My Old-Fashioned Secret Weapon to Copy Inspiration

The day I updated to working with two monitors was a huge milestone. Suddenly shifting from a 14-inch laptop perched on top of a Settlers of Catan box-cum-monitor stand, to TWO 24-inch monitors…well, I may have clapped my hands with glee like a small child, wondering why I hadn’t done it sooner.

Those two screens allow me to cross-reference documents easily, share info from one file to another quickly and painlessly, and videoconference on one screen while adding client comments on the other.

Yep, I love technology. And I use loads of apps to help my working life stay organized too: Slack, Zoom, Trello, Asana, and Google Docs among them.

But in addition to relying on at least a dozen tools to help me plan and write complex campaigns with lots of moving parts, there’s an irreplaceable old-fashioned tool that I just can’t give up.

Yes, the humble pen and paper. In an overly digital world, the underappreciated pen and paper still hold a place of honor on my desk, right next to my keyboard.

It’s invaluable for: client meetings, brainstorming sessions, when mapping out launches, and writing headlines…

There is something about the sensory experience of holding a pen, and writing words, by hand, on paper, that focuses my mind in a way that nothing else can.

Call me old-fashioned, but it’s not just me. Turns out that the human brain simply responds in a different way to writing by hand.

Research by Jean Luc-Velay, a French neurophysiologist, has shown that writing, as opposed to typing, stimulates the Reticular Activating System, which acts as a filter for your brain, giving more importance to the stuff that you’re actively engaged in.

So when you hand-write words, your brain is clearer, your focus in sharper, your recall better.

For us writers, that’s a recipe for CREATIVITY.

So in this high-tech world where DISTRACTION is a constant threat to productivity, my pen and paper sessions are like a very large latte – they hit the spot and get my creative juices flowing.

If you’re like me and you can’t live without your notebooks, you’ll totally get these. If you ditched yours for your tablet or laptop, here’s why you might want to consider bringing “paperback” (sorry, bad pun)…

#1 – For Mapping out Launches

Launches have a lot of moving parts. As a launch specialist, I need to map out strategies, planning a whole sequence of interrelated landing pages, emails, webinars and Facebook ads.

And before it “makes sense” to me, I like to take a pen, and a big old sheet of paper and work out the mechanics visually.  

Once I have it on paper and it jives in my head, I then take each element and break it down into a separate digital checklist, usually involving Trello cards and a Google calendar to schedule work time.

#2 – For Brainstorming

For me, a brainstorm needs a set of colored marker pens, and big clean pages which I can scribble on.

Feeling the flow of ideas rushing from my brain to my fingers builds a momentum. And writing on the page means I can see the whole messy process, (illegible handwriting and all), and the journey inspires the flow.

It’s a completely different experience than staring at a blank screen, which is somehow a lot more threatening than a blank sheet of paper.

It’s why writers often recommend doing “daily pages” where you just freewrite anything and everything that comes to mind. Eventually, the act of putting words to paper will yield something worthwhile.

#3 – For Writing Headlines

Headlines especially write better when they’re done on paper.

Since every word in your headline is important, often the difference between a good headline and a great one is a matter of changing one or two words.

I like to start with three of my best headline ideas on a page, and then work on each one, tweaking words here and there to add more power and punch.

Once the ideas are flowing too fast for my fingers to keep up, I’ll switch to a doc and work from there.

Sometimes the paper is just there to stimulate the flow of creativity and then I can switch to a digital document easily.

#4 – For Client Meetings

My client meetings are all virtual, which means that I sit in front of a computer and communicate with a talking head on the other side of the world.

For efficiency’s sake, it’s easier to have meeting notes in a document, so that I can use and access them later.

Unfortunately, I happen to be a very LOUD typer.

And the clickety-clack of me pounding on the keyboard got kind of annoying during client meetings. Enter the pen and paper.

With all of the meetings recorded, all I need to write down is the key points and action items, or timestamps of points of the meeting that I’ll need to review later.

But hey, it looks professional and helps me stay focused during meetings.

#5 – For Keeping My Popcorn Brain Focused

I use a notebook and pen to keep my popcorn mind distracting me from what I need to get done. 

And apart from all that, staring at a screen all day is tiring, not just on the eyes, but also on the brain.

Writing by hand can be welcome relief from the stiff joints and googly eyes of my laptop—the solidity of a pen, the smoothness of paper, the swirl of letters, the drama of punctuation.   

So when you need an idea, shut down your laptop, take out some fresh white and start scribbling.

Now over to you…

What form does your creative process take? Computer? Paper? What’s your vote?