I’ve had the week off here, not that I’ve used it as productively as I would have liked to. Worked on Monday and Friday, so Xuan-Yen and I took the three days together, not that we did anything useful. Got a new camera as well.
Have been working on a take home exam for Information and its Social Contexts. There are three questions, each only two double spaced pages. Now, if I was writing this in class, I would look at this as something very easy–bang out a quick outline and just start writing. However, for some reason I can’t make it work. I have a file with three half finished introductions and no desire to finish anything else. This is not the first time this has happened since I started school, and I am beginning to question whether why that is.
i question sometimes whether I work best on the computer. In undergraduate I would often force myself to begin my essay by hand, at least the introduction. I couldn’t seem to get the flow of things when writing on the keyboard. I have a nice fountain pen, and writing on paper seems to allowed things to flow nicely from my head to my fingertips in a way the computer couldn’t.
Don DeLillo writes on a manual typewriter (I have one as well) because he feels that the rhythm is all wrong at the keyboard. It is wonderfully hard to work at a manual typewriter–your finger joints begin to hurt after a while. You have to force things to work.
I find the greatest benefits to writing with pen and typewriter is that it is impossible to write faster than you can think. It is characteristic of contemporary writing for it to be overly wordy, which I think is a function of the computer.
Although I question why I was able to write this post, but not finish even two pages of work.
Jennifer Macaulay | 04-Nov-06 at 11:26 pm | Permalink
I have the same trouble. Take home exams are tough – often, you have too much time to think about your answers. I find it much easier to start my work by hand. If I start a paper on the computer, I usually end up with several unfinished drafts. However, if I start writing with a pen and paper – and then transfer that to the computer, I have better luck. Isn’t it odd????
Steven Chabot | 07-Nov-06 at 5:49 pm | Permalink
It one ws particularly tough because the questions were so broad, I am talking 700 page book broad.
Marcus | 14-Dec-06 at 2:23 pm | Permalink
Agreed, most of my reports start out with a scrap piece of paper and a big fat black sharpie, followed by scribbled notes in red pen all over the place. Then the 20ish to 30ish page report just happens to follow, billed out at $70 an hour. Word.