Connie's Corner

To type or not to type?

I didn't realize I hadn't written anything about the W.A.G. meeting last Sunday. The speaker was Patricia Charpentier (a fancy French spelling for Carpenter), an "expert" on the memoir. She has ghostwritten many of them and has her own book on the subject titled Eating An Elephant. The title is catchy, but most of the information I've already heard before in my Writing Your Life History Class.

She did have us do an exercise I found interesting. She talked about how most people write differently with pen or pencil then with a keyboard. I never thought much about this, but, now, I am a believer. We were asked to finish this line with a short paragraph (with pen and paper): I am from ... I wrote some interesting things, to me at least, that gave me more insight into how I got where I am.

Although she did not go into any explanation of why this difference occurs, I can think of a big reason for myself. I am always editing as I am typing which interrupts my train of thought. It's the left brain fighting with the right brain. I'm thinking more about paragraphs and spelling and sentence construction than content. Those things are important, but not at first. I know everyone says write freely without corrections to begin with, but that is very difficult to do on a keyboard for me. Even if I am tempted to correct on pen and paper, I have the evidence of it ... and the thought. I think this might be one time where old is better than new.

until next time...c