"My life is spent in one long effort to escape from the commonplaces of existence." – Doyle
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March 04, 2025

IWSG Mar 2025: Paper or digital?

Insecure Writer’s Support Group
I used to write using a pen and on notebooks and notepads and then typed them into the computer. For some reason, the writing seemed easier and ideas seemed to flow better. But then comes the typing and then I realized how hard it is to actually do the typing. I write in linear form but some ideas come up for farther on in a story so they swim alone and then I have to remember to put them in the proper order. After a while, this process just got tiring so I switched to mostly digital.
    I still write ideas, certain phrases and notes on notepads and then type them into the computer but my handwriting is not so great so sometimes I have to leave behind ideas because I can't decipher them especially when I write them in the middle of the night under some faint light.
    Mostly, I do like writing on a computer and also the spellcheck function is really useful. I'm more likely to delete writing (bad, excessive or unnecessary) on a computer than on paper but on paper, I cross out the text, I can somehow still have those deleted text unlike a computer. Of course there is the whole losing documents or even corrupted documents since all my writings are basically computer files so when my computer doesn't work or when my backup drive doesn't work, I can't access them. I can print them out and keep them as a record but that seems like a waste of paper. I think no matter if you use paper or go digital, it's still pretty much the same but I admit, I'm much more organized when writing digitally.
    
Do you prefer to write on paper or digitally using your computer or some other devices?

(P.S. The app I use to write is iText Express  (Freeware for Mac, no PC/Windows version) > link - a very simplistic text app that I have been using for years.)
  
[More about the group over at the Insecure Writer’s Support Group blog here]