Pen Or Pencil?

Some friends and I were discussing about writing.  One of them is a published poet. We have different outlook when it comes to writing. Some prefer beautifully sharpened pencils, some use ballpens, a lot of us though write directly on the computer. We discussed the merit of keeping a journal. I told them I still have lots of blank journals which are gifts from friends. I am presently using a thick one and it’s just filled more than half. I am no longer into a regular journal writing. Most of the entries are cellphone numbers from friends just in case my CPs conk out, confirmations on online payments that I did through Bank of PI, one or two liners of thoughts that come to mind once in a while and a list of books that I want to read first for my yearly reading challenge.

I used to have lots of colored pencils and pens wayback in college. My written notes in Statistics, graphs in my Economics subjects, pie charts were all so colorful. Assignments and dates were written in red pen while I  used  black pens for written lectures. When I started working, I again learned to use a pencil.

One of my friends has this to say about using writing materials:

I’m a pencil fan when it comes to drafting written work. There’s that very satisfying feeling of erasing lines and lines and replacing them. Oh, it’s a lot easier clicking delete on the computer but I see the wisdom of handwriting drafts of any literary work. The slow processing of the words gives much time for reflection.

Have you ever tried chewing on an eraser’s casing at the end of a pencil? Have you ever tried snapping a pencil into two because you are pressed with deadlines and nothing good comes out of your head? Who hasn’t drummed a pencil on a desk because you can’t get the exact words right while you are writing? Ah, the days of glory for a pencil are gone now.

When I am writing a blog, I type directly in front of my PC, one or two reviews of words I have written then I hit publish. There is that inner satisfaction of seeing your thoughts in prints finally.

Pen or pencil?