"What's that you say?"
"You're kidding. Right?"
Eye rolls. Head shakes.
These are reactions I get when I say I write my first drafts in longhand. What can I say? I'm addicted to pen and ink. I love watching words appear on the lines. Thanks to years in penmanship class doing ovals and push-pulls my handwriting is somewhat legible. Ah yes. Penmanship. They obviously don't teach that one anymore. I mean, we even got a grade in it.
One can often find me skulking along the aisles of Office Depot. I hang out there a lot. Journals of all kind cause my heart to beat faster. Bound ones. Spiral ones. Sewn ones. I have quite a collection. Those black and white marbled composition books, college-ruled, of course, are special favorites for me. An assortment of legal pads - letter and long. I also go down to Books a Million to see what they have on sale in the journal section.
What do I use to put my immortal words on paper? The pen of choice is the Pilot Precise V5 Rolling Ball, Extra Fine, in assorted colors - black, blue, green, purple, and red. All of these I purchase by the box.
The advantages of longhand are many. A tablet and a pen weigh hardly anything. I can take it anywhere. No worrying about plug-ins for the laptop. No worrying about dying batteries. I can write anywhere - even in the bathtub. Try that with a computer and you could wind up dead. If I get tired of writing I can start doodling. All over the tablet if I so desire. Can't do that on the screen. Last, but by no means least, I can't quit in the middle of a gut-wrenching scene for a quickie game of Solitaire. Email will just have to wait.
The only disadvantage for me: I have a tendency to daydream while writing. But what's wrong with that? The world needs more dreamers.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it. Did I write this in longhand? Do I want Wild Justice to make the New York Times best seller list? What do you think?
