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by pickleglitch 217 days ago
I don't use anything like a "writer deck" but for me pen and paper is a non-starter due to hand fatigue. I can type for much, much longer periods than I could ever hope to write by hand.
3 comments

It also introduces significantly more lag, at least for me, between the thinking and actual writing down of the words.

Sometimes slowing down the process like this is helpful, in other cases it's better to make the emission of the words onto the page as immediate as possible, depends on the piece.

> hand fatigue

Try a fountain pen. Seriously. Many people press far too hard with ballpoints; with a fountain pen, you can't -- you'll bend the nib and smudge.

Some adults won't have written with one since school; younger ones, never. But they exist for goods solid ergonomic reasons.

After you get used to them you write better, too.

There are good disposable fountain pens now, and I've been using them for a decade and a half. I like the Pilot V-Pen.

https://macchiatoman.com/blog/2020/1/22/pen-review-pilot-v-p...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pilot-Pen-Disposable-Fountain-Black...

Costs about £5, lasts many months of heavy use -- much more than any cartridge pen as the whole barrel is full of ink -- and I have never ever had one leak in my bag or pocket.

Highly recommended.

> but for me pen and paper is a non-starter due to hand fatigue

You may want to look into writing with your arm instead of your hand

Or just using a different type of pen, rather than trying to re-learn to write.
Not the person you were replying to, but “oh, gee, I wish I’d thought of that! /s”.

I spent my first few decades trying to train myself not to write in a way that causes physical pain. The closest I got was when I discover Lamy Safari pens, which won’t let me hold them the “wrong” way. That only makes it a little less horrid.