What I Learned from Composing in Cursive

As I prepared to write my article, Cursive or the Keyboard – The Great Debate, I thought I should walk my talk. My entire first draft was written in cursive, and what an experience! It was different, quite delightful, and confirmed the very research I was doing on cursive handwriting.

…it was almost like I felt more open in my head, more creative, and more easily in touch with my already established knowledge on the subject.

As a left-brain, linear thinker I usually type up my articles following an outline I have in my head: the beginning, the middle, and the end. I go over it multiple times, inserting additional information into the appropriate places. As I approached this article with the commitment to write it in cursive, I found that I had to capture the ideas from my research, my own experience and that of my clients and organize all of it in my mind before I wrote it down, rather than typing as I was reading without a great deal of thought (I would do most of my revision and composing later.)

What surprised me was the way I felt my brain collecting and organizing the various ideas. I could feel my thought process to be like a mind map, which starts with a central idea and then has branches out to related thoughts and ideas. I was also aware that I was pulling from memory an assortment of related, relevant ideas and combining them with the new information, sort of like reaching into the depths of my brain. It was almost a physical sensation that my mind was moving in different directions within my head. Then, suddenly, I would have a fully formed thought that brought all the ideas into a complete sentence.

When I finished the draft, it was on several pieces of paper – it was definitely not a linear process! I had grouped my ideas on separate pages referencing the main body of the article on page one. As I typed everything up, I found that I was reorganizing the mind-map information into a linear format but, again, by reaching out to those various thought bubbles, now located on paper, and incorporating them into the article in the correct sequence. I was jumping around a lot, both in my mind and with the various sheets of paper to gather the information, but it was not difficult. I experienced it as a more fluid and relaxed process than my usual writing technique. It was almost like I felt more open in my head, more creative, and more easily in touch with my already established knowledge on the subject.

I would recommend writing in cursive if you want to develop your creativity, think more clearly, or simply experience your own unique process. You’ll find your own pace and method, as it will evolve naturally when you put your own pen to paper. I certainly look forward to doing my next article with a handwritten first draft!