writing-tips – Andy writes!

Writing (by hand) to remember

New research suggests that writing by hand helps us remember.

These past couple of years, as I’ve begun to take the craft of writing more seriously, I’ve found that writing by hand tends to make me more thoughtful and more engaged in the writing process. Also, when I compose ideas for stories on paper, I tend to have better recall of those ideas than those I tap out on a computer, smartphone notes app, or tablet.

Now there’s some research that supports the idea that writing by hand helps us remember.

On killing your darlings

AI-generated image of candy hearts, with "RIP" on top.

This being Valentine’s Day, maybe “On killing your sweethearts” would be a more appropriate title for this post. But since most writers are familiar with the phrase “kill your darlings,” let’s stick with that.

I was scrolling through Threads last night when I ran across a discussion about the phrase, thanks to a post by the novelist Michael Chabon.