In praise of a good pen

These days, I do a lot of my writing longhand.

Yes, like all the rest of you, I prefer to write on the computer. But with a 2 year old and a 6 month old (who goes to the doctor a lot), computer time is at a premium. So I have broken out the 3-ring binders, the college-rule notebook paper and the pens.

And I have discovered that Anne Shirley was right: the pen makes a difference in what you are able to write. It's really hard to concentrate on a good story when the pen grates along the page, bumping and vibrating the hand.

A good pen warms the creative juices and helps the words to flow. A good pen makes the writing experience enjoyable. It keeps your hand relaxed and lets you write longer. It doesn't give you something to say, but it removes one of the barriers to getting what you have to say out of your head and into the greater world.

And it's really not any slower to write longhand than it is to type one-handed with a crying baby on your shoulder!

(Which, incidentally, is a far more formidable barrier to creativity than lack of a laptop, or a bad pen!)