By Hand vs. by Key Board

Every writer has a unique system in which they create and write. Many factors contribute to it such as your personality, what your writing for, and what you're writing about. Now there are two main categories, that I've figured, that divide up how people rough draft their work. By hand or by keyboard. Personally, I was keyboarder to begin with, but recently I've taken up doing it by hand (this is mainly because I got some cool journals for Christmas). Now I can see the values of each.


By Hand:
+You can choose a nifty and expressive journal to do it on
+You can work on it anywhere, not needing a computer
+It offers a lot of freedom (you can doodle on the page)
+When forming a final draft, corrections are more thorough since you have to transfer all the words into the computer

-If you have bad handwriting, it could be difficult to re-read.
-You can't make multiple copies, except with a copy machine which is inconvenient
-If you loose that journal you lost all of your work.


By Computer:
+It's very neat and presentable
+Mistakes are fixed easily, and you got spell check.
+You can e-mail it to test readers
+It can be saved in multiple places, preventing loss of work
+While you're working you got instant access to the Internet so you can research on the spot

-You need a computer to work on it
-If you aren't a talented typist, slow typing could mess up your train of thought.
-May be you can't afford a computer or printer, and have to got to a public library.

Of course if you're a little smarter than me you might consider doing a little of both. This way you can get the best of both methods.

Dear Diary

Journaling is a well beloved hobby by many. It's a good writing exercise and a great way to keep memories.
Why is it a great writing exercise? For the most part whenever you write you're exercising, but in a journal you write about the way you feel. Learning how phrase an emotion is the essence of writing. Now, the most common excuse I hear from people who don't keep a journal or have one and just don't write in it is they don't have the time. It just so happens that's the exact same excuse I hear from people who don't finish their stories. In turn, if you can keep a journal than you can finish a story.

Autobiographies, most people don't read them for fun, but they are used for research papers and history. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank is well known example. Now someday in the faraway future when you're old and decrepit and wanting to write about your life story don't you think that would be a lot easier if you had your journal for reference, instead of having to dig up old family pictures? Even if you don't want to publish your life, it would be nice to have those memories to look back on.

I've completed two journals and I'm on my third, and I'll tell you from experience that journaling has helped me become a better writer in more than one way. So start a journal today, you don't have to write something book-length everyday, just a few paragraphs every other day will be just fine.