Writing with My iPhone 6+

When I was actively writing poetry, I drafted all my poetry with a #2 Ticonderoga pencil. Love those pencils! The feel of the pencil lead across the paper’s surface was a creative writing prompt all in itself. The movement of the hand to create the words and the visual experience of the poem manifesting on the page in my personal scripting--these qualities of writing by hand were integral to the creation of each word and verse. 

Oddly enough, composing on my iPhone 6+ shares a flavor of the old pencil-and-paper experience. Perhaps it is the hand-held quality of the task, the device in hand and the experience of touch. 

I certainly know that the deliberate, slower rate of translation of idea to word to symbol is a characteristic common with writing by hand. 

Is this generational? Will my grandchildren compose through dictation without ever lifting a pencil or striking a key? Actually, dictation may also have much in common with writing by hand--gathering the words in the mind and then in the mouth before speaking, hopefully making the words sing. 

In the end, it is not the technology but the consciousness of the writer, the speaker, that counts. Technology has certainly streamlined the writing process, and I appreciate that a great deal. 

It doesn't hurt, though, to sometimes slow down and savor the rise of thought and word from silence. Sometimes I miss the clack-clack of writing on my old Royal manual typewriter, punching those keys and feeling the letters implanted on the page. Right now I’m pecking away at the iPhone’s touchboard. My thoughts are flowing, albeit at an amble, not a run. 

Our lesson to remember, no matter what the medium, is that even though the creative impulse is always in a dynamic hurry to burst into actuality, even in that essential hurry, we should never rush.