WriterByNature.com

There is a connection between the brain and the hand.

The longer I live, the more I’m convinced that I need to actually write on paper in order to recall information I have learned but not yet internalized.

I use my eyes and hands differently when I keyboard. I need to actually grip a pen or pencil and push it across paper in order to remember.

Apparently I’m not alone. I’ve been composing on my computer in part to save the trees. Of course the computer uses electricity. But the actual content, the ideas and the energy are significantly different when I have written something on paper and transcribed it than when I compose at the keyboard.

Some of it is physical. I have a pocket notebook, so I can write whenever I feel inspired. I can sit or recline anywhere. My laptop weighs eight pounds and each battery only lasts two hours. Despite its name, I don’t hold it in my lap. Even if I did, I’d need a level place to sit.

Since I write in the woods, most of my writing is on paper. Pens freeze in cold weather, but pencil is impossible to read. When the weather is inclement, then I sit at the keyboard. My posture is different, my focus is different.

I was really upset the other day. I was indoors, but I found myself grabbing scrap paper and a pen to scribble my frustration. My letters were huge; the pages flew as I filled them and went on to the next. It felt like sprinting.

Unfortunately in that state of mind, I don’t write coherently or legibly. Those pages have long since been recycled. But as I was scribbling my rage, I realized that when it comes to deep emotion, my hand must connect to paper, not a keyboard.

Until a few weeks ago, my daily routine was determined by my hiking schedule, which is connected to my writing. But lately, I’ve decided to experiment with that routine.

I added swimming to my routine in order to strengthen my upper body. Now that we’re heading into winter, I can’t go out for a hike after swimming. I tried it and ended up with a nasty cold.

I could alternate swim days and hike days. I could swim at night, instead of in the day. I have options. But the last three weeks have shown me that in order to write with passion, m fingers need to curl around a pen, my hands need to touch the page and my ears need to hear the rustle of paper.