Leventhal Dot Com

Lynda Barry’s really into the weird thing that happens between your brain and your hand, whether you’re writing or drawing. I used to write all my first drafts by hand and then type them up. I don’t do it anymore, because I feel like my laptop is the most transparent means I have to write with – I notice I’m writing the least when I use it. I know someone who writes on an electric typewriter because with it, forward is the only direction she can go. I like that idea, but I know that if I wrote on a typewriter I would get so captivated by how cute and precious and writerly I was that I wouldn’t be able to concentrate. When I was a teenager I wrote on my parents’ very old Underwood, and I’m pretty sure nothing decent got written, though there are many pictures that document the occasions.

Anyway, drawing is a really good thing to do when you can’t write for a bit but you don’t want to leave your desk and you don’t want to go on the internet. Barry suggests drawing a spiral to keep your hand moving. That’s the important thing, keep your hand moving. I tried using that method when I was doing creative writing workshops with angry teenage girls, and they would draw a spiral as fast as possible and then be like “Done. Here’s your spiral, okay.”