Robyn

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I used to write. I used to call myself a poet. I wrote in my journal often. I still have the stacks of them in a filing cabinet and still have the habit of keeping paper on me. But then... I don't know. I got into tech, I graduated college, I just lost the habit. I don't think my brain works the same way anymore. I say this as a psychology graduate too.  I don't know how I feel about this.  I'd say that if it bothered me that much that I'd work at getting back into the habit, but I don't know that it *does* bother me that much.

This online medium... I don't dislike it, but it is not the same as putting the pen to paper and that's part of why I say my brain doesn't work the same way. Typing is a much different tactile experience. Knowing on a keyboard the letter to touch when, for the most part they all feel the same, excepting the differences in muscle memory. Writing on paper is more sensory. I feel sorry for the kids who are growing up now that have always known computers and touch screens.

I mourn my old brain.

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10/15 '14 5 Comments
This resonates with me.

I wrote a decent poem online recently. I was surprised. I didn't know I could do that.

Since I stopped writing a weekly sonnet in a notebook my handwriting has almost completely atrophied.
This made me laugh - mostly because I actually find it difficult to write on the rare occasion that I do so other than online. Atrophy is right!
Yep. Filling out a check is the most awkward thing anymore. And I used to have really pretty cursive writing. Til my first waitressing job anyway.
I think we all do on some level. That said, there's nothing keeping you from keeping a paper journal. Might be worth a test run to see if it still does for you what it once did. Of course, I suspect that it will not.

I am a little surprised by how much I DO enjoy writing online. Even when it's not a social thing - something purely for me - I still want it to be online. Somewhere along the way I found that I feared what might happen to the paper. It could get lost. It could get wet. (I've a few old written things that did, the ink completely bled, and now they are illegible.) It could burn in a fire.

But online? That's likely to be there - in some form or another. One service or site dies? I can transfer things to another site or location. It's funny - the fleetingness that is the Internet is also somehow more secure/permanent to me.
Also? It's really damn good to see you writing somewhere I can see it. :)