Despite My Love For All Things Digital, Pen & Paper Still Tug At My Heartstrings

I can’t tell you how many hours I spend a week online.

Confession: I’m a total geek, I admit it.

Confession aside, my love affair with my laptop keyboard and the Internet is no match to my continued attachment to pen and paper.

Yeah, you remember pen and paper, right!?

For those of you who type everything out and need a mini what-is-a-pen-refresher: A pen is an instrument used for writing or drawing (two everyday activities most of us now tend to do on our personal or work computers).

However, thanks to the ubiquitous nature of keyboarding, most of us don’t use pens as often to communicate or express ourselves but when we do, we typically press the pens onto a material usually manufactured in thin sheets from the pulp of wood or other fibrous substances. In case you are wondering, those “thin sheets” are otherwise known as “paper.”

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Guilty as charged!

Yep, I am one of the guilty ones who relies heavily on the keyboard for most of my “writing.” So much so, in fact, that my penmanship has gone to hell in handbasket. It’s sad but true!

Sloppy handwriting aside, typically what will happen is an important thought or idea will come to mind and then *BAM*! There I am … passionately typing away my words or lists before my short term memory issues kick in and wipe out my brain RAM, causing me to thereby lose my train of thought.

Pen and paper to the rescue

On very rare occasions, in between all the digital and social media hustle and bustle, my right (writing) hand will long for the feeling of sheets of paper underneath it.

And my fingertips yearn to hold a pen in their grip so that I may glide the pen across the paper to form of words, phrases and sentences.

When I’m in one of these pen-and-paper moods, all electronic-related activities like texting and tweeting come to a halt! I tend to reject the act of typing and the computer screen altogether. And since I don’t normally carry many pens on me, I will literally ruffle through endless desk drawers, purses and bags in hot pursuit of any pen, be it a ball-point or a Sharpie®.

Let the words pour out!

For me, the act of “blogging on paper” or giving birth to an ebook or special report on paper first is such a refreshing and welcome experience. While I love my laptop and online time, and it’s often hard to peel me away from the computer screen, I cannot deny the magic that happens when I turn to pen and paper to address my content-focused needs.

The words pour out.

My thoughts merge onto the paper.

My mind races and flows with endless ideas.

Maybe you tend to get more excited about the Superbowl or the season finale of The Voice.

Me?!

It’s pen and paper all the way, baby! At least, that is, until my hand completely cramps up from all the writing and pen-gripping activity. That’s when the pen and paper get dumped and it’s back to the keyboard I go.

Postscript

The bad part about pen and paper is that sometimes, adorable furry critters like this one …

… want to take over your writings and use your words for intended future content as a comfy spread or blanket.

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