwriting psychoanalysis ability is more anecdotal than scientific, handwriting offers a reader glimpses into the author’s personality. Having typewritten less than a dozen school papers, typewriting in my experience is of similar efficiency to handwriting and it is standardized like mechanized computer writing.

Which do you prefer and why?

Although the tenacity of the inefficient QWERTY keyboard surprises me, for the benefits listed above I prefer digital writing. However, I handwrite about a half dozen letters or cards a year, which makes them even more special.