I’m thrilled to have snagged a spot in a Natalie Goldberg workshop coming up in Taos next month. Everyone I’ve known who went to one of her workshops considered it life changing. But here’s what worries me. I’ve been composing at the keyboard since college. She wants work to be handwritten. In a notebook. With a pen.
My handwriting is so rusty, half the time I can’t even read it. This is going to be challenging from a physical dexterity point of view.
Yikes.
Please leave a comment with your first 50 words on the topic “handwritten.”
First 50 Words - Prompts for Writing Practice 
I think we can all relate. I used to only handwrite my works. Sitting in front of a computer, word processor open, I would draw a blank every time. The white space would mock me until I finally gave in and closed the thing. I’ve finally been able to write at a keyboard, but it can still feel like the thing is laughing at my inability to create sometimes. Oddly enough, I fantasize about getting an old typewriter and trying that for a change. Plus, old typewriters are just cool.
Good luck!
I have found that my typing can nearly keep up with my thoughts. In recent years I have tried to have my hand write as quickly as I type (to keep up with my thoughts) and it is a disaster. I skip important words and my handwriting is totally illegible. Maybe there is something to be learned by returning to a slower process?
Patience is a virtue we lose with today’s instant society. Writing takes determination, concentration, and is something much more ‘primal’ in my feelings. It’s kind of like ebooks versus real books. I don’t read ebooks because I miss the feel and smell of the paper. Also, writing is permanent. There is no going back when you have a pen. I like the rawness of creativity where you just go, go, go, and don’t change things instantly. It breaks my thoughts to hit the backspace key.
Any which way my handwriting still gets rusty. My tees become els and my pees look like ques. Then when I use the keyboard, the aitch oftentimes become jays while the vees bees.