Excellent, Nova. A drabble with a point.

Keep the passion, NC, and you'll make a great teacher. Passion, empathy, and courage. Those are the three main ingredients that, when added to brains, make great teacher. IMHO.

I write in notebooks all the time. I can't always have a machine in front of me. Sometimes, I'll write on paper bags if I have to, to get my words out.

Plei, I used to do that, as well, but as I got older, I amde an interesting discovery: I have an damned near photographic memory for my own words.

Which is, believe me, really frickin' handy.

I've written directly on a keyboard for about 30 years, first on a typewriter and then on a computer. I no longer seem to have much connection between my brain and a pen or pencil. I actually have to think about making the letters. My writing by hand pretty much consists of an occasional cryptic note to myself, notes on meetings, and addresses, because my printer hates envelopes.

I use a journal for my first poetry drafts and for random thoughts (I keep a little notebook in my bag at all times). I type almost all prose, essays etc. I type much faster than I can handwrite, but I still find something more intimate about poetry that requires a pen in early stages. I used to journal incessently as well, but that's worn off a bit in recent years. I'm not sure why...maybe the fact that I now have a laptop that I take most everywhere with me takes away my need to also keep a written journal.

I am very jealous of Deb's photographic memory. My memory is not so good, alas.

Kristin, no envy, bebe, or jealousy either. I can abrely remember what I wore yesterday, and have severe trouble from year to year remembering whether our anniversary (21st comng up soon) is 13 or 15 August.

The one thing I remember, with or without writing them down, are my own words.

sj, I love blank books, notebooks, sketchbooks etc. and I have many of them. Actually, a friend of mine is doing that "Artist's Way" thing and talked about doing the "morning pages" on her computer instead of handwriting them, so I thought I'd try that this morning. And I'm not sure, I think that I like the physical process of writing for this purpose. Plus, that sort of typing (it took me like 50 minutes to get my three pages) is very tiring and I type all day at work. On the other hand, I like typing and my handwriting is v. illegible. But my journals are mostly personal journals, not for others to read so I don't worry about it.

sumi, one of the things that brought about this question is the fact that I started doing morning pages again today. This is my third or fourth attempt at them. I usually go for long stretches where I do them, and then I will skip a day because I am being lazy or don't wake up early enough and then I get disgusted with myself and stop. I think writing with pen and paper is a very important for the morning pages, although I am not sure if I can describe why. I know that it is highly recommended in the books that they be done longhand with pen and paper.

Kristin, no envy, bebe, or jealousy either.

No worries Deb, it was a warm snuggly kind of envy. :)

I try to keep my typing to a minimum while I'm working, as a result of my messed-up wrists. So, for me, getting it all down on paper first saves me a zillion backspaces and some serious aches.

Plei, I've got the exact opposite problem; writing by hand is excruciating with the MS. Not that typing is All That, mind you, but it gets really iffy when I have to do long dedications in books. Ouchy.