![]() It provides a messy history of annotations and crossings-through, of arrows, asterisks, doodles and comments. Marginalia is all that stuff that builds up in the corners, margins and between-the-lines of a hand-written page. One of the most important aspects of pen and paper writing is the marginalia. In this way, the pages of a notebook can become like streets in a town, a whole environment which you can walk through, take short-cuts and get creatively lost in. They spark new connections and prompt memories because they are unique to my creative process. These visual depictions have a different kind of effect on one’s memory and imagination. The handwritten nature of the words become like pictures, accentuated by crossings-out and inserted words. I like to flick through these notebooks every so often on the hunt for an idea or new inspiration, taking pleasure in reading the half-forgotten voice speaking from the pages.Įvery notebook is different: some are lined, some are plain, some a hardback, others soft. I have cupboards choked with old notebooks, ragged books I’m unable to throw away because they have both sentimental and practical value. When I write, I do so mainly in notebooks, each of which gets replaced once the pages are full. It becomes like a private cipher others simply can’t access it.īut there is more to it than just illegibility. The uniqueness of a person’s handwriting creates a type of secret environment. The benefit is that you develop of small universe of notes, arrows and punctuation marks that adds richness to your writing, and ultimately helps you to control your thought process as it comes alive in the written word. (Actually, I use pencil and paper, those refillable pencils with the retractable leads and a little eraser on the end.) ![]() And for me, that’s the great benefit of drafting work in a notebook using pen and paper. There was another problem with my cleaned-up, pretend-nice handwriting too, which was that it wasn’t my own. It isn’t code, it’s just my chaotic handwriting. If someone ever came across my notebooks by chance, they might think I write in some sort of secret code. It wasn’t long, however, before I started to slacken off again, returning to my barely-legible scribble that I alone can understand. It was the sort of handwriting I usually reserve for birthday cards and love notes. ![]() Not so long ago I made a conscious effort to improve it by trying to slow down my hand and attempting to “pronounce” each letter more gracefully. I’m lucky to be blessed with terrible handwriting. ![]() Writing by hand helps me to express exactly what I want to express. ![]()
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