A couple of months ago, I hit a rough patch in which I spent two weeks unable to write a single word. There were too many things on my mind I couldn’t set aside, too many distractions immediately accessible any time I opened my laptop. The longer it went on, the more demoralizing it became. When would the dreaded writer’s block end?
Enter: the physical notebook. The game changer. A stranger to me a few weeks ago, and now an essential part of my process. In the past, I’ve struggled to write fiction by hand, largely because of my perfectionist tendencies. Having to scratch words out on the page felt messy and ugly; I decided anything that went into a notebook needed to be final.
This autumn, though, when my biggest obstacle has been a lack of focus, I decided to give notebooks another try—and it has made all the difference. When I write by hand and place all of my devices in a different room, I don’t have an endless supply of emails I can check and thought trails I can follow down link after link after link. There’s only me, the pen, and the page, and let me tell you, that is more powerful than I thought. It’s the perfect tool for centering.
Moreover, this practice is teaching me to embrace imperfection and allow a first draft to be just that: a first draft. I’m very much a planner rather than a discovery writer, and so I always want things to come out right on the first try. This, of course, is an impossible goal to achieve, and thus creates needless opportunities for me to criticize myself and my work when I can’t meet it.
Luckily, I’m finding there are few better ways to strengthen the muscle of letting go than to write by hand, and in pen.
And so, meet my new notebook for the WIP! (See banner photo.) Isn’t she lovely? If anyone else out there is struggling to find focus at the moment, I recommend giving writing by hand a try.
The Game Changer