Monday, May 21, 2012

Pen Power



Paul Theroux on how you write affects how well you write. An excerpt:

Writing by hand is part of my creative process. The speed at which I write with a pen seems to be the speed at which my imagination finds the best forms of words. A long-ago introduction to the Paris Review Interviews said that authors spoke of pens and rewriting with such passion that it seemed that "writing is one of the plastic arts." I agree with this metaphor of sculpting. I was gratified to read in a Newsweek piece about intelligence last January, that "brain scans show that handwriting engages more sections of the brain than typing" and "it's easier to remember something once you've written it down on paper."

1 comment:

CincyCat said...

This is very true. When I was a voice major in college, I used to "cram" for my board exams & recitals by writing and rewriting the words to the songs long-hand on legal pads over and over and over. Not only did I memorize them much faster that way, but I also picked up some of the mechanics of the language as well (if the song was in a foreign language).