Design Feast Series: Quotes

“I write by hand because I lost everything due to a zip disk error while in undergrad. I lost the paper I was writing at the time. I lost all previous coursework. I lost every essay I wrote in high school. I lost every terrible poem, every awful short story. That loss taught me to never put complete trust in a computer again. Everything I write now is handwritten first. Everything. This includes blog entries, emails and even Twitter updates. And there’s nothing for me to "get over,” because this method, this outdated, time-wasting method of writing by hand, works. I make it work.

‘Writing by hand doesn't mean you are irrelevant to yourself, your colleagues or your students. It means you understand what technology works for you and in what capacity. …’

My Moleskine notebook is a working file cabinet and it’s with me wherever I go. A single notebook isn’t burdensome, no matter the book bag, briefcase, etc. All the ideas and information I need fit in one notebook, which lasts about nine months before it’s full and I need to start a new one.

I don’t need an Internet connection or even electricity when writing by hand. A pen and paper are all I need. These physical materials aren't the end in itself, of course, only the beginning. Together, they are a beginning I want to never lose.”

James Schirmer, Assistant Professor of English at the University of Michigan-Flint