Tools of the Trade

12/7/2007

Posted by BJ
A noticed a woman in one of my recent workshops writing during a break. She was writing with a beautiful fountain pen on what was obviously good quality paper and had already filled several pages from margin to margin and from the top of the page to the bottom. This woman also had a laptop open on the table in front of her.

As I watched her write, I realized that it has been a very long time since I’ve written anything at length longhand, whether it is work related or personal. These days I write most everything by putting fingers to keys, even personal notes which I then print out (I still hand sign them).

So I’m curious dear readers. When writing, do you use pen and paper, a computer?
(And if you use a pen, do you have a preference for a particular type of pen or paper?)

7 Comments

Andy

3/26/2016 04:35:39 am

Always use pen (or pencil) and paper, then try and understand my own handwriting!

Great site guys, have been writing basic internal proposals for a few years, but recently purchased “persuasive business proposals” by Tom Sant and now i can’t learn fast enough.

Keep up the great work.

Connie Sanford

3/26/2016 04:35:51 am

Last week I took a final exam at school and had to respond to several short answer and essay questions. I wrote feverishly to get everything on the page before I forgot it. When I finished I looked at it to review my work and was APPALLED by the handwriting and the angle that each of the lines had taken. Worse, it was nearly illegible. I fixed it the best I could, short of rewriting everything and added an apology at the end of the paper. My professor sent an email the next day telling me that it was one of more legible papers. It should have made me feel better, but it didn’t. The upshot is my good TORO pen is no good if can’t be read.

Barbara Esmedina

3/26/2016 04:36:01 am

Love to write longhand notes first! I try to avoid cursive. When you print the characters it is the same as drawing, it forces you to use the right (creative) side of your brain. It also helps you remember what you have written. I seldom need to refer to the notes, I just use the process to brainstorm with myself. The importance of the particular pen, pencil, ink, lead, and paper borders on obsessive.

If I am editing it must be a top quality mechanical pencil with a thin, soft lead and a white or grey eraser , depending on the paper. For brainstorming it must be a comfortable gel pen with a medium fine point (like a uni ball Vision Elite). Outlines require a Cross brand refillable felt tip pen with a medium point. If I am in an edgy mood I must have a Pilot Precise Rolling Ball V extra fine. I am not going to describe the ink colors or paper requirements because frankly, I am freaking myself out a little.

Jeff Elkins

3/26/2016 04:36:12 am

Barbara, you are freaking ME out a little too!

I love to write and edit with the keyboard, but I get a much stronger sense of purpose if I take a legal pad and a PaperMate MED. PT., black ink pen into the den or out on the patio for songwriting or writing in my journal.

Robin

3/26/2016 04:36:22 am

Oh man, I’m with you. As I was writing out my Christmas cards, I noticed how badly my handwriting has actually gotten. It looks like something I wrote in pre-school. I can’t write anymore….its true! I write down song ideas (typically because I usually get them on airplanes or in bars and I don’t have my computer open), and a grocery list – that’s about the extent of it. And even those things I sometimes write in my Blackberry’s memo pad. I journal and write all correspondence on my computer. Its better for everybody, really. Longhand – its a lost art.

Janet

3/26/2016 04:36:33 am

My handwriting aside, I have a preference for the blue gel ink pens, I won’t write with anything else. I highly recommend them.

It’s easier to understand what I am writing about when I compose it on paper first.

Jon

3/26/2016 04:36:41 am

I have the perfect excuse for my atrocious handwriting. Back in my purchasing days, I was sent on “Illegible Handwriting 101″, to make sure that no salesperson could ever read my writing upside down from the other side of the negotiating table.

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BJ Lownie and Jon Williams are the co-founders of Strategic Proposals.

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