My Messy Drafts Taught Me More Than Any Writing Rule Ever Did

People are obsessed with laptops, tablets, and phones. The are real good options, but they are just an option.

The real thing is pen and paper. Using them correctly is something that everyone needs to align themselves, regardless you’re a writer or not.

My best writing rarely starts in a doc. It starts in chaos and vomit on paper.

Lines that don’t go straight, arrows pointing to ideas I forgot, random phrases in the margins.

Side notes that say “NOPE” or “TRY AGAIN LATER” or LIST OF THINGS I NEED TO ADD” etc…

When I write my first draft by hand, it’s never clean. But it’s real and it’s truly me.

There’s something about pen and paper that permits you to be messy.

• It doesn’t autocorrect your grammar.
• It doesn’t underline things in red.
• It doesn’t care about the font size.

It just lets you think, so you can be wildly, honestly, unapologetically as you want.

“The first draft is just you telling the story to yourself.” — Terry Pratchett

On paper, I don’t edit myself, I just write and explore to visit the place that is in the doc, I can’t be.

I let the weird metaphors in.

I let the unstructured thoughts live a little before I tame them.

The best parts of my writing, the most honest, most powerful ideas, come from those messy corners.

And sometimes, it gave me the realization.

I’ve tried to replicate that chaos digitally. But a blinking cursor feels like pressure. The emptiness of a white screen feels like judgment.

Paper feels like it’s listening to you…

I am not telling you this for be analog for the sake of it. I want you to honor the creative process. The one that starts ugly. The one that isn’t made for publishing yet. The one that’s private and personal and often brilliant is in my diary.

Why does the mess matter?

When you write by hand, notes jotted, arrows connecting ideas, scribbles in the margins, you tap into a different part of your brain. It’s loose and exploratory.

Most importantly, it’s where all the unexpected gems hide.

1. Freedom to wander: No backspace key keeping you neat, leaps, loops, and leaps of your thought.
2. Surprises aplenty: You might discover ideas you didn’t even realize you had.
3. Seeds of brilliance: Some of your best, most creative lines come out of this exploratory mess.

“Writing by hand is thinking on paper. Messy, chaotic, and completely alive.”

From scribbles to shine

• Start wild. Let the ink go where it wants. Random bullets, question marks, one-word prompts, just let it be. you find you wrote more than 3 pages with that wild flow.
• Observe what emerges. Pause and circle any lines, phrases, or thoughts that pop to life. Those are your fire.
• Organize with intention. Use your mess as raw material. Rearrange, expand, trim.
• Clean it up, shape it into a coherent draft, while holding onto that original spark.

“That mess is something about writing by hand helps me think broader… freer. …

Sometimes I write things I didn’t even know I was thinking, and they turn out to be the best parts.”

This voice reminds us, writing by hand is a old retro and revolutionary way to do go where you want to go.

• Want peace: Take pen and paper…
• Lots of anger: Take pen and paper…
• Don’t know what to do: Take pen and paper…

There are only 3 things I mentioned; however, you can use them as you want.

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.” — William Wordsworth

Try this in your next session

Don’t forget to use a pen and paper. Let yourself be messy. You might just find something you didn’t know you were searching for.

Because sometimes, the rawest scribble holds the truest spark.