Writing vs. Typing

This one always generates a big debate. I can only tell you what I do and why I do it. You do what works.

I write my entire manuals longhand in legal pads and transfer to word processing later. Here’s why:

-        I can write faster than I can type and think better when I’m writing (stream of consciousness)

-       I can write anywhere (in places where I can’t take a laptop

-        I never try to edit while I’m writing. It derails the writing process. I just dump my ideas on paper as I think of them. When I write directly into my computer, I find myself editing and correcting as I go along. I’ve tried it and I can write fives times faster by writing on paper instead of typing because of all the stops and starts for editing, keystroke errors and formatting.

-        that’s why I type from my notes into the computer and edit as I go. This stage lets me edit at my own speed—looking for better words, better phrases, better order of sentences in a paragraph

-        once I’ve typed into the computer, I pretty much don’t worry about editing

-        here’s the real reason I don’t use my laptop to write—I can’t see the screen in the sun!

At this stage, I’m still NOT typing in chronological order or formatting text (such as font size, boldness etc.) I’m just trying to get what I’ve written into typed form.

Writing & Assembly