The Magic of Pen and Paper

I spent my day in a weird place in my head, contemplating what it is about pen and paper that makes them such desirable writing utensils for me. It wasn’t an obvious answer for me, since I can certainly type faster than I can write.

There’s a notebook that I usually keep near me for stupid little ideas that need to be put down, and picking it up and looking at it made me see a difference between it and many other notebooks. It has no lines. I can write up and down and in diagonal lines without feeling any kind of guilt of going outside the lines, which is ridiculous because going outside of the lines is part of the fun.

Sometimes I just like the idea of having lines to guide me, though, so that’s one less thing I have to think about. My hand can just follow the lines as the words just flow out, usually somewhere between doctor’s script and illegible. More than once have I had to make a game out of figuring out what I’ve written, in any kind of notebook.

But no matter what I write in a notebook or on paper with lines on it, I’ll usually copy it into my notebook with no lines. I could make the feeble argument for organization, but it’s really that the lined paper, so optimal while actually being written on, just isn’t my style in the long run.

This was around the point that I began to think I was thinking way too much about the kind of paper I like to write on and not actually writing anything at all.

Still, I think for all the writer types out there, it makes for good conversation. The kinds of paper you like writing on, or writing on no paper at all. I knew a guy once who preferred stealing napkins from restaurants so that he could write on them. It just worked for him. Any preferences out there? Crazy or otherwise?