For the record, this is usually how every long-ass essay you’ve read here begins…
On a yellow legal pad, in handwriting that could generously be described as medically concerning. (Genuinely looks like the handwriting of a doctor on a rollercoaster).
I own an iPad. I own software that could transcribe my thoughts, organise them, and probably file my taxes. But there is nothing (nothing) like a hand holding a pen on a piece of paper. Specifically: a black clear-barrel Bic on a yellow legal pad. The cheapest tools in the building doing the most important job in the building.
When I read Draft No. 4 by John McPhee I learned about essay structure and getting the first rough draft out before you start noodling around with specifics.
Everything starts here. The shape of the thing, the serial killer arrows, the one word circled so hard the pen nearly goes through to next week’s ideas. Then I sit down and decipher it like the Rosetta Stone, (except the Rosetta Stone had three languages and I can’t read any of mine. It doesn’t help that I write in Australian.)
Usually I’ll print out a copy of the next draft and read it out loud (learned that from Sedaris) then mark up the edits in pen/pencil to do the final rewrites.
