Writing Like Shakespeare

Journal Writing

I like to write outside, in nature, with pen and paper. Always, when I am outside, I am motivated to write. Listening to the birds, the wind as it whistles through the trees, the sound of crickets or even dogs barking, makes me take notice of the world around me. It is only my job as a writer to record what I see and hear and when I am outside, it’s not likely to happen behind a computer. I bring a journal with me when I go to the park, for a walk around the neighborhood or on a ten-mile hike. Pen and paper are the bare bones essential tools of good writing. Writers wrote with them for centuries before the typewriter, computer or AI were invented. Imagine Shakespeare writing all those brilliant plays with pen and paper. How laborious, we think. That would take forever, by our standards, and it did. We simply don’t have the patience for that kind of time and effort. Many people writing today probably would not do it if they had to use pen and paper and yet, people did it back then. There will always be writers lifting their voices regardless of the tools used to produce work.

The Technology of Writing

Modern technology has made writing much easier. Yes, we can produce more because we can produce faster, but is that a good thing? I am inclined to believe that a well thought out piece is worth the painstaking effort and time it takes to write by hand. Now, of course, we can have AI write our work for us. At this time when technology has advanced so much that it can write just as well, if not better than a human, I find myself stripping down to the essence of writing technology: pen and paper. Obviously, I use a computer, but most of my writing starts in a hard cover journal written by hand. It represents a slower lifestyle. When we write we need to stop, sit peacefully and think. Writing by hand gives me time to really think about what I’m writing. Human beings are not meant to behave like machines. We do not need to produce as if we are on an assembly line. This may not be a popular sentiment when people are trying to make money producing large quantities of writing online, but slowing down can really have its benefits. Just because our lives are full of machines that make life easier does not mean it is desirable for humans to become as fast and as productive as machines.

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