Today I started correcting the first batch of page proofs for Writing at the Wellspring. Not with a computer keyboard, but by hand.
I love the tactile sense of intimate connection to the text that’s generated by this approach. Stephen King has talked about writing the entire first draft of Dreamcatcher by hand when he was unable to sit at a word processor while recovering from his near-fatal encounter with that van. He said this approach reconnected him with the language in a way he hadn’t felt for years.
I grok that completely. Whether writing or editing, working with text by hand is the most intimate experience you can have with it, a direct and embodied relationship. And it’s deeply satisfying for the clarity and connection it brings.