💾 Archived View for altesq.net › ~evenfire › posts › writing-offline.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 15:55:51. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
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I have always liked writing digitally, particularly because of the speed at which you can convey thoughts and the easy formatting. Recently, I have taken a new approach towards writing: putting my thoughts down on paper then transcribing them here.
Writing on paper is a whole different environment from digital writing, so I will discuss various aspects of it.
I personally find I can focus better while writing on paper, than digitally. By no means I have a distracting setup, I write in neovim, but there is the urge to try something that comes to mind and I get interrupted. Offline, there is no such thing other than you, your pen and the notebook.
Writing on paper, is obviously, much slower. Initially what I considered a disadvantage, I find it now the opposite. Why? It allows you to formulate thoughts when you write them, and think beforehand, as when writing digitally you can write at much higher speeds where you may not think something through.
One aspect that bothers me, is security. Anyone can read what you write offline, implying they have access to your house. If the people around you are fine and will not snoop, you are good, or either you can keep the notebook with you. The security of digital writing, if your hard drive is encrypted, is infinitely better.
Writing digitally is not as damaging for the environment, writing on paper cuts trees. This is one of my annoyances with writing offline, although I suppose we could find a sustainable way, or some paper-like material.
Overall, I write offline my longer essays and then transcribe them electronically, while my shorter posts such as this one are written digitally. I find this approach nice, and allows me to convey thoughts at odd hours, such as the night, where the notebook will not strain your eyes.