What do You Use to Write? Keyboard? Pen? Other?

Typing. Definitely.

I can't write with pencil or pen fast enough to get my thoughts out the way they appear in my mind. Besides, it is much easier to edit on the computer.

 

I do both. I started out with pen and paper, filled about 12/13 A4 pads of paper before I bought myself a computer to finish it with. I find both have their merits/

 

It's definitely typing for me

 

I am a big fan of laptops, and it is easier for me to write out a story on a computer than it is to write it on a piece of paper.

 

Ideas tend to be scribbled on whatever's to hand. It isn't unknown for me to write on the back of essays that are due to be handed in if I have a cracking idea and don't have anything else to hand.

The writing itself is done on a computer. It's just so much easier, being able to format, change fonts, edit as I'm going along (not the best way of doing it, I know, but one of my habits), etc. Just lately, I started using a new page template for my actual writing, and it has actually increased productivity, although I'm not sure how or why. You can't do that with a pen and paper.

 

I usually write poetry by hand... short stories and such through the keyboard.
I tried the whole 'penpal' thing, but it gets annoying when you realize how slow you write compared to your WPM. Haha!

 

Laptop. Microsoft Word can be my best friend sometimes. I need to revise constantly, so cut and paste is very helpfull. Sometimes I rely too much on spell check, too.

 

I can only write poetry with a pencil. Its weird. And I don't erase anything, I scratch out. I cannot write it any other way.

Short stories and scripts, I write on a computer using celtx.

 

Brilliant! One day I must try this; but for the time being I'll stick with my laptop.

A laptop is great for editing, copy, paste. juggle things around.

 

Pen and paper sometimes. Mostly a laptop. I don't care to write in full-fledged word processors, though. I prefer to use text editors like Pyroom.

 

I use a pen and a notebook of paper because I find that I get distracted when I have my computer with me. Also when I write i do little doodles of some characters or settings etc and I also write notes for my story in the sidebars like ideas that suddenly came to mind or if I want to incorporate a word (like in my novel I'm writing now, I have a lot of words that are from a latin root) and I write what the word is used for. I also feel like my ideas can flow better by handwriting instead of looking at a blank document on my laptop.

 

Hmm....I'm torn at times between pen and plastic. I like to be old-fashioned and sweat it out like the other classical writers. But typing on a laptop, the thoughts and words flow so evenly and quickly. It's easier to write when I can type at the same speed of my brain.

I, for the most part, do write with a pen. I know that I can never really go wrong with using the same tool writers before me have used.

 

I write on the Macbook that work gave me. Haha suckerz.

Otherwise I write on my laptop, I used to write on my desktop before it died and when I don't have a computer I write on paper, card, matchboxes or the nearest thing to hand.

As for software. MS Word is nice, as is OpenOffice (except on a Mac OOo seems to be the slowest thing in the UNIVERSE).

 

I write on the computer or with a pen or a pencil with equal ease. Or difficulty. I recently got these little pocket notebooks made by Moleskine that have elastics to hold them closed - I like to work in those.

I like to write in pencil because I can work in bed with the pencil pointing up at the notebook. The ink stops flowing if you try that with a pen.

 

i was convinced this was true, until the day i was typing up the handwritten text and found i had gone 3 pages beyond what i'd written and the words were still flowing at full speed!...

had to admit i'd been lying to myself all that time and accept the fact that i could 'create' on a keyboard just as easily as with my sacred lined pastel pads and fat, blue ink, medium tip ballpoint...

not if you get yourself a 'fisher space pen'... or, if you can't afford that, just shake the pen downward every so often...

 

Or I could just use a pencil.

 

I write everything by hand first. I don't own a laptop, so writing on paper is a good way for me to be able to take my work with me wherever I go. Then I'll type up the first draft, print it up, and do revisions by hand.

 

For ideas I use my phone. But if I'm planning on doing something longer I'll use my laptop.

 

I seem to bounce back and forth between laptop and a pen and paper. I like how my typing skills can keep up a bit faster than writing with a pen, but my laptop isn't as portable as it was (considering it no longer has a functioning battery and is hooked up to a couple external HDDs) and sometimes I find the computer hinders my creativity for some reason. I think I have trouble getting comfortable writing at a desk so lately I've been taking a pen and pad of paper to my bed to write. Though I wouldn't be surprised if tomorrow I turned around and found the computer to be much better.

Finding inspiration and muses seem to change as often as the weather for me.

 

I always carry around a pen and notebook. I can write down a whole story in a short time, then later I use hours upon hours typing and rewrite some on my computer.

 

I've experienced the same, but I've also noticed that when I sit down with a pen and a notebook, the slower speed of my handwriting forces me to think about precise word choices. The writing on my computer is much more vague than my handwritten stuff. Maybe this is just me, but my fast typing speed makes my brain's vocabulary lazy

 

What to use: Pen and paper OR a computer?

I much prefer to write with a fountain pen, ink and a hardcover A5 notebook as I feel its more personal. Using a computer I find rather impersonal and I dont feel connected as much with my work.
I also feel i've achieved more at the end of a session if its handwritten rather and typed.
I love that I can always have pen and paper in my handbag so I can write anywhere, at any time. Something you can have with a laptop, but to be honest, its not as practical lugging a computer around everywhere on a daily basis.
I do type all my handwritten stuff up though, but more as a safety net so I always know where theres a copy. I also feel like im feeding the computer my work in the form of dictation with a keyboard.

So am I one of the few who still likes to do everything the traditional way with a pen and paper in a modern, computer-filled world?

What do you prefer to write with - pen and paper or using a computer? AND does it make a difference what you use to write with? (Personally I think my writing is very different when using a pen to when Im using a computer, and not in a good way! - am I the only one?

 

I'm a fan of traditional pen and paper, but every now and then I use a computer. I feel that each is such a different way to write you sometimes have to use one over the other, especially depending on what you're writing about.

 

I like, and use, both. Pen and paper is great for jotting down ideas, and when I'm away from my laptop, I can scribble down anything that comes to mind. And I love the feeling of just scribbling away in a notepad, filling all those blank pages. But on my laptop I can write down what I want to quicker, and since writing has to be typed out I might as well just directly type it.
I feel the quality of my writing is better when I type it on my laptop rather than when I handwrite - I don't know why.

 

I can keep pace with my mind better on the computer. I am saving up for a laptop to make my life easier.