Go back to pen and paper

THE PRINCIPLE

Reconnecting your hand and your brain stimulates creativity

How long has it been since you’ve written anything by hand? For most people it has been a long time, and for the current generation of youngsters it’s becoming almost a lost art. Even the tradition of passing notes in class now happens in the form of texts between mobiles. But it may be that what we gain in ease and speed, we lose in terms of the direct connection between head and hand.

In an article in New York magazine, Sam Anderson put it this way: ‘Handwriting makes one’s relationship to words intensely personal.’

Poet Robert Graves observed, ‘A true poet’s handwriting corresponds with his inimitable personal rhythm.’

You don’t have to be a poet to experience this connection.

Experiment using pen and paper when you’re kicking around ideas. Don’t feel you have to use any of those formal formats you learned in school, like outlines with roman numerals. Try using mind maps (see ‘Use mind maps’ in Part 2) or your own way of getting down your thoughts, including doodles, colour pens, coloured paper, even cutting out and pasting pictures from magazines.

By going back to pen and paper, you may find yourself returning to a point in your childhood when it was fun to explore ideas with words and pictures, and when ideas flowed so easily you didn’t even notice the process.

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