Better than a Keyboard

Making notes with a pen. Handwritten.

It’s obvious, simple, and many people know this already, but I find it easier to think and be creative with a pen rather than a keyboard. There are more possibilities, to write or draw or annotate, to doodle or scribble or throw ideas at the page. To draw lines and arrows and connections.

It just seems better use a pen, regardless of whether that’s in a real notebook or a digital one. It seems more thoughtful and connected and beautiful and personal and expressive than typing (although I haven’t tried an old typewriter or mechanical keyboard recently).

(On iPad, Notability seems to be a good app for written notes. Apple Notes is fine. I’m sure Procreate would be excellent. But I’ve started using good old Microsoft OneNote, partly because I recently bought a PC laptop too, which I did partly because it has a touchscreen).